Monday, November 30, 2009

It has begun

Christmas mania, that is.  Otherwise known as the time of year I get ulcers from worring about living up to my reputation as a 'GOOD GIFT GIVER'.  The 'GOOD GIFT GIVER' status is a very hard thing to maintain.  Sometimes I think I overshot it in the beginning, and now I have nowhere to go but down.  Also, Shaun has this annoying habit of only buying things for himself at Christmas time buying whatever I got him for a gift before I can give it to him.  Annoying, right?  Maybe this post will be a subtle hint to knock.it.off.  Ahem. 

So, this is the first year that we were really gung-ho about getting Christmas decor up in the house.  Maybe we were both trying to distract ourselves from our recent super-big purchase of a Tempur-pedic mattress (to the tune of 3 THOUSAND bucks - hello, ulcer!).  In about one hour flat we had our pre-lit tree up and decorated with aqua, red, and brown ornaments I scored at Hobby Lobby for a few bucks a package.  Seriously, is there anything better than Hobby Lobby's 50% off sales?  No, there isn't.  Throw in the fact that my mom scored us our $300 tree for around $40 from JCPenney's clearance sale last January, and this is going to be a pretty frugal xmas decorating extravaganza.  Here are the highlights:

Behold the beauty of our tree.  Please.  I must toot my own horn on this one, I did good.  It also looks amazing from the outside, I'm so happy with how it turned out.  I was lucky enough to find that ivory polka-dotted tree skirt at TJ Maxx for $25.  I really hate cheesy tree skirts, this one is cheese-free, froufrou-free, and perfect. 

I feel guilty that the only action this piano gets is being used as a surface for decor...I really need to get it tuned.  Is that pic too dark to see?  Here, let me turn the light on to better appreciate the 'hurricane of doodads':

I know I said I don't like this kind of stuff, but I guess I make an exception for Christmas time.  Sue me.  With that in mind, please say hello to the prettiest little sparkly trees I've ever seen:

It's like they were made for my front hall, at least that is what I tell myself.  I also have more sparkly ridiculousness on our mantle, but Shaun wants me to wait on taking a picture until we get stockings (yeah, I'm shocked he even cares)...so it must be a serious relationship if we are getting stockings together, right?  Not serious because we're engaged, but because he wants stockings.  Yeeeeaaaaaah.   

14 comments:

  1. Your Christmas tree looks beautiful ... and I especially love the turquoise sparkly ones on the hall table. Tres festive!

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  2. It looks beautiful! The tree is especially magical! I'm so sad that our house isn't going to be done in time to do it up for the holidays... next year we'll go big! :)

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  3. It looks really good. Not over the top at all. Normally I am not a fan of fake trees but yours is especially nice.

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  4. Beautiful! I love the turquoise trees against the blue wall! Is it December already? Yikes!

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  5. Oh my - those turquoise sparkly trees are seriously awesome.

    Love your tree (and the skirt too). Nice job!

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  6. I love it all! I agree, the 50% off sales at Hobby Lobby are a beautiful thing. Isn't it great having a nice big window to show off your lovely tree? :)

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  7. It looks great! I love the aqua trees on the console. So cute. I need to get some of those ASAP. Thanks so much for following my blog. I will be following yours as well!

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  8. Your tree is very impressive! I have yet to get mine!

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  9. WOW! The tree looks great!! What a deal...$40! Love the colors also. And, I want your teal sparkle trees! Where did you get them?

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  10. The turquoise trees were from a Wisconsin company called Stein Gardens and Gifts. I'm there everyday during the summer because their nursery selection is just amazing!

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  11. Hi, I found your site via Young House Love and was browsing through. We just bought our own old fixer upper and I have been contemplating a turqouise color for the bathroom. I noticed the blue wall behind your (adorable) blue sparkly trees. Do you know what color it is by chance? I can't find the right blue and really like that one..

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  12. I am totally loving those sparkly trees

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  13. Kathryn, oh yes I certainly do know what the color name is. it is 'Reflecting Pool' by Ralph Lauren, color-matched to Behr. Just so you know, it is actually a deep turqoise. You can see better pics of it in my post about the stairway, and we also used the same color in our downstairs bath.

    http://www.russetstreetreno.com/2009/09/step-in-right-direction.html

    http://www.russetstreetreno.com/2009/09/wallpaper-in-loo.html

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  14. Thank you! And good to hear about the color matching with Behr - they told us they could do this but we were wary. I'm glad to know it works.

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Thanks so much for reading....your comments mean a lot to me!
Sara