Decking the Halls

 The Christmas tree is finally up!

Holiday Tree 2011

This year's Christmas tree is no small feat. No, it's not just finding the time to decorate. What is spectacular about this tree is that it comes in a 55-gallon bucket!!

Yes, in keeping with our landscaping overhaul that began late this Spring, my husband and I decided to purchase a living tree that will be added to our backyard following its indoor coronation. And while the nursery used a hydraulic lift to place the tree in our truck, my amazingly crazy husband carried the tree inside himself! (I've been put in charge of digging the hole for planting the tree.)

Forget the traditional treeskirt. I draped a simple khaki tablecloth at the tree's base and filled in with candy-cane striped poinsettias.

One of the challenges in decorating with a tree intended for outdoor planting is to use restraint in pruning and let the unevenness of nature just be.

For decorations, I used red and white gingham ribbon and pearl-shaped lights I purchased in New York City many years ago. I wish I had two or three more strings of these gorgeous lights! Ornaments are souvenirs from travel mixed in with some family treasures.

Three Wise Men

My favorite ornament since childhood is this post World War II painted glass sphere featuring the Three Wise Men. I feel ever so fortunate that my mother has entrusted me with its care. The glass is paper thin and the paint is extra shiny. I handle this ornament as little as possible in hopes of enjoying it for many more years to come.

The Dining Room

One of my favorite features about the tree placement in the dining room is that it can be seen from the kitchen, the hallway, the staircase and the living room. It feels like the new center of the home. Best of all, at night, the tree greets you as you turn up the front walk.

The Christmas Stockings Are Looking for a New Hallway Color

 

The last stop on this holiday tour brings us to the first decorating project of the new year. First, I must say that I love the stockings on the banister in this house. They provide a dose of instant cheer as you open the front door. This year, I went with simple garland and simple plaid bows.

What I'm not loving is the color of the hallway. When we purchased the home, the hallway was a salmon-mauve color combined with a deep billiard table teal. We picked a buttery yellow to bring some sunshine to the hall without being too sunny. The space still feels a little sad, though. We've considered gray, a pale green, smoky blue, tan grasscloth, wallpaper, hand stenciling . . . This "room" spans the first two floors of the house and connects to all but two rooms on both levels. It needs some personality.

If you've got some ideas for our center hall, post a comment on this blog for consideration. Results to be revealed in the New Year!

Home for The Holidays - Part 1

This year, my holiday decorating has taken on a more restrained vibe in some ways, but is creeping into all corners of my home. The big question is whether the tree will ever make it up into for Christmas. I've faced this feeling before, so I know I will pull out time from some other activity to get the job done. So far, I've resisted decorating on Thanskgiving weekend, or worse yet for me, the weekend before Thanksiving. I enjoy drinking in that last lingering notion of the fall harvest bounty. Indeed, in recent years, Thanksgiving become one of my favorite holidays, and I don't want to rush past that moment in favor of the sparkle of Christmas.

Or, more accurately, each year I resist the urge to rush past Thanksgiving, fully knowing that Christmas is one of my favorite seasons. That's right, Christmas for me is a whole season, wedged between early winter, late winter, and early Spring. I can sometimes linger in this season a tad too long, brushing up against Super Bowl. Somehow, the moment the Thanksgiving table is cleared, my life gets really busy. Until Christmas itself comes, when will I find the time to decorate?

As our renovation progresses, I also find myself with Christmas decorations that no longer fit where they once used to because of changing color schemes, but also changing moods in me. Truth be told, I love to mix things up, changing out furniture and accessories from room to room, season to season. Sometimes, I'd like to reign in this tendency. Sometimes, as my family gets more settled into our home, I like to think that things are finally finding their place, and that such changes will become less drastic as we get settled in.

All I know is that that the living room that felt like a blissful retreat last Christmas looks like a room in an awkward Christmas sweater to me compared to how this room feels now and how I hope it takes shape in the future years.

Living Room at Christmas 2010

Last year, poor Mr. Tree was squeezed into a corner, its location from our first Christmas in this house uprooted by the arrival of a second sofa in that room. Becaus we enjoy unwrapping gifts and sipping our morning coffee by the fire, we made as much room as we could for the tree and moved on. This year, the tree doesn't seem to want to live in this same space.

Living Room at Christmas 2011

Although I do plan to decorate the walls some year, I am waiting for just the right pieces to find their way into my possession. I have dreams of finds from summer antique markets and travel souvenirs someday filling these walls

And while it is so easy to scoop up coordinating accessories in a single swoop, I find this process inevitably leaves me empty. I remember reading a decorating book when I was a kid that talked about decorating your home in layers that evolve over time. This is so contrary to the instant room makeover we see again and again on TV nowadays. This Christmas, I am enjoying our living room, feeling like we've built that first layer and looking forward to the room evolving over time. A few poinsettias, hints of silver and mercury glass are all this room needs for now.

The dining room, pictured below in its 2010 look, seems like a better candidate for the tree this year.

Dining Room - 2010

Aside from the two corners picture here, the room is wide open for a tree and free of the logistical challenges of having the right location for electrical outlets or heating vents that other candidate locations face.

Now I just need the time to find that tree and bring it home.