My traditional green and white Christmas decor color scheme makes another appearance using ornaments and decorations we already had, but with a few twists.
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Merry Christmas, friends! And this year we certainly need all the merry we can get, right?
I've read that people are doing more decorating this year and opting for real evergreen trees - even if they've mainly used fake trees in the past. It's been explained as a way to bring comfort, tradition, and beauty into a very uncomfortable time.
I get it, too. While we've always had a real tree, and I kept our decorations simple this year again, my daughter and I made a fun day decorating with music, tea, and cookies.
There was so much connection in doing something we've always done - rooting ourselves in our traditions helps us embrace all we have while looking forward to the future.
(Oh, and if you're looking to add a few family traditions this year, check out this big list of ideas full of activities from large to small.)
So with that thought, join me for a tour of our last Christmas in our manufactured home as we wait for our farmhouse to be ready to move in early next year!
(Personal note: if this seems "late" for a blogger, it's because I only decorate in real time around here - our house decorations go up the weekend after Thanksgiving and we get our tree the first weekend in December so it will last through the holiday. Then I have to clean and photograph, lol.)
I again used our classic green, white, gold, and silver ornaments and decorations, along with buffalo and green-white plaids. Out paper glitter houses made an appearance, as did the galvanized houses I painted a few years ago, and more past DIY projects.
There are slight differences by using things in new ways to create fresh vignettes, but I only bought a few inexpensive things to add this year.
Come and take the tour and see if you can spot the new additions!
Green and White Christmas Decor Tour
Entry
We'll start at the front door looking to the living room and dining room. Lights are one thing that is inexpensive and that I love having in multiple places at the holidays - is so cozy and warm on dark winter nights!
I want you to notice our crazy-topped tree - that is not a leaning star topper, that's actually how the top of the tree grew! Neither Brian, my daughter, or I noticed this when we found the tree at a lot (which is like, how is that possible? Lol). But we're just embracing it as one of the quirks of a real tree!
Christmas Living Room
Christmas pillows are a staple decoration for me - it's so easy to change them out season to season. Now that I have a collection (mostly from my favorite place to find affordable pillows, H&M Home), I don't need to buy more, just rotate through them.
I'm not sure if you can see, but one of the new things for this year are the faux eucalyptus sprigs I added in the tree.
They coordinate with the eucalyptus garlands I got last year that I use on the big cabinet and the dining table. I like the different shade of green and how they fill in spots.
This is the set I got and it's the best price I've seen for 10 sprigs.
In addition to white lights, I use battery-operated candles around the house. I love the warm glow - and not having to worry about melting wax!
The set above is one with flickering flames - while they don't look real from above, they do have a realistic feel from the side.
Set on a galvanize tray with a few sprigs of green and some vintage ornaments and the holiday vibe is complete. (The tray above is no longer sold, but here is a similar style - and sold in a set of two!)
The seasonal coasters I made one year hold a place of honor every year and some version of paper glitter houses pop up everywhere.
The bookshelf Brian made about 20 years ago now stands in for a mantel - which works just fine. I had hoped to knit new stockings this year, but that will apparently be a next year project, ha!
This is one area that showcases one of the new things I bought - can you spot it?
Actually, it's a "them" - the new, minimal stocking hangers replaced the four large star and snowflake holders I've had for years. I needed one more and couldn't find one to coordinate, so settled on these for their affordability and the fact that they'd blend in so well to the decor.
And I LOVE them - I'm so glad not to have the bigger ones in the way of everything this year. I got two sets of these holders because they have anti-slip pads and are adjustable.
Last year I made the bookshelf top more of a snowy village look, but this year my daughter put this together for a more minimal feel of the same thing.
Some of my favorite things are bottle brush trees and paper glitter houses, so I like to use them all over. The galvanized houses I painted a few years ago fill in nicely, I think.
One thing that will never change is putting out my grandmother's sweet dime-store nativity. So many memories of my time with her and then setting it up with my kids.
And it always makes me smile because it's such a funny little set. The original set had three wise men that looked exactly like Joseph, except twice the size. Same pose and color - we just called them "big Josephs."
My grandma and I would laugh about it, though I did buy new wise men when I found some that were the right size. I've kept the big Josephs in the box, though, for the memories.
Christmas Dining Room
The dining room this year looks similar to last year, I just used the plaid runner I made instead of the green tablecloth.
A few other new things are in this room, too. I found sweet linen-cotton napkins at Hobby Lobby that are printed with different holiday words, "cheer," "merry," "jolly," etc. They are fun and add to the calm, neutral look. You can see them closer in the lead photograph above, but unfortunately, they are no longer available.
I also bought the small lamb's ear wreath to go with the garland from last year and a realistic looking fake fir garland for the top of the china cabinet (and there's one on the top of the living room cabinet as well).
The evergreen garland really does look a lot like the branches on our live noble fir tree, from a distance. I was hoping to use one on the table, but close up they look shiny and plastic, so we'll only use them up high.
Instead, I used some of the real fir clippings from the tree for the centerpiece and mixed in a lamb's ear garland and eucalyptus.
Glittered pinecones are an easy decoration to the plates and napkins and vintage bulbs and greenery round out the dining room decor.
Interested in our menu board? You can make one for yourself easily using the tutorial here.
I usually prefer real flowers, but haven't been out shopping much (*cough*pandemic*cough*), so used a few faux roses I got at Magnolia when we visited a few years ago.
Any color would look good with the neutral background, and buying one bush like this and cutting them up to work in three vases would work as well, if you wanted to go faux.
We have this funky shelf thing between the kitchen and dining room in this house, which for most of the year I don't like.
But at Christmas it holds three of my 3-D music sheet ornaments, which I do love. Go figure.
Christmas Kitchen
I don't usually add much to the kitchen, but found these three things on the Hobby Lobby site and thought they'd be fun this year.
The "Joy" towel is still available at this writing, but the buffalo check towel and apron are already sold out. I like how they bring in the decor from the rest of the house.
Christmas Office
This is a joint room off the dining room where all our desks live, so we've dubbed it the office. I thought I'd leave you with the two things I added here for a little Christmas cheer when we're working.
The first is the DIY wool pom pom wreath I made a number of years ago. It stores so well and looks just as good as when I made it. It's still one of my favorite Christmas DIYs ever (by the way, the tutorial also includes the airy garlands you've seen on the bookshelf and china cabinet).
The second is another favorite DIY - the thrift store picture I turned into a chalkboard. I obviously didn't spend a lot of time on this board, but I'm showing it to encourage you if you don't feel artistic, just write what you want, how you want, to make you smile!
Also, my one new sort-of DIY was the felt ball garland draped on the chalkboard. I bought the felt balls from Etsy here and then strung them one night while watching TV with a heavy duty thread.
I was hoping to add the garland to the tree, but I bought 75 balls and this is the length I ended up with, lol.
Oh, well, it's cute anyway.
Are you all decorated for the holidays? Are you doing anything different this year?
