Sprucing Up The House For The Holidays!

Picture Courtesy of Martha Stewart Living

My buddy Cruella and I were talking this afternoon about decorating today; however, it was different than normal--it was about decorating for the holidays! Cruella is one who likes to really go all out to decorate her home for the holidays. In fact, I don’t hear from her for weeks because she is decorating her house, and then she moves on to her friend Sarah’s house, next she goes to her sister’s house, and then it’s on to her Mother’s house. Today, Cruella and I were discussing why some people like to go all out to decorate for the holiday, and why some people choose to keep it somewhat simple, like me, for instance. I do tend to keep everything very low key, and this is for several reasons:

· First, my house is quite small.
· Second, I don’t want to go down our dark creepy basement to gather up our

Christmas decorations-- don’t need the Cat in the Hat that bad.
· Third, my Hubby always has me on a shoestring budget.
· Fourth, and on top of all this, we’re going to be away for over a week.

But here are some things that I have found where you don’t have to put a lot of money or a lot of effort into to create a nice festive feeling!

Picture from Martha Stewart's Decorating For The Holidays

Starting with the outside: Wanting to create a nice warm welcome, one thing I had to do was change my outside sconces. As I’ve mentioned earlier, my husband and I are slowly working on our house and the sconces that we had needed to go. Thanks to House Beautiful I found a pair that I liked at Home Expo. Next, I added just a wreath with a pretty red ribbon. I always try to buy a few real wreaths, simply because I like the smell, but a faux works as well.

Thanks to Martha Stewart’s Decorating For The Holiday I now like to go to the market for ladies apples, cranberries, clemantines, pears, nuts and what other fruit that may come my way. Next, I like to use a lot of pinecones, and in if you’re in the South you can easily fetch them for free. Another thing, I’ve found that you can do a lot with is tree clippings. Some home improvement centers will give the clipping away for free, but I noticed here in Nashville a few of the high-end centers would like for you to pay for the clippings because they have figured out that you can do a lot with them. I tried to plant nandinas this past summer and I was told they would have berries-- but not a berry to be found! My neighbor Trish has them but I don’t think she would appreciate it if I came over with my sissors. I may have to do without them this year. Once cut, nandinas will last for a long time. Cruella still had hers at Easter.

Picture Courtesy of Martha Stewart (Decorating For The Holidays)

Martha Stewart's Decorating For The Holidays

If you are expecting company and want to make your house a little more cozier, try adding some pillows --Silk Trading Company is a good choice for ready made pillows and curtains. Plus a nice new throw always works.

How about some nice new towels for your company? Two years ago when we first moved to NashVegas and I was expecting my in-laws in for Thanksgiving and I bought the Thomas O’Brien towels from Target. My mother-in-law complements me on them and I noticed Domino mentioned them as well—overall, nice for the money. Now I just need to get a few more to have monogrammed. Last but not least make sure you have enough wine & champagne glasses and serving pieces. I just found some pretty etched champagne glasses that have some age to them at Antiques and Beyond that would be perfect for sorbet or champagne. Not too bad for twenty bucks for a set of six. Too bad I’m going to be away! Oh well, there is always next year.

Picture From Martha Stewart's Decorating For The Holidays