touches of christmas and a taste of winter weather

Hello! I'm finally getting around to showing you some of my Christmas decorating. I keep it simple because I'm the only one doing it, and frankly, as I get older, I just don't have the inclination or energy to go all-out with the holiday decorating. Truth be told, after all the decorating was done, I still thought it was too much. In the back of my mind was, "Why did I bother?" I guess I did it for myself, because the menfolk around here don't seem to care either way. 

I took this shot of the front porch last week when the weather was still mild. We had picked up a couple of branches of that gorgeous winterberry at an outdoor market. Nothing fancy - just stuck it in a metal planter with some pine branches (purchased at Home Depot) and called it a day. I didn't know how to preserve the winterberry, so I read online to use a few inches of anti-freeze in the planter. Of course, this isn't a good idea if you have dogs around, since they might try to drink from it. 

The wreath on the front door has now been replaced with a fresh boxwood wreath, which I got at Trader Joes. It's plain - it needs a pretty bow and some pine cones or something else on it, but I haven't gotten around to decorating it yet. Who knows, it may never get decorated. Oh well, it's pretty as-is and will last long past Christmas. Adds a nice winter touch to the front door. In the meantime, this faux wreath is now hanging on the side door. 

We got our first measurable snow storm on Sunday, dumping 5" of wet, heavy snow. The winterberry looked so pretty peeking out from the blanket of snow.

The first snow is always so pretty and peaceful, especially when it outlines the tree branches. Now two days later, most of the snow is melted already.

I smiled when I saw the purple coneflower. It looked like each one was wearing a little pom-pom. 

Back inside, here's what's going on in the living room. This is our official Christmas tree. We haven't put up a big tree ever since Phil passed away. This will be our 8th Christmas without him, which is so hard to believe. The only ornaments I hang on this tree are some of the ones from Phil and Tim's childhood. To this day, I still buy Tim a "son" ornament every year. Hopefully, someday when he has his own place and decorates his own tree, he'll appreciate this special collection of ornaments.

On the entryway table, I kept things simple with just a few woodland decorations.

I also added holiday touches on and around the ladder bookshelf.

A closer look at the shelves: 

A holiday sprig and stash of mini ornaments in the pottery...

A sparkly butterfly handmade by my dear blogger friend, Penny of

 At Home in English Valley...

An angel under a cloche...

Couple of vintage-looking ornaments peeking out of more pottery...

A picture frame of photos from when Phil and Tim were little, a family ornament and a Christmas candle...

On the bottom shelf, a vintage-looking car ornament (Michaels) and a vase full of blue and copper ornaments.

 Later in the week, I'll show you the little Christmas touches in my kitchen.

See you then!