How Lovely Are Your Branches. . .

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The tree is up, lit, decorated, and looking good!

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My Mom and I went the first weekend of December to a tree farm to cut our trees.  I wanted to take pictures while we were there but it was 17 degrees out at the time.  And snowing.  And windy.  And did I mention cold?  We pretty much found our trees in record time and cut them down as fast as possible.  Yeah, so no pictures from the tree farm.  We both got Frasier Firs.  They are my favorite kind of tree.  The needles are soft and their shape is perfect for decorating.

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Here's the tree - up and ready for lights!  Notice my old school tree stand.  It's been around a long time!

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The lights are on and it's starting to look like a Christmas Tree!

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Now the ornaments.  I have a thing for Martha.  Can you tell?  All of these ornaments are from the Martha Stewart collection.  They are the only reson I've walked into a Kmart in the last 10 years.

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These don't look like much, but they are my favorite ornaments.  I was in Chicago on New Year's Eve 2000 and bought these at the Banana Republic on Michigan Ave.  They were on clearance for $1.97 each {Don't know how I remember that, or why!}.  I think my favorite part is that they were made in Italy.  I pretty much love anything made in Italy.  'Italy' is stamped on the metal part.  The ornaments are two different colors but pretty much look like silver when they are on the tree.  These are the first thing to go on my tree every year.

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First ornaments are on the tree. . .

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A few pictures of the finished tree:

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I pretty much have a love affair with my trees each year.  I love how cozy & festive their lights make my house and I hate when it's time to take them down!

Holiday Mantle

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My mantle is all decked out for Christmas.  After Thanksgiving I took down all of the Fall decorations shown here.

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Here's my empty mantle before:

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And here's the after:

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Much, much better.

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The glass candlesticks are from CB2 and are really inexpensive - they range in price from $2.95 - $4.95 each.  Can't beat that!  I bought the red balls at Pottery Barn.  They have hooks on them and can also be used as ornaments.  The green balls I've had forever and are usually on my mantle year round.  The mercury glass birds came from Target last winter.

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I made the glittered 'PEACE' banner using cardboard, glitter, and a ribbon to string the letters together.

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Linking to:

The Stories of A to Z

Blizzard Preparedness. . .

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We've had a blizzard warning here since yesterday afternoon and still have another 9 hours to go!  I've been working from home, enjoying my Christmas tree and decorations,  working on my Christmas cards, cooking this {again!} and sitting by my warm fireplace with a nice glass of vino.  A glass of wine makes any blizzard better, right?

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Snow is now covering my wreath and planter.

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Happy Winter!

Holiday Planter

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This weekend I put together a holiday planter for my front porch.  It's not as exciting as the Chicago sidewalk planters my sister posted on her site, but I still like it!

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Here's what you'll need:

- Planter with dirt

- Pine boughs (mine came from the bottom of my Christmas tree; they were the ones I needed to cut off in order for my tree to fit in the stand!)

- Branches

- Red berry branches

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Here's the empty planter:

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First add the pine boughs around the base of the planter.

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Next add in the branches.  I bundled mine together and stuck them right in the center of the planter.
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Add the berry branches just above the pine boughs.

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That's it!  It's a fast, easy, and inexpensive ourdoor decoration.  I usually make one of these each winter - the pine boughs will easily last in the planter for a couple of months.

Christmas Wreath

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This weekend I put together a Christmas wreath for my front porch.  I started with a quite ugly, plain wreath I bought at Michael's for $9.00.

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I wanted to add a few things to the wreath to make it look better.  I purchased three pine branches with pinecones and red berries on it.  I also used three branches of red berries that I already had.

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I started by adding the three pine branches and wiring them to the back of the wreath.

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Looking better already!

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Next I added the red berry branches.

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The last step was to add a string of white lights and hang the wreath outside.

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That's it - it was pretty easy to make and only took me a half hour or so.

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First Snow. . .

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Last night we got our first big snow of the season.  Where I live we had at least 6" on the ground when I woke up.  Normally I don't really like the snow, but for some reason I really enjoyed it today - it really put me in a holiday mood!

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Tomorrow I'm getting my Christmas Tree!

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