Christmas is in full swing here at our house. I decorated the mantel this weekend. I opted for a simpler mantel than in previous years.
I already had everything so this was a totally free mantel. The stockings are all from Lillian Vernon in case you're wondering. Really nice quality for the money.
{Note: I have a pet peeve - if it's surrounding your fireplace a MANTEL, not a MANTLE. If you don't believe me, look here and here. That's all. Thanks.}
And in Christmas tree news...
I bit the bullet and bought a fake tree. The traditionalists are gasping but I am a traditionalist too. It's just easier this way. The answer was really obvious after considering allergy issues. We got an LED tree from Home Depot (online) on Sunday after Thanksgiving. It was $209 with free shipping so not a bad deal. It arrived late last week and we put it up on Saturday morning, and decorated it on Sunday.
So we burned a Christmas candle in the kitchen while decorating the tree in the adjoining family room and called it a day. I don't miss watering it or sweeping every day either! The quality seems quite good although it's definitely not top of the line. It seems to be a nice tree and hopefully will last us five or so years.
Our newest ornament is from our Disney trip last week. It's really fun and I love that it's engraved with the year. Hopefully we'll have other Disney trips in our future so we can add to our collection. You can see the branches really close-up here - quite realistic I think.
I still need to do a little bit more decorating in the dining room and then I'll show that to you. My goal is to not by any new Christmas decor (other than the tree).
Have you made progress on your own decorating?
Linking to Southern Hospitality Mantel Party, a la mode
