Settling In To Winter ~ December 12, 2016

It looks as though Winter is here to stay. For a while anyways. (You never know with this crazy weather that's been happening all across the country.) And before we know it, Christmas will be upon us!

I finally took the time to decorate our tree. I didn't pull out the big tree this year, but our medium sized one will do. I also have two smaller trees on display this year - one in the dining room, and one in the kitchen.

Here's the main tree in our living room. It's strung with both colored and white lights. In this picture I only had on the colored lights.

And here it is with just the white lights. 

Lastly, here it is with a mixture of both.......

I really enjoy just the glow of the colored lights in the morning and evening. Sometimes the white lights are pretty by themselves. I guess it depends on the day and my mood! 

During the day, I like to see a more festive look to the tree, so I usually have it lit with both the white and colored lights. This year my ornaments are lots of birds and gold, silver and white globes.... This often attracts the more mischievous one of all my kitties - Ziva. She is a sly one, that precious little girl! The birds, and globes, and oh, those pretty, twinkling lights are just too tempting to bear....She can't seem to keep her paws off of them! :) 

"Is she looking? 'Cause if she is, I can't steal a darn thing from the tree!"

~ * ~

Delightful Decorations

In the recent unusually warm weather of November, Joanna and I worked on getting the lights strung outdoors. Well, I worked. She relaxed and kept the strings untangled for me. 

And now that Thanksgiving is officially over, I have given in to letting those little lights shine! 

 This year I actually broke down and purchased battery operated flickering candles to put in each of our windows. Since they're LED lights, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that these pretty little lights will give me over 10,000 hours of use. Yep. So that's what sold me on the purchase of these cute little candles! So far, my entire family is loving the cozy look they add to our house at night.

Now for some snow ~ just a little bit ~ to make things even cozier looking!

 

Indoors, I've begun a few bits of Christmas decoration here and there.

I think my favorite is this big jingle bell ornament which I paired with an oversized golden snowflake, and a beautiful red "believe" ornament. 

 I love all the colors up against the backdrop of my Tuscan yellow kitchen wall. 

Next are some of the wrapped "gifts" I have decorating the living areas of our home. But these aren't just any wrapped gifts, they're pictures I already had on display, but are now wrapped as pretty presents! It was a neat idea I recently saw on a decorating segment of a show I was watching. My family has given a big thumbs up on this new idea. ☺

And, of course, there's my lighted pine garland, pretty white lights strung under the kitchen cabinets and some strands beautifully lighting up the shelves of my corner hutch.... Everything is coming along nicely.

However, Charlie has informed me that all his friends are already putting up their Christmas trees, and apparently feels we're not "keeping up with the Joneses"! BIG GRIN. So, here's to getting our tree put up soon, and more on its decorations coming up in a post on another day!

~ ♥ ~

Easy Homemade Holiday Wreath

Not only was this wreath very simple and fun to do, but relatively inexpensive to make! And I will have several winter months to enjoy its lighted beauty.....

Start with a grapevine wreath that can be purchased at any craft or even dollar stores.....

Purchase some craft ribbon....mine has the thin wire at the edges, but this kind isn't necessary. Any kind will do! And these were purchased on clearance.....

Use one 35 - 50 count light strand of clear or colored lights. I like the simple beauty of the clear bulbs...

Find a bunch of twist ties....these come in any size of regular, non-ziplock kitchen baggies boxes....

Lay the light strand on top of the wreath if your strand is a shorter one. Wrap it in and around the wreath if your strand is longer. (Longer strands are nice if you want more glow of the lights!) Use the twist ties to secure the lights in place.

Choose some garland - tinsel, evergreen type or the wire pine garland - at least 6 ft. long as you will need to wrap it around and around the wreath! If you'd prefer to see some of the woody grapevine, a shorter garland would be better....

Here is my wreath wrapped in a wire pine garland which I happened to have extra in my Christmas bins!

Select some tree ornaments, pine cones, berry sprigs.....whatever your heart desires to decorate your wreath! I love these shiny globe ornaments we had left over this year.

Wrap your ribbon around the wreath, securing the ribbon ends somewhere on the back side. To secure the ornaments, I used the very thin, green ornament hooks. They were easy to twist around for securing the ornaments, and blended in nicely with the green of my garland! A thin craft wire would be just fine, too.

Cut a length of ribbon and make it  into a loop to secure at the top back of your wreath for hanging. Plug in your lights and enjoy the beauty of your own, simply made holiday wreath!!

Lights On The Porch

Ah, the job is done. Now I must wait until night time for the enjoyment of them!

And, now for some snow to complete the picture.....

Well, that was up to Mother Nature!