Christmas 2020 - Holiday Decor

I've always enjoyed decorating for the holidays... I'm all for the ribbon, lights, glitter, shine & sparkle. And I'll tell you - buying my first Christmas tree years ago for my tiny one-bedroom apartment in Albuquerque was exciting... but a whole home to decorate?! Happiness level --> VERY HIGH.

Now let the record show, I am no professional when it comes to decorating. Most of it is homemade and hung with command hooks or sticky tape because I'm too afraid to poke holes in the wall (trauma from years of living in an apartment). So I share these photos not to prove I know what I'm doing... but to show what's possible with a little creativity and an addiction to 50% tags.

Back Entryway

I picked up this beaded garland at Hobby Lobby (50% off!) and thought it would be perfect to frame the door to the backyard. The doors in the house are 9 feet... so I needed to buy 4 strands (connecting two on each side). I liked how it looked... but a word to the wise - VERY MESSY. I was sweeping up beads for WEEKS. And despite those things being tiny, they hurt if you stepped on 'em wrong. 

The bow was homemade - made of burlap ribbon (no wire).

Front Entryway

This was one of my favorite areas to decorate. The table stays up year-round but the top decor was (mostly) new. A lot of the little trinkets I picked up from Hobby Lobby, At Home & Michaels (ex. glitter & bottle brush Christmas trees, snowflakes)... but some of them I've had for awhile (ex. snowman, ornaments).

The garland came from Hobby Lobby (again - 50% off!) I didn't add too much to it since it was already flocked and had a few pinecones and cranberries attached... but I did add a string of battery lights that kicked on automatically at night. (The lights were a warm white.)

Front door

Like the back door, the front door is tall. The garland is a combination of 3 strands -- plain evergreen, burlap + buffalo plaid fabric & a string of white lights. I wound the three together and added a few buffalo-plaid ornaments + candy canes to the strand. (Like the beaded garland, the burlap pieces were MESSY - so a good sweep was needed post-hang to pick up all the loose strands.

Also, I'm obsessed with the front mat - ordered that gem from Amazon! (Plus - it matches the flag :) )

The tree

As I mentioned, I've had the tree for several years. It's a 7.5-foot fake denison that I bought my first year in ABQ (2014). I love the look of silver & gold... so all the ornaments are a mix of those two colors. The only *new ornaments added this year were the big silver & gold balls (bought for super cheap!) and a few starburst balls.

The ribbon was also new... but I didn't exactly love it. I had seen ribboned trees on Pinterest & thought they all looked very polished. But when I tried to replicate... it looked like little pieces of string just stuck in between branches. So I wasn't too crazy about it.

Note: the tree skirt was also new this year --> handmade by mama. :)

Next Year

A few things already planned for next year:

• A big tree topper - I stuck a few big beaded strands at the top this year with plans to buy a few more, but never got to it. And the star? That was bought at CVS 7 years ago (lol). Next year, I hope to make a big piece (that includes the star) to make the tree look a little fuller.
• More *wired ribbon for the tree - I think the key to ribboned trees is making sure the ribbon has wire, that way it holds the shape. We'll give it another go next year.
• A few fake presents - I've seen people wrap empty boxes to make their Christmas tree look more finished. I might try that next year (Lord knows I have enough empty Amazon boxes to throw under that tree).

- KC