Beginning the Holiday Season

I have a yearly tradition - on the day after Thanksgiving, I put up my Christmas tree and all of my other holiday decorations.  Then, in between December 26th and Jan 1, I take them all down.  I know to some it may sound rushed, but in the words of Ally McBeal, "I prefer to experience a full month of Christmas."

So, for my "B" post for Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday, I'm sharing my (hopefully) Beautiful holiday decorations.  You can also get a little glimpse of my personality as well, and the things that I love.  The photo at the top is of the passthrough between my kitchen and dining area.  The photo below is the bookcase/stemware case that also sits in my dining area.

This is my sofa table.  I normally keep the plastic barware set on the lower shelf during the rest of the year, but I do enjoy filling the glasses with glass balls and then lighting the candles on each side.  On the lower shelf you can see a big present among my souvenier shot glass collection and rock-and-roll souvenier mugs.

This is my entertainment center.  There's really a lot of space on top to fit decorations, but I prefer to keep it simple.  Since I don't have a stocking, I hung an ornament off the snowman hanger.

This is my CD holder/small bookcase that sits to the right of the entertainment center.  The card in the frame is from Four14, a Milwaukee-based photography/graphics design company you can find on Etsy.  The late-70's-era camera on the first shelf of the CD holder is the same one I use in my avatar.

This is my penguin-ornament collection that sits on one of the nightstands in my bedroom.

I have two Christmas trees.  This is because I love ornaments so much I have bought so many throughout the years.  But, one of the trees is in my bedroom, and has red and gold (and kind of glam) ornaments.  Yes, the presents underneath the tree are this year's gifts.  I'm already done shopping and wrapping (please don't hate me).

And the one in the living room is my first grown-up tree.  It's fake, but it's 6 feet tall, which makes it one foot taller than me.  I did have a snafu with the lights, though.  I bought 2 strands of very cheap lights and half of the second strand burned out already.  I improvised with icicle lights that I had around and knew I wasn't going to be using otherwise this year.

Here are some of my favorite ornaments.  You can also go to yesterday's post to see my Harley-Davidson ornaments.

And here is one of the ones I bought this year, a silver fox.  If you would like one of your own, I bought it at Target.

Although I don't have a ton of space to decorate, I think I do pretty well with what I've got.  I hope your holiday decorating, if you choose to do so, goes well and you have a lovely, sparkly, comfortable home this season.