Merry and Bright

Our Christmas decorating and shopping are D.O.N.E.
and the presents are wrapped!
This is the first year I have been done this early.
A big YEAH for me!
Now I can sit back and relax.

I took like a gazillion pictures of our home
all decked out for the holiday.

Today I thought I would share our living room

area with our Christmas tree and mantle all

decked out and ready for Christmas.

I love the traditional classic holiday colors of red and white

mixed with silver and gold.

Each present has a handmade bow.

A tradition that I have been doing since our son was little,

is to add an ornament to one of his presents. Some years it

is a homemade ornament and some it is an ornament that

catches my eye and I know our son will enjoy.

He already had quite the collection for his tree when he got married.

This Santa I found in Michael's.

I've since continued this tradition with our

daughter-in-law and grandson.

I found this little ornament in Pier 1. I just know

that our son is going to love him. His whole body wiggles.

This ornament I picked up in Kohl's for our grandson.

I discovered these cute little initial knit stockings

last year at Kohl's and added one to our son

and daughter-in-laws presents. This year our

grandson gets one. I was happy to see that Kohl's still carries these.

Sometimes to add a special little touch to a present

I will add a simple candy cane.

This year I created a wrapping paper from plain old brown

paper bag colored paper that I picked up at Walmart.

I used a white ink pad and a pencil.

Simply dip the eraser tip of the pencil into the ink pad

and dab it onto your paper. You can easily create any design you like.

Create your own wrapping paper using a set of rubber stamps.

If you have little ones why not let them create your wrapping

paper this year. How special would that be to receive a present

wrapped in paper that the Littles created?

Hubby commented that this is his favorite combo to date.

I guess he likes the traditional classic look also.😍

Let's move on to our mantle.

This is by far my favorite.

It's a touch of glam with a simple classic farmhouse look.

The lanterns that anchor the mantle have little evergreen trees in pots. 

I placed a couple of tea lights in them and they look so pretty at night.

The mantle looks so beautiful at night.

All of our candles are on timers and will stay on for up to 6 hours.

In front of the fireplace I placed this elegant deer sitting on

a lighted evergreen bough.

I hope you enjoyed seeing part of our festive home and

I'll end with one of my favorite views.

Until Next Time,

Veronica