I don't know if they exsist, nothing like the Rockefellar tree, jsust some cute or easy tips.

I tried leaving up lights from the last year, they all burnt out, The orange Halloween ones, died last night...So far I have two set on the outside, two bushes and a santa waving.....I am done.
Oh, the boys climed the mountain and did white lights on a 25+ foot pine tree, it looks great alone on the mountain all glittery in the wind....

But inside there is a candle finally in every window after three days. A set of white in the front window, I just unplugged the Orange candy corn ones Thursday ( I leave them up and alternate).

Now what is quick to drape, sit out, hang on a wall to make it look a little holiday like?

I will have them put up the tree Sunday. I have Holiday clings on the storm doors.

I was thinking of have Katie do cut out construction paper, no popcorn strings. too hard to thread, lol. Other wise I give up, lol.
25 days until Christmas....I did no shopping!
Di

we do a simple thing for our tree {kids outgrew the decorating thing- the boys anyway}
We do the lights then some ribbons instead of garland
and a few nice ornaments or ones that we had made
and then just hang candy canes on the tree- the fruity colorful ones

and they eat them as the Holidays go by- last year we had some left over so they got tossed after awhile as they were smushy & stale.

mom has made all of us kids a Santa wall hanging and a snow globe quilt hanging
we have a strand red rope lights across the window inside
we just drape it on the curtain rods

it's amazing what nice things are in the local Goodwill stores for decorations.
a father time , angel, snowmen, sleigh etc
fake poinsettias, wreaths etc

bumping for more ideas

Hello! I'm having one of those 3 a.m.-won't-be-sleeping-anymore-today mornings, so thought I'd pop in and say hi! We took Jo's advice and made the rounds of the thrift stores for some decorations...when we moved we seem to have lost a lot of ours! Found some really cute things...of course, by the time we got home I was too wiped out to do anything! I enjoyed watching my husband and daughters set up the tree; we got it at Home Depot, and they had several branches laying around that they had cut off of other trees that they said we could have, so we brought those home and my husband cut some up and tied them together for me to have a pretty, decorative wall hanging with a ribbon on top. I have a few more, and would like to make an advent wreath...my oldest daughter's coming today, and I hope she will help me do that!

I did find some easy things to hang on the walls that really add a festive feeling...a wooden angel, a wreath of jingle bells...and one of my girls did a snow scene on the bay window seat, with lights and batting and some of my lighthouse figurines. I also found a pretty Christmas afghan to throw over the back of my loveseat, and, of course, a nice nativity scene.

Yesterday my son and the girls helped finish things up and do some arranging and organizing around the house...now it feels like a Christmas we can enjoy! We still have a little snow left on the ground, and I found some online radio stations that play all-Christmas music...this is my favorite time of year!

I am finding it difficult to do crafty-types of things with my daughters, which saddens me, although they are old enough to do some things on their own. We're having a few of their friends over next week to do gingerbread houses together, and their friends' moms (my friends!) will be coming to help, so they will still be able to have fun and I won't need to use my arms much.

I've done very little shopping...most will be clicking a mouse for online shopping, I think, but time's running out! Need to get busy doing that...

Typing's not going well this a.m....guess I'll go back to reading only...

Hope you all are enjoying getting in the Christmas spirit! I'm trying to focus more on the things I can still enjoy about this season, without dwelling too much on the things I'd like to do but can't...Di, you had really good advice for another poster about that.

Blessings to all...

Donna

easy tip to add holiday color.

throw pillows. if you have them on your couches, chairs, beds, you can put covers on them. even adding gold or silver if the typical red and green don't look good.

i bought pillows on clearance after christmas a few years ago. i store them in one of those bags that you suck the air out. they fluff right back up.

if you have pine cones you can drizzle glue on them and shake glitter. put a bunch in a bowl for a table decoration. but my fave is to tunn them into christmas trees. and donna..this might be something your daughter and her friends might enjoy. just glue on little old buttons, beads, ribbon.

i'll try and think of more stuff.

Hey...that's funny! I was just sitting here today looking at my sofa pillows and thinking I should get some Christmas pillows sometime!

Thanks for the ideas about the pine cones...we used to go around and gather pine cones that had fallen under the evergreens in the local parks. We've made baskets of them...you can put white lights in among them in the basket, too...it looks really pretty! I never thought of using them with the gingerbread houses, though! And I forgot all about the pine cone baskets...

At a Christmas tea our church put on, we made little trees out of Hershey kisses glued to a foil-covered ice cream cone. It was a relatively easy craft that even I could do! We had been to a Christmas tea at the library the day before and did a craft involving threading a ribbon through some slots to make a Christmas fan...no way, had to stop that one really quick!

Take care...

I don't want to be a bah humbug, but it is really difficult to put on the big display anymore, and I didn't want to cheat little Katie out of holiday cheer...I just find it stressful, and anxiety level way up. So much is on my shoulders, the baking, shopping and decorating.

I found the Holiday covers for TOSs (lol) pillows my Mom had crocheted, I found all the ornaments she hand made with tiny bead and ribbon work, even the table top hand sequined snowman. Putthem out.

Last two days, Katie and I took construction paper and made trees, stars and reindeer. I got the poster paint out and we did the patio doors with paintings of gifts, trees with lights, and even a santa kitty! Tonight I am doing Elmo and Pooh with mittens and scarfs.

So I don't care if I get one present, I am so warmed by this childs decorating to her taste and totally loving the red and green chains, glitter paints and placing a white sensor candle in each window.

I feel good, stressed about the shopping yet, but so much better seeing her pride in the little things we have done.

Oh, and the biggest thrill, the guys we up on the mountain about 100 feet up in the middle of the forested area and put lights up on a 30 foot pine tree. It looks so neat shining way up on the mountain in the middle of nowhere.
Di
PS, I am going to Sally's tomorrow.....maybe even get gag gifts!