Christmas 2020

Since I have no plans for Christmas this year, due to the COVID crisis, I didn't see much of a reason to decorate.  It's a lot of work when I'm the only one who will see it. But, with the nice weather that continued into late November, I didn't have an excuse not to decorate outside. Exterior decorating has always been my least favorite project for a couple of reasons.  Number one is the difficulty of getting cold hands to manipulate tangled wires and attach things in a way that can sustain wind, rain, and snow.  Number two is really part B of number one.  Securing outdoor decorations usually involves a ladder on either wet and soggy or frozen ground. Bottom line, I'm not much of an outdoorsy type. 

But, nice weather and the idea that maybe some colorful lights might be nice for my neighbors to see when they look out their windows, or drive by, gave me incentive to step up and brighten my corner of a 4-way stop intersection. 

(photo taken prior to completion)

I decided to start with the new balcony on the back of the house.  I needed about 18' of garland and I didn't have that length in matching strands.  Determined not to check the stores during this time, I went against my better judgement and ordered online. I detest looking at a screen to evaluate the quality of merchandise, and this order confirmed why.  The garland was the right length. That's about all that was right about it.  Skimpy on the branches and lacking in fluffiness is a kind description.  At that point I made two decisions.  First I would carry on, and second, I would do it with whatever I had on hand and stop when that was no longer doable.

I had one strand of white lights that worked and three strands where half of each strand would light.  I used the working half of one strand along with the full strand to get me to the end of the railing and then doubled back with defunct section by keeping it on the backside.  I had one strand of red lights that just made it from one end to the other.

I alternated some icicle type ornaments between the uprights and came out with a couple extra gold ones. Whew!  A few strands of red beads and I had something I could deem finished.

A pair of coach lights flank the double doors and I kept the same color scheme going with the red beads and one red reindeer on each one. The greenery was part of an old artificial tree.  I had trashed the tree a while back but for some reason still had the bits that were used to hide the trunk between layers of branches. 

The next part was easy.  This was a wreath I had used on my front door last year.

I hung it on the garage door and walked away.  I would love to put two urns where you see those circles on either side of the door, but the urns still have beautifully blooming geraniums in them and they are pretty cozy inside the garage. No other options came to mind that didn't require purchasing so I let it be.

Now for the front of the house:

Last February I came across a metal spiral at an antique mall.  I bought it thinking I would find a use for it eventually.

This is how it was displayed and they were happy sell it with the ornaments and the glass cups.

Because my grandsons are now way past this age, and the swing is not the hit it used to be, and because it needed to be refinished if I was going to keep it, I took it down...at least for now.

The metal fleur de lis that hung above and behind it also came down...for now.  It might need a little maintenance check before it goes back up, but for now this is going to be home to the metal spiral.  (Long way around getting to that, but here we are.)

There are some tiny battery operated lights that you can see in the next shot.

They do show up a bit better after dark.

My brother has almost completed the refinishing of my front door.  Therefore, I chose not to distract from how lovely it looks and kept the decoration there simple. I took this shot with the door standing open so there would be less glare and also because the brick mold is yet to be put back in place.

Two little garlands grouped together with a string of Tibetan bells seemed to be just enough for the door.  However, the front porch needed a little balance and more color. (Careful what you wish for applies here.)

I wanted to drop a swag across the stone of the porch. The problem is I didn't have one. Sticking to my plan of only using what I have on hand, I opted to wait a few days.  That's all it took!

(I searched for a photo of this tree. It is a shot I could not take today. Now that I have enclosed the second story of the back porch that westward view is no longer available to me.)

The house two doors to the west of me, has this huge pine tree in the yard.  You can see it's at least two stories high and one of the branches almost covers my next-door neighbor's yard. 

Well, as luck would have it, my neighbor next door decided to change that after putting up with it for a few years.  And, he chose to do it just when I needed pine boughs.

I thought I could wire them together and have the swag I needed.  However, that didn't go exactly to plan.  To actually get it to hang and still hold together for a month would have required some serious construction.  I just wasn't up for that.  So I compromised and, with a little wiring and some bricks to keep the whole thing on the ledge, I have a blanket of pine boughs stretched between the columns.

The lights are something I purchased ten years ago for an indoor tree.  As you can guess, they were overpowering everything else on the tree.  So that year, after the tree was fully decorated, I took them off and restrung the tree with tiny white lights. 

I did use them that year on an evergreen tree I had outside next to the porch. Luckily we had a heavy snow and they looked amazing surrounded by all the white snow covered branches. From that Christmas forward they have been waiting for their next chance to shine and the COVID year happens to be their opportunity.

This should be the end of the post.  I completed the outdoor decorating.  Finished.  Mission accomplished!  But... I still had more pine branches. I might as well do something with them. The back porch seemed like the logical place.  

I dug a little deeper and pulled together some things from the basement, the third floor, and the garage, and then added the pine branches. 

It all looked a little lonely so I kept going.

The lovely candelabra had been hanging in the basement for a few years and this seemed like a good time to put it to use.

Technically this still qualifies as exterior decoration.

But, of course, in the process of digging though my stuff, I found some things that could not be used outdoors. Why not give the rooms on the first floor just a pinch of holiday cheer?

The coffee table in the living room got a bowl of beaded fruit and some pinecones.  The bowl is actually part of a light fixture that broke in half during shipping.  The company replaced it.  I glued the two pieces together, turned it upside down and "voila!" a great bowl.  (And, no, I don't have that fixture in my house.  We hung eight of them in a restaurant project I was working on at the time.)

I put a tiny little Santa on the bookshelf in the foyer and...

propped some silver stars on the mantle.

Simple was the goal for the interior.

The kitchen received the burlap theme.  These poinsettias are a favorite of mine and I have used them several years in a row. 

Because this window has obscure glass it's the perfect place for a wreath.  There's no distraction from the outside and it begs for a display of some kind.

The window is fairly deep so it allows for a small vignette there too.

 Two burlap trees with broach ornaments rest on the other window sill overlooking the back porch.  I'm thinking of wrapping some tiny presents to put under them.  That's it for the kitchen.

Between the kitchen and the dining room, in what was a butler's pantry, I have a petite secretary.  It's probably the most used piece of furniture in the house and I thought it deserved some attention too.  Finding, refreshing and installing this little gem is quite a story in itself. If interested you can find out all about it here.

In the dining room I used a small string of battery operated lights and some place card holders to decorate the inside of the firebox on the fireplace.

I added a few wrapped boxes that I keep from year to year thinking they might come in handy again.

On the opposite wall I brought down a deer for the buffet.  It's another item that seems to find a place somewhere in the house every year.

The greenery is similar in color to blue spruce and that works really well with my colors in the living room, dining room and foyer.

A few Christmas balls, a couple candles, some silver pine cones and the dining room is festive enough.  Actually, the table might get a little something later.  Right now it's a mess of all things Christmas and then some.

After living with this for a week, I decided it needed more gold ornaments so I added a few.  

As I looked out the window today (Nov. 28, 2020) I found it a little hard to believe I was actually getting ready for Christmas. The weather has been beautiful.

This tree right outside the dining room window still has many of it's leaves, although they have faded some.

Another Bradford Pear tree through the porch window is equally lovely.  The balmy temperatures have definitely made this task much more pleasant and now I have festive surroundings to help me through the colder days that are surely coming soon.