0 Getting Festive for the Holidays!

The holiday countdown has begun!  Only one week left until Christmas, so I thought I would share with you a couple of easy tricks that I did around the homestead to cheer things up a bit.  Little bits of festive decor placed throughout the home, ensures it's not overdone, but reminds you that the Santa Clause is coming to town!  So, take a peak at the simple things that anyone can do, to add a splash of holiday love.

Of course we started by trimming the tree!  And yes, every year we go back to our favorite tree farm to snag a real live Christmas tree, nothing beats the smell of fresh pine!  Candles can supplement, but to me, a real tree is a must Jones Family tradition.  Another tradition, purchasing a new ornament for the tree each year.  Here is the one for 2009, a delightful snowflake!

Next I found some leftover sparkling snowflake ornaments and thought they would look really great glimmering in front of our living room mirror, so a dab of hot glue did just the trick, and they really do gleam in the light!  It's a nice little touch, and the glue comes off nice and easy when it's time to take them down.

 

Next I  moved to the kitchen table centerpiece.  This is just a typical glass fish bowl filled with some smaller Christmas bulbs and centered with a pillar candle.  Then, I placed the bowl in the center of a bamboo platter.  It's a nice little layering effect, that really pops in the center of the table!  This could be done with any kind of vase filler, such as beads, rice, glittered pine cones, etc... easy peasy!  I used the same concept for Thanksgiving when I filled the same bowl with cranberries:

 

Moving on to the storage unit we have placed in front of our large living room window.  Here, I just placed two little snowman figures (which were actually salt and pepper shakers), next to another candle holder filled yet again, with Christmas bulbs:

Then, I flanked the other side, by placing a snow globe on top of a stack of books:

Then, I filled a mini hurricane vase with some yummy candy canes for the kiddos, and placed it up high to avoid sneaky fingers from getting a hold of them too early:

 

But it doesn't stop there!  I saw my candelabra hanging above the stairs, looking lonely and empty, so I replaced the tea-lights with little silver Christmas bulbs, yet again sticking with the Christmas bulb theme! 

Of course, it truly wouldn't be complete until the stockings are hung over the fireplace:

I truly heart the snowflake stocking holders, which anchor to the fireplace to hold the stockings in place.  And, to add a little extra glitz and glamor, I placed these simple snowflake ornaments on the hooks as well, and made small notecards for each member of the family, as to "label" who's stocking is who's:

Another Jones family tradition is to have the kiddos make the all so classic paper chain!  Counting down the days until Santa arrives!  Gotta love the easy projects that only consist of construction paper, scissors and glue:

 

So, that is a couple of things we did around the house inside.  But what is the first thing you see before entering the home?  The front door!

I picked up a simple stick wreath from a local fabric store, for $4 on clearance, along with some stick snowflakes, which I had planned to stick on the wreath to dress it up.  I also had some ribbon leftover from decorating the tree to use as well.  I wrapped the ribbon around the wreath and stuck in the snowflakes:

Pretty, but still a little too plain for me... it was missing something.  So, I took it a step further, and added some personalization.  I took a cardboard snowflake purchased from a scrapbook store,  added some white paint and glitter, along with a black J for Jones!  And voila, a more finished look!

 

So, to say happy holidays, we finished up the day taking some family photos for the Christmas card!  Thank you tripod for cooperating and snapping a good shot!

 

So, please do tell, what types of things do you to to glam up your home for the holidays?  Any quick and easy tips you could share with other readers and myself?

Update:  Per your request, here is a snapshot of the completed Christmas tree!  Nothing too creative to report here, just stuck with a pretty plain silver and white theme, let the kids place all the ornaments where they could reach and added some ribbon up top for our "star".  

Without further ado, our tree: