Jingle bells! Batman Smells! Robin laid an egg. Batmobile lost a wheel and Joker did ballet.
What? You didn’t sing that song at camp while wearing culottes and a tie-dyed shirt? Well I did. Anyway, the point is that I hung the stockings and did a little extra Christmas decorating beyond putting up the tree (just in time to put it all away in about a week when we start packing for the big move in mid December). Gotta celebrate Clara’s first Christmas, even if it’s only for a hot second. Out came the ol’ feather trees (from Target and a local store called Buford Road Pharmacy a few years back) along with the same ol’ Target stockings that we’ve been enjoying for the past few Christmases:
Since the stockings and the feather trees were from a few years past, I decided I wanted to do something new to spice things up – but I didn’t want to spend much money. So piggybacking off of our pink and silver tree, I picked up two pretty sheets of wrapping paper from a local gift shop (Mongrel) and grabbed a roll of silver wrapping paper while I was at it. Then I raided our gift closet for boxes and ribbon. I ended up having a ton of empty gift boxes and even had my fair share of pink and silver ribbon thanks to welcoming a baby girl six months ago (I’m totally that cheap-o who saves all the ribbon along with the boxes /bags from gifts that we receive over the years).
So my little stacks of eleven faux-gifts (since they’re just empty boxes that I wrapped for effect) were accomplished for the cost of the gift wrap (around $7 or so). I think they’re sweet and kind of vintage-ish, plus the fact that there’s a touch of yellow in some of the paper really works with our yellow rug in there. They’re so cute I’m thinking that I might save them and work them into the decor every year somehow…
And of course Mr. Concrete Greyhound now has his Christmas best on (read: I tied a gold ribbon that I already had around his neck, but don’t tell him that).
I also made little card stock tags for each stocking (John and I shared one labeled “Mom & Dad” so both Clara and Burger would have their own). Then I tied some extra ribbon around them so they relate to my little stacks of faux gifts. Took two minutes.
With the candles in the fireplace burning and the tree all plugged in it’s more festive than ever. I’m so glad we took the time to put things out, even if it’s only going to be enjoyed for a short time.
Are you guys decorating yet? It’s officially December so I feel a lot less odd about breaking out the holiday cheer. Is there anyone else who’s moving but still putting some stuff up to enjoy it just for a little while?
Psst- Check out a ton of holiday decorating and gifting ideas in this section of our Projects page. Ho, ho, ho.
Update: You can check out all of our favorite holiday decor finds here – many of which are under $15!
Our tree is up, but that’s it so far – looking forward to decking the halls this weekend with the hubby and baby (while it’s technically her second Christmas, she wa sonly 2 months old for her first, so I’m really looking forward to this one!)
Will you decorate for Christmas at your new home too or will you be too busy unpacking? Either way, I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas :-)
If one doesn’t have empty boxes, one could wrap books that one has on hand. That’s what we do, anyhow. :)
Ooh, great idea Megan!
xo,
s
You just won 10 points from me for identifying with my most scarring of childhood woes with the culottes….
Oh yeah, and your house is gorgeous. As always!!!
Simply love the decor! So sophisticated yet affordable :) Have a Merry Christmas Clara, Mommy & Daddy :)
LOVE this theme! The wrapped boxes are adorable and what an easy way to stick with a chosen color. Also can’t believe how different the stockings look this year with the slight embellishment change. So so so lovely….may all your Christmases be pink :)
We’re moving, but it’s literally happening this weekend so I decided that we would just wait until we got to the new house, go out and buy the largest tree we could find (Cathedral Ceilings!) and focus on finishing the one room where the tree is to enjoy during the Christmas season. The rest of the house can wait until 2011, right?
YES, we moved near Christmas, and I still set stuff up, everything actually that year! Sheesh, it was a lot of work but made the move easier emotionally, I think.
