Decorating for the Holidays: Celebrating our first Christmas

I enjoy the holidays; in fact, in my opinion, they're pretty much the only saving grace for winter. But for some reason I am not one of those women who walks down the Christmas aisle at Target and snatches up every red-and-green (or blue-and-silver, if you're going mod) tchotchsky. I guess I find it cute and I appreciate when other people festively deck the halls of their home for the holidays, but it's never been something I really get excited about or feel is necessary.

Over the past year or two though, I've tried to make more of an effort to pay homage to the season. And the thing is, that when I do, I really enjoy it. I like to walk in my living room and see a little nativity scene perched on a table or a tiny tree of tinsel decorated with ornaments.

This year is my first Christmas with a new last name, as a married woman. So even though our space is limited and I still don't feel like winding down the Target aisles, picking out Christmas decorations (maybe come January when they're all marked down or by using a Target coupon), I did pull together a few things to at least attempt to add a bit of holiday cheer to the homestead.

Here are some photos:

This is a miniature tinsel tree I bought 2 years ago, with matching green-and-silver ornaments. Right now, the tree topper is an ornament we got as a wedding present: It features two frogs cuddling on a big engagement ring. Even though it's kind of weird (it is), it's actually pretty cute:

My dad had a box of random Christmas decorations and toys he'd gotten from a garage sale, and let me go through them. I dug up this nativity scene. The only thing that was missing was the star on the top of the manger, so I cut one out of mustard-yellow construction paper and scotch-taped it to the peak:

Finally, I wanted to decorate our coffee table in the living room--pretty much the first thing you see when you walk in the door. Everything I used are things we already owned: The pinecone basket is from our wedding (it held the napkins on the buffet table), the vintage ornaments are from my mom; the green runner is just a large, jagged swatch of fabric I had that I ironed so that it looks presentable; and the gold leaf accent is actually a necklace Holly bought me one year. (I tried to hide the chain by tucking it around the glass!)

No garlands, no singing Santas, no fake snow. It's humble and simple, but it's something. It's a start. Here's  to the coming holidays!

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