Christmas Decorating-The Great Room

Every year I say I am not going to leave anything until the last minute. That I am going to be ready early for Christmas. That I am going to have time to just sit back, relax and enjoy the season. HA! It never happens-and I am not sure that it ever will. 

I know I go overboard at Christmas, but with six granddaughters, it is so fun to decorate. The girls just love it. And I have to admit that my husband and I enjoy it too. 

I put up 8 Christmas trees in my house this year. It took me 12 days to get it all done! But, when all of the Christmas lights are on in our house, it feels like a Christmas wonderland and the little kid in me comes out. 

I decided to go with a gold and red "theme" this year. The first place that I decorated was the fireplace and mantel in our great room. The mantel has greenery with white lights, wired ribbon, gold pillar candles and gold glass ornaments. 

This is a close up of the mantel. 

In the fireplace I put more greenery, ribbon, and red ornaments along with the candles. I got these candles at Michael's (they were 50% off). They hold tea light candles that burn for 5 1/2-6 hours. I love them because they flicker and glow so beautifully when lit. This was not an original idea-I saw something similar on Pinterest and thought it would be fun since we never build a fire in this fireplace. I got these live poinsettias at Home Depot on Black Friday-they were only $1.00 each---score!

Here is a close up of the fireplace. You can see the candle glow-it amazes me how much light they give off. 

Next I moved to the banister. I put the same greenery on it every year, but I decorate it differently. I have put pinecones, cinnamon sticks and berries in it. I have done it with red and white stripe ribbon and red and white ornaments-a candy cane effect. I have also learned over the years to mark my greenery where I swag it. I use Command strip hooks  on the spindles and hook the greenery from them.

This year I used the same ribbon that I used on the mantel and red and gold ornaments.

Then it was time for the tree to go up. This is a 12 foot tree and comes in five sections, weighs over 125 pounds and requires an 8 foot ladder! It is no easy task to assemble and decorate. But this year we got it done in just 5 1/2 hours. This tree has all of our family ornaments on it-all the ones we have collected over the years-the ones the kids made in school and we bought on vacations. It's an extremely eclectic mix of decorations. I love decorating this tree-it's a walk down memory lane every year.

Tomorrow is a peek at my dining room. If I can't be quilting, I have to show you what I've been up to. Besides, I love this time of year!!

Happy decorating!