Yesterday was the first day of our Advent Activities Calendar and to start it off we decorated the tree together. Our tree will be lit up pretty much non-stop whenever we’re home between now and the New Year. It makes our little living room feel so warm and cozy.
You’ll notice that we still have our two couches, which we jokingly call our “sectional”. We originally kept them both there in the winter because we couldn’t move out the old futon in the winter when the new-to-us sofa bed arrived, but after awhile we actually started to like having two couches.
Obviously when we get our own house someday, this is not the look we’re going for, but in the meantime, it’s nice to have the extra seating for when visitors come over. Whiskey likes to take over whichever couch looks more comfortable that day (usually the one you’re already sitting on).
I caved this year and bought these Victorian Christmas Tree Tinsel from Lee Valley for the tree. I’ve admired them for a long time and I love that it’s tinsel you can reuse every year.
They reflect the lights from the tree and give a little fun twinkle.
Last year’s tree was silver bells with red and green touches, but this year we went for a little more glitter, with touches of dark red like the holly sprigs in the tree and the plaid tablecloth covering the table.
Our tree is small, so I tend to buy smaller glass ornaments that fit the scale. I found a big pack of gold, silver and mercury glass ornaments at PC Home last year on clearance after Christmas and tucked them away in our bins. It was a nice surprise to open it up this year and find them – I had totally forgot.
We always use this rustic wooden star wired into the top of the tree. I love to incorporate wood elements into my holiday decor – bringing the outside in.
Our keepsake ornaments, including the felt Gingerbread Men ornaments that I made, are on our little tree in the hallway. I added a small wreath to the bathroom door as well and I’ll keep adding little touches around the rest of the apartment as we go throughout the month.
The main thing that I’ve been working on lately is finishing the Christmas village that I started making four years ago. I’ve used some of the pieces over the years, including the church with my JOY plates two years ago. Every year, I pull it out and putter away at it for awhile and then end up putting it back unfinished. This year I made the goal to finish the first set of six pieces – Tudor house, church, school house, stable, Victorian house and little shop.
And someone is eagerly waiting for Santa to come bring him some treats and maybe a new cuddly blanket or toy.
[…] dining room/office, I set up a little tree with some of my favourite silver and gold baubles from last year, nutcrackers that remind me of going to the ballet years ago with a dear friend and the cookie jar […]