Homemade Living: Hand-Me-Down Christmas Decorating

As soon as Thanksgiving was over, I got to work on my Christmas decorating. I like a really festive, cozy look for the holidays, but don't want to go too over the top. And with our kitten, Gizmo, around this year we can't do too much anyway because he is into everything! My solution for crazy Gizmo was to put as much as possible out of his reach, and place ornaments in bowls instead of hanging them from a tree.

Most of the decorations I like to put out this time of year were passed down to me from my grandma so it's very much a hand-me-down Christmas, which is just the way I like it.

This is on top of the vintage cabinet in the bathroom where Gizmo can't reach! I got the cute elf ornament and vintage ornament beside it from my grandma, and I created a small display with my bottle brush trees and some epsom salt. I also put our little silver tree with red ornaments up here. It's our first tree we ever bought as a married couple and I love putting it out every year.

I placed some red ornaments in an old colander handed down from my grandma, and changed out our glass mannequin head's summer hat for a winter sock cap (we call her Sheila haha). Sheila is kind of an eccentric part of our decor, but I love her! I also placed garland and ornaments on top of the mantle with some ornaments below in my egg bucket. Pinecones inside a picnic basket look so festive, and my cute reindeer from David's grandma completes the scene. This mantle is where our electric fireplace goes, but we took it out when we were installing the new floors and haven't replaced it yet. But I kind of like it empty!

When I was visiting my grandma yesterday we took a trip up to her attic. She has so much stuff she's collected over the years and is trying to give it away, so I always leave her house with a few things to bring home. She gave me this gorgeous quilt that she made herself many years ago when my grandpa had to work late nights. She worked on quilts to give her something to do and keep herself busy. I just love pieces with history behind them - so special! I also brought home some cute vintage ornaments that I strung up on the headboard as a garland. Our "headboard" is actually just two old shutters that David's grandpa was throwing out that we attached horizontally to the wall behind the bed!

My grandma also gave me this ceramic tree a few years back and I love putting it out each Christmas. And last year, she gave us a silver tree with a color wheel! We put that up this year and so far Gizmo hasn't messed with it too much, so I think we'll be able to keep it up. I've caught him just sitting and watching the colors change as the wheel turns. I think he's mesmerized by it!

Have you begun your holiday decorating yet?

~Tammy

This week in the Homemade Living series, I am joined by Mary and Jackie in posting about how we incorporate homemade items into our lives. Next week Daisy, Staci, and Sue will be up. If you have some free time, please check out the other posts in this weekly series!