Yes, this year I put up three trees on Saturday. White tree with green snowflakes and frogs – I collect them and have wanted to have a frog tree for years! A green tree with only red ornaments, and another white tree with silver and crystal ornaments. The trio proudly stands in my front room.
I love the presents on the mantle, looks so great and festive!!
We have decked the halls at our place – and all the rooms too. ;) December is my absolute favorite month of the year!!
Very cute and economically creative! I enjoy seeing your budget-friendly DIY projects. Helps newlyweds, like myself, whose school loans seem to increase over time, instead of decrease (if you know what I mean *ahem* curses on the interest rates!)…keep the ideas comin’
I wish I could say I was done with my Christmas decorating but sadly I haven’t even started yet!
I love the idea of wrapping up boxes to use as decorations! Another way I like to use gift wrap to decorate, is to wrap up framed artwork and add some bows and tags. Color options are limitless, and it adds some festive holiday cheer to the walls on the cheapski.
http://fisilis.wordpress.com/2010/12/02/oh-christmas-tree/
I’ll be adding silver & turquoise giftwrap to all the frames in this room. Easy & inexpensive.
xo
Mindy
Hey guys! love your ideas for Christmas! I’ll be taking some of them for this CHristmas for sure :).
Question: DO you have any cool ideas for decorating our tree in our front yard? I’d like to make it look cool & elegant, but I’m kinda stumped, and I skimmed through your links and didn’t see anything specific to an outside tree…did I miss it somewhere or can you help me out?
thanks! :)
Maybe get giant plastic bulbs (in silver or turquoise – something bold and elegant and cool) and hang them all over the tree? You could add white lights (or even colored lights- blue lights with turquoise ornaments would be a cool monochromatic look). Good luck!
xo,
s
Yup my teenie house is up for sale and if I just so happen to be lucky enough to get it sold before the big day, I will be placing the newly put up tree (last night) into the moving truck (still decorated) and plugging it right in at the new place (…wait i still need that too!) oh ya and better make that 2 trees because theres one up at my bf’s as well.. I love the color scheme you guys did and best of luck on the move!.. If you’re interested check out my blog, pix will be going up soon! I went with the good ‘ol peacock scheme..
I’m the dork who called Home Depot the day after Thanksgiving and said, “Do you guys have trees yet?!?!” I figured while I was home from work for a long weekend, might as well put the tree up! I think Thanksgiving weekend’s a great time to decorate because you get to enjoy the tree more. The one drawback is that some local places you want to support aren’t ready yet–I wanted to buy a tree during the neighborhood church’s tree sale, but they weren’t available yet.
p.s. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas–I’m sure it will be extra special experiencing it through Clara’s eyes!
Very Chic!!! Love it. We started last weekend and still need to finish up during the rest of this week and this weekend. We love Christmas.
One of our fireplaces isn’t working (one day it will be gas) and I’ve been looking for a fireplace candleabra for months now but they’re SO expensive! Did you guys just pile a ton of candles on the “floor” of your fireplace? It looks so cozy!
We actually placed them in a silver tray just to keep them corralled. We’ve been burning them for years and it works like a charm!
xo,
s
Our Nashville townhouse is full of Christmas cheer (sans tree)! I’ve been itching to decorate since before Thanksgiving but held out. Our date night this evening includes picking out of first Christmas tree together. :)
I love the wrapped gifts on the mantle! What a good idea and easy, cheap way to incorporate your color scheme.
We used to sing that song all the time. The weird thing though…the lyrics are exactly the same except for the last line. The way I grew up singing it was “batmobile lost it’s wheel and Joker got away” Strange huh. I wonder where the song came from and which, if either, is the correct lyrics.
I am so impressed that you are decorating. I would be in the pack it all up mode. What a beautiful way to remember Clara’s first Christmas. Two kids with a stomach bug going on here. Not much decorating happening but a lot of clothes/sheet washing going on. susan
I LOVE the little stack of gifts on the mantle and the colours of the paper you used!
I noticed your fireplace doors are closed with the candles inside burning. Do you open the damper or keep it closed? Thanks.
We keep it closed. Hasn’t seemed to be an issue after years of doing it (we figure it’s just like burning candles in a room of your home without windows open).
xo,
s
Holidays are in full swing over here! Even had to rearrange the living room to accommodate the family shindig coming up. We had a marathon day filled with music and decorating – and I can’t help but toot my own horn with our tree this year because I just love staring at it!
http://midwestlovenest.wordpress.com/
The house looks lovely….but my favorite part is your greyhound statue! Where in the world did you get it? I want to get one for a loved one for Christmas…any ideas? Thanks a bunch!
Hey MC,
The greyhound is actually meant for a garden. I snagged for Sherry as a Valentine’s Day gift a few years ago from a local nursery called Great Big Greenhouse. But you could hopefully find something similar at a garden store near you.
-John
Lovely. Even if its for such a short time it is worth all your effort. I have already decorated and soon will be posting pics on our blog of my advent calendar collection and my partner lives in a 130 year old home and she will be posting about decorating too. Come visit us and see!
I love it when concrete greyhound gets all dressed up for Christmas :)
I guess you guy aren’t putting up outdoor Christmas lights this year, but I’d love to see a post on that. I foolishly thought I could handle putting pre-lit wreaths in our windows myself. Ha! No! Back to the drawing board…
We’d love to tackle that at the new casa next year!
xo,
s
Your decorations look amazing (even if there are only up for for a hot second;)). I really love the candles in your fireplace and would like something like this in our basement fireplace (read:old electric fireplace yuck). Are these candles flameless and where did you get them? And what did you use to arrange them? Thanks a million!
Hey Rachel,
The candles are real (from Target) and I just burned them down to get them to be those varied heights and placed them on a silver tray to keep them corralled.
xo,
s
I have yet to decorate. I feel so far behind the bloggy world! We get a real tree, so it will probably be another week or so before we do. I may decorate the outside this weekend, since I probably can’t decorate it all in one weekend! I love the simplicity of your mantel and that it’s not at all overdone. I think less is more when it comes to mantels! :)
ps- as predicted, I have the “whose that baby in the miiiiirror!” song stuck in my head. And I only watched that video once…
We had a much stupider version – Jingle bells, Batman smells, forty miles away, Blows his nose in cheerios and eats it twice a day!
Now that is totally different. Too funny!
xo,
s
Ugh, I know how you feel about having to pack it all up in a hot second again! We’re scheduled to move the first week of January, which means we’ll be doing most of our packing in a couple of weeks. I debated not even putting up the tree but decided last night that winter sucks hardcore and I’m in desperate need of some Christmas cheer!
Plus my Beagle always sleeps under the Christmas tree and that’s too adorable to miss out on. :)
Well I did not know what culottes were, but let me forewarn that the google image search should be on “safesearch” before looking that up! lol I think I have it figured out tho lol
Hahah, that’s hysterical! My culottes were of the modest variety!
xo,
s
Looks so festive! I just started decorating the other night, but we have yet to get our tree! I may have to try the cute gift wrapping idea, it looks so good!
I assumed they were! lol
Love the idea of wrapping empty boxes. I get really excited over things like creative packaging, so this would be a perfect way to wrap gifts that never have to be opened! Thanks for sharing the idea!
We’re remodeling and unfortunately the project went long. We replaced the floors, did some painting and now we’re replacing all the old yucky MDF baseboard and trim with wood. I am itching to put up our tree and decorate, but we have to finish all the baseboard first. In the meantime I’m listening to Christmas music CONSTANTLY and shopping online to feel festive. (Hopefully, the presents won’t arrive before I have room to wrap them!)
Jessica – me too! I did a search and was a little bit shocked. But I figured the real ones were the modest ones, lol
I don’t have a mantle or a tree this year! oh noo!!! haha i’m going to have to improvise — quick! <3
xoXOxo
We’re decorating this weekend!! Two-thirds of Christmas shopping done! All wrapped… just waiting for the tree this weekend. Yay!!
Ha ha, I had to Google “culottes,” too!
We sang both versions of the Batman Smells jingle at my school, but I think I heard “Joker got away” more often! I remember it even making it into the Simpsons Christmas Special, so who knows where the song came from?
Lovely job decorating, as usual. We’re not going to be home for the 2 weeks around Christmas and New Year’s, but I decorated my mantel anyway!
I love all of the pink touches. That would never fly in my house of boys, so I am going to live vicariously through you. Very cute!
I got my stocking holders from Pottery Barn and mine spells out “Joy”. I totally got it on sale 7 years ago for about 15$, my mom got the set “Peace” for about 20$. I was super excited when I moved in with my boyfriend and I was finally able to use my stocking holders. Since there is only two of us, and our tree is only 11inches tall, I hung a big penguin ornament from one of them to even it out so the hook wouldn’t feel so lonely :). I can’t find ones that look like mine anywhere else now-a-days.
With our first baby due on December 15th, I’ve had holiday fever since October. “Ella Fitzgerald Holiday” has been my go-to Pandora station, I dressed my dog up as a Christmas tree for Halloween, and I put our tree up the first week of November. My husband thinks I’ve lost my mind. And now, seeing all of this in black and white print in front of me, I think he might be right. Merry Christmas, Petersik’s!
One year my “faux” wrapped present/decoration actually was a gift which was right under my niece’s nose the whole time! On Christmas day a scavanger hunt led her to her present. She was very surprised!
TOTALLY started as soon as our Thanksgiving guests left! I have a couple projects still waiting-to-be-posted, and others that are waiting-to-be-finished (why must Michael’s be so far away?!) And tree this weekend! Can’t wait.
But here’s my start: Peace Wreath! http://candyskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/12/wishing-you-very-hippie-holidays-peace.html
Can you PRETTY PLEASE tell me where you got that lovely You + Me print?? I would love to have it for my home :)
Hey Holly E,
Here’s that link for ya: https://www.younghouselove.com/2008/01/you-and-me-baby/
xo,
s
Love your decoration ideas!
Like you guys, we got our tree early (a few days before Thanksgiving) but didn’t decorate until after. This is going to be our first Christmas together so we didn’t really have any decor and had to go out and get some. We picked up a real tree (first I’ve had since I was a child), ornaments from Target ($15/100pc), a few yards (okay, a LOT..I didn’t realize how much I got so now I’m left with tons leftover which will be good for projects) of burlap for the tree skirt, we got a Kurt Adler tree topper, and had a few Hallmark ornaments I had been collecting. We got our stockings from a shop on Etsy in lieu of the cable-knit Pottery Barn stockings so I’m very happy with our purchase though we’re still waiting for them. We have two dogs (one still just a puppy) so I’m not sure how much we’ll decorate without worrying about it being destroyed..we’re terrified about leaving presents out. I can’t wait to start baking/making treats though!
Love, love, loving the presents! That paper is so pretty. Question: are those faux/battery-powered candles in the fireplace? I love the glow they give.
Nope, they’re real ones from Target. Love them.
xo,
s
You may want to decide and settle on how you will decorate and handle the gift-giving and rest of the holiday traditions now, while she’s too young to understand what’s happening. Once she reaches the age of two or three and can recall the prior Christmas, she will likely want everything to be done EXACTLY the same way in the following years, down to what’s on the mantle, the location of the tree, etc.
Or maybe my two kids were just overly obsessive about the holidays?
p.s. I save ALL my ribbons, too! Our wedding registries were at Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn, so I have an endless supply of forest green grosgrain ribbons for Christmas (w-s), and light green cotton ones (pb) for baby showers!