Jamie's House: Christmas decor galore & a funny cat trick

I wish it really was galore but apparently Christmas decorations are collected over years and years, not over just one year of being in your home.  I do love my decor so far but I am looking forward to watching it grow each year.  The word I would use is sparse. I did get a chance to put up the garland and a wreath outside.  Last year we had only been in our home for about two months before Christmas so needless to say things were are a bit out of sorts and the decorations pretty much stayed in their Tupperware homes.  We would have completely skipped the Christmas tree if Shanna hadn't surprised me with one delivered to our front doorstep!

Let me first show you the outside:

I love how glowy the first picture looks with the wreath.  Christmas decor and lights are so magical, I wish I could find a reason to leave them up all year.  Oh and here is a little note to myself:  Jamie, no matter how bad you want it, do NOT buy your Christmas tree four weeks in advance, it will dry out regardless of how fresh it is at the time (patience my dear).  I know that sounded insane but next year I have to wait a little longer so that I am not cleaning dropped needles all month long!

Back to the outside decor, I did plan to put lights around the garland.  The home I grew up in had a bigger porch but same layout with the front door and a window to the side so I knew just how I wanted my new house to look.  The issue?  We do not have any outlets out front.  I was trying to figure out how to make this work without lights strung all over the place.  Looks like I am going to have a year to think about it because it is not happening in 2011.

Now for the inside, this is where it gets interesting ( I also spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out how to make my camera take "glowy" pictures without making them blurry):

Glowy :)

 

Now for the interesting part.  Shanna gave me this idea but I mixed the fake garland I had left over with some real pine roping to give it a really full look. 

I had every intention of filling up the mantle with mercury glass and fun Christmas-y things but then...

Hmmm, what's this?  Pine?  PINE ROPING?!  I love this stuff!!  I know it makes me sick but I just love it!! Now how do I get up there? Cats don't climb walls...

Maybe if I stand on my tippy toes, wap, wap, wap:

They do, they do!  Cats do climb brick walls!  Look at me ma! 

You have got to be kidding me.  Now what?    It will be OK.  He will forget about this and move on...to the tree but move on nonetheless.  Nope, he didn't move on so now my kitchen stools are part of my decor, FANTASTIC!  It is quite amusing watching him try and find ways to get up the wall, man is he persistent!

This is what I have this year.  A tree, garland on a railing, and a cat on a brick wall.  Not too bad for my first year of decorating!

Send your Christmas decorations our way!  I need tree ideas for next year :)

Happy and safe holidays to you all.

See you swoon,