My Holly Jolly Christmas

To say my Christmas decorating this year did not

turn out like I had thought it would is an understatement.

I had fully intended to repeat and expand upon last

year's theme of snow/snowflakes but after I got back

home after a week of babysitting my cute

grand daughter I did not have the time or energy to

get all of those decorations out of the attic.

All of the other houses on the street had their decorations

and lights up when I returned December 12th. 

I had spend the week between Thanksgiving and the day

my flight left for Colorado decorating the church

and the hospital nurseries where I work.

My house was like the black hole on the street.

Inspiration hit me when I passed an abandoned business

that had huge holly bushes that, in my opinion,

could use some pruning.  Hoping not to be arrested or

kidnapped, I loaded up my car with holly cuttings.

The abandoned business also had some boxwood that needed pruning too.

I got this old wreath out of the attic, stripped it, and started layering a base of boxwood

on top of the faded artificial evergreens.

Once I got a good base of boxwood, I added some fir

branches that I brought home from the Christmas tree

lot where I purchased my tree.  Then the berry-laden

holly branches topped it all off.

Finally, some sign of Christmas decorating went on the house.

I couldn't decide whether or not to add a big red bow

but I never had the time to go back and do it so

the decision was made for me.

The urns on either side of the door got arrangements of magnolia, fir, and holly but the pictures

did not do them justice so I'm not even adding them.

Early one morning I went to my secret magnolia tree

for cuttings too.  I mixed all the greenery together for

a mega arrangement at the mailbox.

I had so much holly that I also stuck it in the empty-looking flower beds...

instant holly bushes with lots of red berries.

The backdoor also got a greenery arrangement.

The ONLY decorating that had been done before I

left town for my babysitting gig was a centerpiece

that I put together for Debbie's Holiday Copy Cat Challenge.

More photos of the centerpiece can be seen at  Holiday Copy Cat Challenge. 

I expanded on that centerpiece and added other

silver elements and more greenery.  Since I had silver

out for the challenge, I dug in the attic for more silver

items.  So Debbie's challenge, along with the holly, became

the theme for this year's decorations at my house.

I have loved the bottle brush trees I have seen on other blogs so I started a little collection of my own.

Holly also got added to this centerpiece.

I found these red chargers at Ross a few days before Christmas for about $1 each. 

I loved the pop of color that they added to the holiday table.

Another place that got the silver and holly treatment

was the mantle.

Silver stuff from the attic got to shine this year.

Above is a night-time shot...

...it also looked good in the day time.

Not that anyone else would notice but I also tried to keep

the holly theme going even with food presentation.

We had dinners/parties Friday night through Monday night of Chistmas weekend for different

groups of family and friends.  That was the most entertaining I have done back to back in a long time.

This year's Christmas tree was done in silver.

The "jolly" part of my "holly jolly Christmas" was that I got

to see so much of my family over the holiday.

Even though we have down-sized, I was happy that the house functioned well for our gatherings.

Not only did we love seeing

 each other but we had lots of fun too. 

The kinect game was a "jolly" way for all ages to interact.

We just put away the coffe table and had enough room for dancing games

and action games too.

So, this Christmas the decorations were sparse

but being with so much of my family

made it the best Christmas I have had in years!

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Christmas In July Party @ Confessions of a Plate Addict