Christmas brings about a lot of emotions for me... about my house. (This sounds so ridiculous! Keep reading, you may be able to relate) When I get all of the Christmas decorations up I am happy because everything is so pretty and festive. The day after Christmas I always convince myself that it makes sense to leave the decorations up until after New Year's Eve because that is basically an extension of the holidays - but really it is because I am not ready to part with them. On January 1st, I admit that, sadly, they will have to come down soon enough. Then I mull over that for a few more days, and usually during the second or third week of January, the decorations are getting on my nerves and I am taking them down without much fight. It is like a weird roller coaster. I think most of it has to do with the fact that the decorations are a lot of work and time, but by the end of it I just don't care anymore.
My husband is always happy to get everything "back to normal". We have to semi-rearrange our living room to fit the Christmas tree, so I get it.
Because I always have a "mantle" up, out comes the winter decor right after the Christmas stuff is boxed away. My theme for winter: winter :) Blues, silver, white, a few pine cones, reindeer, etc. Christmas is full of twinkling lights and red and green. The change to a cool, neutral palette is quite refreshing. Plus, it can get pretty darn cold here in Missouri, which matches the cool metals of my decor.
Most of the items I have gathered are technically Christmas items, but I don't think it feels Christmas-y at all. I also love that I can keep this up until spring time and it always makes sense with what is going on outside. I do not decorate for Valentine's day because, well, I just don't. I mean, I have found plenty of adorable things on Pinterest that I like. But it just seems a little silly (personal opinion!)... Valentine's Day is not a big deal for us and I'm not sure my husband would appreciate hearts and such floating around our house.
I do not put up nearly as much winter decorations as I do for Christmas, but here are a few photos of what I do have up:
Isn't this antler bowl so cool?? I found it in the Christmas clearance and thought it was perfect for winter!
Often times, on December 25th, you will find me in my sweatpants and ponytail scrounging through the Christmas clearance at Target, Walmart and the like. Why do I do this? Because I am cheap. Really, that is the only reason. A younger version of myself got some sort of thrill out of digging through clearance racks and bins. Not so much anymore, but I do love finding a good deal! And that is worth going out with the crazies to dig through the racks and bins and screaming children who would rather play with their new toys.
So one year during my clearance shopping I bought this cute little jingle bell snowflake for 70% off.
I'm not sure why, but I really liked it.
However, I knew when I bought it that it was incomplete. The scale is just, weird.
It's too big to be an ornament or hang from a door, but it is definitely too small to be by itself. Plus I felt like it needed some dimension. I decided I would jazz it up to make it a final piece, so I jumped onto trusty Pinterest to see what I could find by searching "winter wreath". To save you time, let me just tell you what 99% of "winter wreaths" search results consist of:
snowflakes
snowmen
twigs
berries
pearls
pine cones
Sometimes, they even combine these elements to make really amazing creations!! (Can you hear my sarcasm?!) Occasionally you will also find poinsettias, yarn and/or wood slices. Yay.
Now, I am not "hating" on these wreaths, some are in fact quite beautiful. But the lack of variety is quite uninspiring. And yes, I do realize that twigs, pine cones, snowflakes and snowmen are all relevant to winter. But still...
Side note: before you accuse me of being a hypocrite for also having a snowflake in my wreath, keep in mind I purchased it like three years ago...
Related side story: Every year my office helps organize a charity event about two weeks before Christmas. We auction wreaths, menorahs, and ornaments that are original creations. Being that my profession has many creative people, we get some unique submissions. A group of girls and I usually make a wreath to donate and this is my favorite one we have made:
It was super hard for us to give it away because we all loved it so much. So I got to thinking, why not recreate this for my winter wreath? My winter decor does not have a lot of twigs, snowflakes, berries in it, so adding any of those things wouldn't make a lot of sense, and this would be easy on time and budget!
So I bought a plain wall frame and some ribbon from the craft store. I spray painted the frame silver.
I took some of my ribbon and looped it around and through so that it would act as the hanger. I tied a simple knot at the top.
Then I needed to make a bow. I have experimented with bows before, but in general I don't have a natural knack for these things. So onto youtube I went, and I found this amazing and easy tutorial.
I made my bow much smaller than she did, but the tutorial worked just the same. After my bow was complete I took a dab of hot glue to attach it to the frame.
Then I used more hot glue to attach the snowflake to the frame and BOOM, I was done! Probably the fastest wreath I've made (once I figured out how to make a bow!)
I love the way it turned out! It is simple but pretty and definitely coordinates with the rest of my winter decor.
I want to do a quick recap of 2014! Being my first year with the blog, I am still figuring out how and when to create content and what works well for me and for readers. This post is a little reflection over the past few months on the blog, and what is coming up for this year. Feel free to share your thoughts so I can make 2015 even better!
I am really looking forward to having a whole year to blog. There is half of a year of decorating and holidays I missed, plus there are so many things I haven't shared with you yet!
On a more sentimental note, it is a little bittersweet for me that 2014 is over. It wasn't until I really thought about it (it is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and miss a big picture view) but last year was a great year for us. Most things were, "status quo" and I think that is what I loved about it. 2012 was the "year of change", we bought our first house, moved in together and got married. 2013 I think we were still recovering from the wedding at the beginning of the year, I opened my Etsy shop over the summer and my husband got a new job in December. 2014 was, just, nice. I mean, don't get me wrong, things "happened" (ran my first half marathon, got two cats) but it all seemed pretty normal for the most part. I think what is most bittersweet for me is this: my Mom was diagnosed with stage four cancer (colon that spread to her liver and lymphnodes) last spring. It was truly a miracle that the doctors even found it and we are so thankful for that. What is bittersweet is that last Christmas could be the last one we spend with our mom. Her birthday last August could be the last time we get to sing to her. The doctors gave her six months to two years, depending on how she responds to treatment. I know, you can't put a timeline on these kinds of things... but still. We have to live in reality while also trying to stay positive. My sister is getting married this year (sooooo excited!!!), but needless to say we all have one thing in the back of our minds...
So 2015 will be another interesting year for us. We will stay busy with the usual house/work/life stuff, and of course with helping my sister plan her wedding. I am just thankful to have another year to spend with my husband and our little fur family, another year having a job I love, and another year to make my side-businesses more successful!
These are a few of the goals for the blog and posts I hope to achieve during this year:
