Reading home design blogs at the holiday can make you (err, me) feel a bit like an underachiever. These ladies seriously go all out every year. They have multiple themes they decorate around from year to year. They spend hours on crafts to make their homes look festive and happy. Us? Well, we decorate slowly over the course of a week or two. And we always use the same stuff we've had. Yes, I add to it here and there, but most of the stuff remains the same. There is no theme. There is no rhyme or reason. And because some of the decor we use to decorate were gifts from family members, some of it is even a bit tacky. (This year we uncovered two two foot tall Christmas moose in our loot - we didn't buy them, that's for sure ... I seem to recall getting them as a Christmas present a couple of years ago from Alan's aunt. I think. And yes, they're on display.) One of our favorite decorations is a statue (?) we lovingly refer to as Fat Santa.
It's all a little bit unrefined.
That said, I was excited when I received this months' issue of Country Living magazine and the cover image was a tree decorated with red birds. I'm well ahead of that trend, first adding birds to my tree in 2007.
Christmas 2007
Christmas 2008
I don't seem to have any close-ups of the tree ornaments that year, but trust me when I say the birds are on there.
Christmas 2009
Christmas 2010
I'm still decorating for Christmas 2011 but I'll post those pictures soon.
In the meantime, I never realized how obsessed with the tree Dakota has been in years past. This year she watched us decorate, but didn't show much interest in the ornaments, except for the feathers on one of the birds. When we put the tree skirt down she ran under there to hang out for awhile, but quickly left and hasn't been back. Maybe she's too mature now for those shenanigans?
