OK, OK, even I’m getting a little tired of Christmas by now, so I really need to wrap up some of these things I’ve got sitting around here.

I really wanted to keep all the decorations up until the end of the month, but it looks like everything will be coming down this weekend. Bear finally turned to me and said, “OK, I love Christmas too, but now we just look lazy.”

So before I say goodbye to Christmas for another year, I’d better show off the last of the projects I managed to crank out.

Since this was our first Christmas in the house, and thus our first Christmas with a big grand staircase, I absolutely had to make a big grand garland. Mike and Sally have been slowly starting to weed out their decorations once they threatened to take over their house, so Sally gifted me about 18 ft of naked garland that I fancied up with berries and ribbon and jingle bells and glittery ornaments. This is the kind of project I love after a ton of intricate, long-term, detailed projects. A couple of hours with a glue gun, and done.

The one useful thing I took away from my time working at Michael’s? I now know how to make a bow like a mad woman.

Of course, I have to show off this year’s Christmas card. The front says “Merry Christmas,” and then the inside says, “From the Whole Family.” Get it? Cause the cats, and the belly. Gosh, we are such dorks.

I’m kind of known for my crazy over the top Christmas cards, but with all the work on the house I needed something streamlined. This one worked out just super, because nearly all the work was in printing. After printing the cards and photos, all I had to do was glue on holly leaves and rhinestones. If only every idea I had came together so smoothly.

This was my big triumph. The completion of nearly six years of work. Every time I look at these I get such a feeling of accomplishment.

This stocking is for me, and I just put the last stitches in before Christmas. Bear felt that having Mrs. Claus carrying cookies was appropriate for a “Mom” stocking.

This stocking is for Bear, again appropriate because he is absolutely the Santa in our house. Every single year he finds a way to sneak a little extra money out of the budget so he can go above and beyond for everyone he loves. I finished this stitching about two years ago, and it’s been sitting in a drawer ever since waiting for me to get around to sewing it up.

In the week between holidays I finally managed to wash these thoroughly, – after so many years there was a lot of dirt and even more cat hair to remove – sew them up, sew up the lining, embroider the cuff, and sew the last pieces together. Just in time to hang them up for a couple of days and then pack them away for next year.

I may have mentioned that we go bonkers for Christmas around here. A little bit. Around the edges. But we come by it honestly. Bear’s parents set the standard that we can only hope to aspire to. Next year I’ll be sure and post pictures, because it really must be seen to be believed. There really is not a square inch in their home that doesn’t have something Christmas on it. It defies comprehension.

They have a lot of different doll collections: four ft tall nutcrackers, rooms full of nativities, collectible dolls from A Christmas Carol, scenes of Victorian carolers, Santas of every size and color…you get the idea. My problem is that dolls creep me right out. I so adore having the house overtaken by Christmas and filled to bursting with all the sights and sounds of the season, but I just can’t have it be with dolls or my dreams will not be filled with visions of sugarplums, but more like little Chucky’s standing over me with bloody knives.

I’ve decided that our version of Christmas excess will be achieved through Christmas trees as far as the eye can see. I want them in every color and shape and size, with crazy themes and elegant themes and color schemes that match the room. As much as I’d like to just run out and spend myself into the poor house, I do have to exercise some restraint and so I can only add one tree a year. And since this was the first year we have a garage and enough square footage to fit more than one tree, this was the first year I could put my plan into effect.

Here’s our traditional Family Tree:

My mom always had a beautiful designer tree that matched the living room, but when we brought home our ugly clay ornaments from Kindergarten, they stayed in the box since they clashed with her carefully curated decor. It always broke my little heart. When our kids bring home their little creations, this is the tree it will go on. As for right now, it’s also housing a couple of our collections that will one day take over trees of their own.

Every year we buy the Swarovski crystal snowflake ornament. I got a couple of these from a vendor way back when I was working at a mergers and acquisitions firm, and they are so stunning I had to keep them up. Eventually I want to hang these from a chandelier.

This is one collection that shows off our sappy side. Every year we go out and buy an “Our First Christmas” ornament. Because one of the goals we have for our marriage is that we’ll be newlyweds forever. (Sorry about the crappy picture. Winter light is hard.)

This year I also added a ton of family photos. I saw it in a Pottery Barn catalog and just went nuts over it. They had all kinds of frames just propped up in the branches, and it was just so gorgeous. I added photos of all my favorite friends, and it just made me so happy. Every time I glanced over at the tree, I saw someone I loved peeking out of the branches at me. I’ll be sure to add more every year.

And now, for my brand new tree: 12 Days of Christmas.
It’s a theme I’ve had simmering away back there for a while, but this year everything just fell in line. I found an ornament set at Costco, Crate and Barrel carried a set that I lucked into at their outlet, and then I made enough myself to pretty much fill up the tree.

I went to a wholesale floral mart near us and loaded up on all kinds of good stuff. The “star” on the top is actually a gourd that I sawed a hole in the bottom of, painted green, and dumped glitter all over.

A friend of mine does vinyl lettering, so I had her cut me out “My true love gave to me…” and put that on a ribbon garland.

And the rest were really easy.

Simple pears from the floral shop I covered in glitter. Cheap ornaments I just glued leaves onto. Green ornaments from last years clearance I decorated with paint pens and the song’s lyrics. And my favorite: wood numbers from the craft store I just doused in about five coats of Martha’s glitter. I’m also working on some super cute crosstitched ornaments, but those will have to be for next year.

The next theme in progress is a snowfall tree, covered in icicles and snowballs and flakes of all kinds. I’d also really love to do a Christmas Treat tree for the kitchen with gingerbread and peppermint, and maybe a winter clothing tree for the hallway with lots of little scarves and sweaters and things. Big plans, I know, so you can expect to see my progress on these trees all year long. If I have any hope of adding more trees, I can’t exactly put it off until December.