Christmas Sparkle

I've spent the last few days getting all our Christmas decorations up and it's finally done! Woohoo! I'm not sure why but it seemed to take me a lot longer this year than it usually does. I'm glad it's up though cause I'm definitely more in the Christmas spirit with all the pretty, sparkly stuff around. To me, Christmas decorations should include lots of red & green, lots of shiny, sparkly things, and twinkle lights. Here's what we're working with...

We got a new artificial tree this year and I'm loving it!! We're not always home a ton during the holiday season and last year our real tree took a sad turn to dry and pokey because of it. This year the tree will stay pretty all month long!

In the kitchen I wanted to change things up a little bit from previous seasons but I also wanted to try to work with what I had already on hand. I put the garland and word signs up above the cabinets again but this year I added some shiny red ornaments to the garland. I don't know why I never did that before because I LOVE it. Several times I've looked at it and said to Loren "I don't know why I didn't do that before...it looks so pretty!". I think he's ignoring any further garland chatter from me. :) For the window, I grabbed some different ornaments I had and hung them with ribbon from the top of the blinds. The ornaments shine pretty when the over sink light is on. I also stuck a little mini tree next to the sink.

On the peninsula, I did buy these cute new placemats from good ol' Tar-jay. There's some candle holders filled with bead garland and some pictures of Santa propped along the wall too. (And don't mind the basket of random junk on the counter).

I always look forward to decorating the stair rail. Growing up my Mom always decorated ours nice and I thought it looked so pretty all lit up. So I copy her. I used less green garland this year but added some ornament looking garland that I picked up at JoAnn's (60% off!!). Like everything else, the new garland is shiny with glitter and makes me very happy. I hung our stockings including the ones I made last year and called it good.

Finally, came the dining room. I was a little more excited to decorate the space this year; I think because it's feeling a little more finished since I got the buffet decorated and some wall hangings up. I took some of the garland I didn't use on the stairs and placed it along the top of the buffet. Just like the kitchen, I added some small red ornaments to give it a little sparkle and spice. I also propped up a Merry Christmas picture and set a red mosaic candle holder out. The table is the same from the last couple years - ornaments hanging from the light and a big ol' basket of sparkle on the table itself.

So that's it! I really like the way things turned out this year, and like I said before it just feels so much more festive now that the decorations are up. I'm also happy that I was able to make a few little changes to our decor without spending a ton of cash-ola. What about you guys? Got your decorations up? Do you keep things the same every year or switch it up? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.