Countdown to Christmas: Real or Fake?!

I'm talking about a Christmas tree here people so stay focused please! :-) 















We go the "real" tree route.  This will be our second Christmas in the new house and I just love decorating for the holidays.   The tree and all of my decorations make our house so cozy and warm.  I love the feeling.  Sometimes I feel like I should just leave it up all year round.......but then I would be a Wisconsin redneck cliche and well I just don't like stereotypes!  :-)  Anyway, Scott and I went to pick out our Christmas tree last weekend.  It's tradition to set up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving at my in-laws house.  Scott insisted we start making this a tradition at our house too.  So the Saturday after Thanksgiving we did just that.  We drove over to a local tree farm and picked out the most perfect tree we could find. 

I looked through last years pictures and they are almost identical to this years.  And since I probably didn't even bother to blog about it here are the pictures from last year:

 I just love the experience of picking out a tree from a nursery rather than any big box stores.  Sure it's a bit more pricey but its all about the memories to me and I'll pay extra for that any day! 



 Scott is very serious about what tree we bring home! 

We borrow Scott's parents SUV to get the tree home.  We call it the family "truckster".  It fits nice and snug: 



This is when it starts looking like "Thanksmas" at our house.  Note the pumpkin on the front porch:

 

Yay for our FIRST real Christmas tree: 

 All ready to decorate:

 

NOW FOR THIS YEAR'S TREE!

This time we have another family member joining in on all the fun!

 (Just ignore that couch in the background.  It's not permanent!)

 We borrowed the family "truckster" again: 

and drove the scenic route to the nursery:



the same nursery as last year:



2hotty got to work pickin out "THE ONE":



And when we found it, these wonderful young gents wrapped it all neat and tightly for us.

 It was fun to watch:



 And one even carried it out to the truck for us.  Now that's what I call service:

 

  

Bringing it home. 
Again, we transition from Thanksgiving decor to Christmas decor.  This time we have more than just one lonely pumpkin on the front porch!

Yay for tree numero dos:

This time we had a little "elf" helping us:

well only with lots and lots of hugs and kisses:

Surprisingly she doesn't go near the tree.  I was expecting the worst.  It gives me hope that we won't have a million pieces of shattered ornaments on the floor for me to clean up. Oh please Baby Jesus I'm prayin she stays far far away from it.  Am I setting myself up for failure?!?!  She is definitely on the naughty list with everything else in the house.  The couch.....the carpet.....yup she chewed it!!
  I'm sure Santa will be skipping our house this year because of one naughty little puppy!  But she is just too darn cute!

 So what's yours.....Real or Fake?!?!  :-)

Have a wonderful weekend my friends. 
I know mine will be consumed with holiday decorating and shopping. 

xoxo Joanna D.
 

Strange Bird

 

Yes I think I might slightly have an obsession with turkeys.  I didn't even know it until I started to look through all of my Fall decor this year!! I even have a little turkey family.  I guess you can call me a strange bird!! (har har har!) 

So I know "turkey day" is officially over and I'm sure many of you are taking (or have already taken!) down all of your Fall decor.  So this post is late.  I know what's new right?!?!   While my home is in a transition state right now.......I like to call it the "Thanksmas" look.........check out what my home looked like just a few days ago:

Well really what my kitchen looked like.  Furniture is sparse in our home......I have a hard time picking out furniture.  My mind changes almost daily when it comes to the decor in any room in the house........so it is taking me forever and a day to furnish this little empty house of ours. 

Our kitchen is the only house in the room that I really decorate for the holidays.  I bought these two IKEA shelves a few months back.  You wouldn't know that.......I never blogged about it. :-( I love them though, because now I can display all of my stuff/crap/treasures/etc I hoard in boxes scattared throughout the house.  I think I'm going to beef them up a bit someday......maybe some trim and corbels to take them from sleek modern to country chic. Ah. I swear someday. 

They're not perfectly arranged or decorated but I just wanted to use what I already owned and not spend a lot of money this year.  We were on vacation the first week of November so when we got back home I changed out all of my Halloween decor to Fall decor and called it a day! 

