Christmas Home Decor

Today is my first day of Christmas vacation, hooray! I inexplicably woke up at 4:30 this morning and I’m absolutely exhausted, but nonetheless feeling festive. Plus, three whole weeks away from work! I’ve finished all my wrapping and have started packing for my Vancouver trip while watching The Holiday and You’ve Got Mail this afternoon.

I also picked up my new glasses and gave myself a change in hair colour (pictures to come), just in time for my 30th birthday. Tomorrow we’re having a small celebration at Lucy’s aunt’s house and then Lucy and I are having a relaxing day Monday and will go for lunch and do a bit of shopping. I have mixed feelings about turning 30 and I’m always more excited about Christmas than my birthday anyways. So, this week I’m sharing how I’ve decorated the house and next week I’ll dedicate to my birthday. 🙂

Unusually, it snowed a substantial amount on Sunday and everything turned to chaos the first half of the week. Despite cautions of not driving, Lucy and I were determined to get a Christmas tree before the good ones sold out so we ventured 45 minutes to the garden centre – it was pretty dicey. Getting to work Monday and Tuesday wasn’t too bad although the office was partly shut, but Wednesday was extremely treacherous as our town was covered in ice. Even today it’s still slippery in places.

I’ve had my fill of snow for the year and I’m actually dreaming on a non-white Christmas in Vancouver because last year it snowed way too much and was inconvenient. We splurged and picked up some plaid flannel bedding which has made the cold nights nice and cozy!

Featured on the left: Edgar the Christmas Gnome- from Frosts Garden Centre

 

 

 

The vase is originally from a graduation bouquet and we’ve had the swizzle sticks and pine cones a couple of years. This year I added the poppies, which you might recognise from my autumn decor post. The lantern is from Lucy’s mom and the candle is our favourite Christmas candle, frankincense and myrrh, from M&S.

The snowman pictured below is called Larry, and he is my most recent purchase. I was in Debenhams and came up the escalator to see a whole shelf of these metal figures bouncing, with their bellies jiggling. I just couldn’t not bring him home, especially at 40% off!

The wreath on the left is hanging on our front door. It was from Burford Garden Centre and I added a string of little gold bells. I actually made the wreath on the right at work! This was my first attempt at making a fresh wreath, which involved wiring branches on to a moss ring, and I’m really pleased with how it turned out. Lucy loves natural and rustic decorations so she likes the oranges, and I made the bow with some glittery ribbon since I love me some sparkle! I think these types of wreathes last the holiday season and then you can reuse the bow, moss ring, and probably the cinnamon sticks. I might try to make a spring wreath next.

 

The vase in the background filled with glittery pine cones is from last year, and is also used in my autumn decor. We have Timothy the tiny bird, and a recycled Yankee Candle jar that I decorated with a winter village scene. On the right, the glass jar with the fairy lights was in my socking a few years ago and that sits on the mantle year round. We also picked up three little dudes, two snowmen and a Santa, and they peek out from the garland, protecting the Christmas cards.

Bonus! For confidentiality reasons I can’t share too much of how my colleagues and I decorated the office, but here are a couple of photos. The alpaca is our desk mascot and has a very nice handmade tree hat (his hats rotate each season). We also made paper chains with glitter glue decorations from old report covers and snowflakes from analysis maps. We didn’t win the desk decorating competition, but having a festive space made the past few weeks slightly more bearable!