Holiday Decor for Mantles

Every year I try to come up with a new idea for decorating my mantle. The last several years I haven't done garland at all (because I used all my Command hooks for the stockings and didn't have any left to hang the garland from!).

When I saw these twigs with ornaments hanging from them in the December issue of Country Living the light bulb went off. Of course, perhaps it was the announcement on the page "bright idea!" which gave me a clue, heh heh!

My problem though is that I live in new construction where trees are scarce. The few trees I have are twigs themselves! So I raided the neighbor's wax myrtle bushes. Don't tell him. (They were hanging over my fence anyhow.)

The wax myrtles have the prettiest little purplish grey berries on them. (Not the gold ones, those are fake berries from Michaels!) 

The leaves were impeding the view of the berries, and besides, it looked like a jungle with the leaves on. So I stripped all the leaves off down to the bare branches. 

My family thought I was crazy as I stood in the kitchen with a mound of leaves all over the counter and the floor. I get a lot of, "WHAT are you doing NOW?" questions every time I start a project. You'd think they'd have a little more faith in me, geesh!

Merry Christmas To You!

Here it is, another Christmas holiday, but to my toddler it is the greatest thing EVER! He's old enough now to really get into the holiday and start forming those warm, fuzzy Christmas memories. I remember when I was his age listening to Christmas songs on my parents' radio while gazing at the lights on the tree for hours on end.

My parents took me to Sears when I was 2 1/2 years old to pick out Christmas ornaments. Here are some of them:
Apparently I had a thing for mice.
My beloved turtles, represented on the holiday tree. I was rarely seen without a stuffed turtle in tow.
This one still cracks me up all these years later! He's so silly!

I've started a new tradition with my son, letting him pick out a few ornaments each year. When he grows up, I'll give them to him to use on his tree. Assuming of course, that he won't be too embarrassed to hang them! So far he's doing well with his choices, mostly sweets like gingerbread men and cupcakes. Nothing too silly, like mine!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

As promised, here is a photo of my Christmas tree. C'est fini! (I think I remembered my French correctly). I finally stopped decorating it! The story behind that statement as follows:
Our first house was tiny, so our tree was always tiny. Our next house was larger, but we didn't plan to stay there so we kept using the tiny tree. Now we're settled in another house and I took the plunge and bought a 7.5 foot tree after Christmas last year on clearance. It's amazing how many ornaments fit on this tree and how much ribbon I used going round and round the tree!

I realize I'm not going to like this larger tree when it's time to take the tree down! Just when you think you've got them all, another ornament shows up stuck somewhere between the branches. I think they hide, dodging you as you walk around hunting high and low for them. The ornaments wait until you pack the last box away and then, VOILA! they pop out, snickering at you!

Here is one of my homemade ornaments, a drum circa 1974. I made these with my Nana when I was a wee tot. Nana is currently in her 90's and sadly, not quite all there anymore. It's made from a toilet paper tube, covered with felt and trimmed with sequins, beads, and trim. The drumsticks are made from toothpicks and beads, painted gold. It was a fun project and a memory I'll cherish for years to come (until I get squirrely and can't remember things anymore either--not looking forward to that part of aging!).