This is what the top shelf looked like:

 

A frame with a sweet poem and a white ceramic pumpkin sat on the left side of the shelf.  The frame was a housewarming gift from one of my fave aunts and the kin I bought at Goodwill for a buck or so.  I remember buying it in the summertime and thinking "one day I'm going to need this".  I was right......I love it.  The top opens and I store extra candles and lighters in it. 

 

Next, I placed a long candle holder in the middle.......also from Goodwill.  I just wrapped it with some fall colored picks for a pop of color.  On the right side of the shelf holds a cute little ceramic owl. I'm going to put it in my office to display the rest of the year.  It was an awesome World Market find.  Love that place!

The shelf below:

(oops! forgot to take a pic of bottom shelf)

I just kept the wine bottle holders that I had on their all summer long just because I didn't feel like moving em'. If I buy or receive wine, I usually store them on the shelf, otherwise I just keep clear empty glass bottles on them.  I think I'm going to sand them down and stain them a dark brown someday. (here I go saying "someday" again!). 
 

On the other side I just added a clear apothecary jar filled with pine cone filler, a turkey platter, some pumpkins in different colors to mimic some of the colors from the shelf above, and a wicker turkey filled with extra pine cones.  The platter and the wicker turkey were both thrift store finds.  I bought the yellow and green pumpkins for ten cents each at Walmart on sale as well as the pine cone filler.  I am nothing if not a bargain shopper!  Can I get an Amen sister girl.

This is where it gets kinda awkward.  We have this off center wall cabinet. I store my stemware in it (so it's good for somethin).  I don't love it but I don't hate it.  The trim needs to be painted and the glass front needs to be frosted. Remember my book page wreath that I made a while back?!?  Ya I just hung it there (just because!).  The wall to the left side of the cabinet was left blank for a long time.  I didn't know what to do with the space (and am still looking for ideas!) so I just hung some white frames I had laying around.  They work for now I guess.

I added extra pieces of burlap to the background and a fake leaf for an extra pop of color. 

 

Here is what the wall looked like again:

 

See how the cabinet is off center!! Definitely needs some tweaking.  Any ideas?!?!

Now for the very LOUD table setting:

What's Thanksgiving without a cornucopia filled with pumpkins?!?!

and another turkey?!?!  I know right?!?! 

 For the place settings, I started out with Ikea chargers I bought for $3.99/each this year.  (great deal compared to the $8.99 + price tag I saw at World Market.  I'm thinking of staining them a darker color soon.  I'll keep you posted if I do that.).  Then I added a large green plate (bought on sale at Walmart last year):

 

 

The white leaf plates and the cloth napkins were also Walmart purchases from last year.  (I wasn't kiddin.  I save my money to buy the good stuff for half the price at the end of the season!)

 

The best part of the whole setting are the napkin rings.  Check these out:

 

 

Isn't it adorable?!?!  I told ya I had a turkey obsession.

 

 

First official photobomb by Jade on the blog:

 

So how many turkeys did you count?!?!

 





 

I counted fourteen!! 

1 turkey platter, 2 wicker turkey baskets (one on the shelf and one on the table), 8 turkey napkin holders, 1 mamma turkey, and 2 baby turkeys! haha. 

So that is how I decorated for Fall this year. 
Any thing you liked/disliked. 
How about some ideas for that awkward wall of mine?!? 
I'll take any advice you have!!
 

Oh and Jade hopes you had a........





 

I am content with moving onto all things holly and jolly.  Bring on the hot cocoa, candy canes, glitter, and reindeer!! I'm ready to prance around my house tossing tinsel on everything while singing Christmas carols all night long (you know the music they've been playin since Halloween! I swear they start playing em' sooner and sooner each and every year.) Oh and no Christmas is complete without watching The Christmas Story fifty times over (I'm watching it now as I type this post!).

Who's with me?!?! 

 

What are your plans for Christmas?!?!

I double dog dare ya to leave me a comment.......No No wait......I TRIPLE dog dare ya!!

 

xoxo Joanna D.