My Halls Are Officially Decked

Growing up, my family didn't have any traditions for Christmas - no special cookie recipes, no annual readings of The Night Before Christmas, not even any sentimental childhood ornaments for the tree.
When I hit my pre-teen years there was talk of skipping the tree all together, until it became clear that I would spiral into some serious teenage angst without one. My parents and older brother humored me after that, but I was the only one who really relished decorating the tree - which had to be done just so - and I would hoard Christmas trinkets from the dollar store and spend hours decorating my bedroom, too. To me, there was simply nothing more magical than sparkly tinsel, strands of colored lights, and glitter-drenched ornaments.

 

 Our living room tree. How do you like my poofy Deco mesh garland &topper?

One year, when money was especially scarce, my mother walked out onto our property (we had five acres in a tiny backwoods patch of Florida) and chopped down a scraggly little sprig of a pine to use for our Christmas tree. It was the most pathetic, Charlie-Brown-tree you can imagine, barely my height and with giant bald patches, and when I saw it I'm ashamed to say I actually broke down in tears. (I later did my best with it, though, finding stuffed animals to sit in the bald spots and making a reindeer out of paper towel rolls and cardboard to sit underneath.) There was just something so crushingly depressing about that little tree, and to this day the memory of it pushes me on to create something beautiful and warm and happy at this time of year.

The top of our entertainment center.

Looking in to the living room from behind the sofa.

So, once a year I spend every spare moment I have for a good two to three weeks decorating the whole house for Christmas. It's the only holiday I decorate for, and I freely admit I go overboard, but it makes me happy - in a neurotic, perfectionistic, "cannot-rest-until-the-garland-is-completely-symmetrical-on-ALL-sides" kind of way.

I like creating little vignettes on all the table tops, and scouring the house for things to use.

That "floral arrangement" is a $5 mini tree with a few feathers, flowers, and ornaments tucked into the branches. John told me it didn't look too ridiculous, so I went with it.

Yes, this is HDR. Told you I was hooked. Can you spot the other 2 HDR pics in this post? They're not quite so obvious.

 The top of our radio cabinet.

I'm the world's slowest decorator, which is why it takes me those two to three weeks. For every minute I spend hanging something up I spend ten staring at the blank wall, debating what to do with it. I'm in awe of all the crafty home decor bloggers out there who make it seem so effortless, because putting that stuff up there all together? SO HARD. Next year I'm just copying all these pictures.


I made the two wall swags, btw, wiring on everything from the pine cones on up, and of course you remember the steampunk cone trees. I wish I could take credit for the big floral arrangement, but that's from Old Time Pottery. (I spent $60 on it three or four years ago, and to this day I feel slightly guilty for not just making one myself - but floral arrangements are really freaking hard! Major props to those of you who can do 'em, because I barely managed those swags.)
 
My steampunk tree hasn't changed much from last year, although John and I did make a better topper for it:

We actually made several large gears like that last year, cutting them out of MDF with a scroll saw, but the project we made them for never got done. So I dusted this one off and roughly applied faux gold leaf to give it a mirror-like shine. Then John attached an L-bracket to hold the Edison bulb in place:

I debated adding peacock feathers or copper wire sprigs around the topper, but they seemed kind of busy. Let me know if you guys think it's too plain as-is, though.

Now, ornaments!

Peacock feathers, jewel tones, birds, keys, copper spirals, and gears:

The only new additions were a few mercury-glass balls, which you can see on the left. And on the right, wave hello to your photographer!

That's all I have ready to show for now, but I am *SO* close to being done with everything. Just a few more bits in the steampunk dining room, and then I'll get some wide-angle shots up for you, so you can feel like you're actually here. :)

 

Happy holidays, everyone!