A cottage Christmas

It's not Christmas without a little holiday decor to brighten the mood this time of year.
Of course you have to have a tree.
I do a tabletop one and put it in the TV room on the low console by the front windows that face the screened in porch.
What's funny is that it ends up looking the same every year because I use the same ornaments. I make them myself from old Christmas cards. You glue twenty little circles together cut from the cards. It's time consuming but well worth the effort when you're done. Eighteen Christmases later and I've built up quite a collection. They're all different sizes with different loops at the top. I like the idea that each year the tree is a reflection of all the Christmases past, from well-wishing cards from family and friends.



My next treasured piece is a nativity set that I made myself a few years ago. It's wooden. I made it from a nice thick piece of pine plank. What's cool about it is that all the figurines fit together int he main manger shape just like a puzzle. It's a great design that I found on the internet and copied. It's minimalist and cool. I love it. I add a few clippings of the Christmas tree for added texture.



In the dining room sideboard where I set up the nativity I also add small ornaments to the 'trinket tree' that sits there...small red ornaments and various other small ones. It's nice to have another 'Christmas tree' in that part of the house when I'm in the dining room and kitchen cooking and eating.



My latest paper maché project is a reindeer head that I place in a wreath to hang in the window of the dining room.  No animals were hurt in the making of this project!




I also like to outfit the fireplace room. What's a hearth without a stocking hanging from the mantle? I've had this needlepoint one for years.





I hang a red berry wreath on the over-mantle, the color works well in that room.



And the little deer head made of cast iron gets a small wreath and ribbon, it hangs over the mirror by the front door.



Last but not least, I put this snowman ornament on the bedroom window sill for a touch of holiday in that room too.



Decked out with all this, "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"!