Thursday, December 3, 2020

christmas in my living room

Hello friends, hope you all are well and doing the best you can during this pandemic. Just about every day I hear about someone else I know that's Covid positive. Even for those of us who are (thankfully) not ~ and I know that could change on a dime ~ sometimes the stress and anxiety of living through this tough time can get unnerving. 

Thanksgiving this year was just the two of us at home. We found a stuffed turkey tenderloin at Trader Joe's, and then I made mashed potatoes, bourbon corn casserole, Brussels sprouts with pecans, and cranberry-orange relish. After that delicious meal, we went for a quick walk, then came back home to have a Zoom meeting with extended family. It was lovely, but different


The day after Thanksgiving, Brian brought up the couple of boxes of Christmas decor from the basement and I laid most of it out on the coffee table. The next few days were spent putting touches of decor around the house; mainly in the living room and kitchen. Nothing fancy with my Christmas decor. I like to keep it as simple as possible. To be honest, the first couple of days, I was ready to throw my hands up and say forget it. Between removing regular decor and bringing it all down to the basement (lots of trips), and playing around with where to put all the Christmas decor in the house, I was getting frustrated. Some people find this relaxing and enjoyable, I know. The funny thing is, I usually love puttering with decor. But this year...I just wasn't feeling it.


Now that it's done, I am enjoying it, so it's all good. Thought I'd show you the simple touches around my small living room. This is the "entryway" when you come in through the front door. We've been putting up a table top tree for the past 11 years instead of a regular sized tree. In the past, we put the tree on top of the buffet in our living room. But we got rid of the buffet this year and now the only place we had room for even a tabletop tree was the bench in the entryway.


The teardrop shelf you see on the wall to the left holds a vintage Christmas postcard.


I love these vintage wooden Santa bells that I found last year in an antique shop.


Brian's coworker gifted him with this pretty cardinal lantern that lights up and has sparkly glitter floating around.


Just one Christmas pillow on the sofa this year. Oh ~ I moved the sofa from its original diagonal position to under the opening where the old sofa used to be. It works much better for the room this way. That ugly IKEA chair you see poking out will hopefully soon be relinquished to the basement. I've been looking everywhere online (including FB Marketplace) for a blue velvet armchair. No luck so far. The few chairs I found that I did like were overpriced.


The corner stand is new. I ordered it online from Target.



This is one of the Christmas decorations that truly means something to me and gets displayed every year. I got it at a craft fair back in the early 90's.


Sorry for the angled photos of the fireplace, but our living room is so small, that if I backed up enough to take a straight-on photo, I'd crash into the coffee table. Even if I moved the coffee table, there's the couch. Though I suppose that would result in a softer landing. I shouldn't even joke about that. I've tripped over things and fallen three times within the past couple of months. I'm notoriously klutzy and all three times, I wasn't being mindful. Trying to do several things at one time and not paying attention to the task at hand. No worries, I'm fine. 


 I kept the mantel simple with bottle brush trees and angels on one side of the mirror.


Wish the fairy lights were brighter for my daytime photos, but it's been sunny here the past few days so the lights don't show up. That's OK ~ I'll take the sunshine any day!


The table beside the couch holds a vintage sleigh and ornaments...


while the shelving unit above the table gets a little bit of adornment.



I'll be back soon with photos of Christmas decor in my kitchen. Thanks for stopping by! 
Be well and safe. 💓


18 comments:

  1. Melanie I am right there with you on Covid. I think we are all trying hard to find ways to feel joy and festive this Christmas without our "normal" holiday traditions.
    I love all your decor. I like that cute tree in the entryway. Hope all your decorations going up are making you feel some sense of joy and fun. xoxo Kris

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  2. Oh your place looks so nice.

    I only have my tree up - I am so unmotivated but looking at your photos, is stirring something in me...hopefully I will decorate a bit more.

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  3. Love those cute Santa bells. I've never seen anything like them. When I'm taking photos I too back into furniture because there just isn't enough room.
    Brenda

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  4. Melanie, you always make your home so pretty and comfy. Your blog name really suits your home ❤️
    I’ve been wondering how your Trader Joe turkey was, I’m glad your meal was delicious.
    We usually go to Branson for my birthday but I’m just not comfortable with that at all this year, maybe we will go to OKC and I’ll shop at the Trader Joe’s. Any food recommendations there?

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  5. P.S. that cardinal lantern is so nice

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  6. Melanie, I really love how you decorated your mantel, the only word I have is "charming" . . . otherwise I'm speechless. Thank you for your kind words; I know that you know what I'm going through. It's so hard, but I'll walk through it day by day.
    Wishing you a Merry Little Christmas.
    Oh, your Thanksgiving dinner looks and sounds amazing.

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  7. Your place looks lovely. I love the cardinal lantern that Brian got from the co-worker.
    We decorated the day after Thanksgiving and it was very relaxing. Of course, I have gotten rid of quite a few of our decorations over the years due to being a minimalist. But the tree sat for days before we finally decorated it. I have to say I am enjoying this laid back attitude toward decorating. Maybe it's because I know I really have nowhere to be, so there isn't any rush. There is the positive of all of this, I guess. :)

    Love your cozy home. :)

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  8. I love your house, Melanie, and it's always fun to see how you decorate. You find the cutest things. I felt the same way about bringing up all the Christmas boxes and finding it overwhelming at first. I plowed through, and I'm happy I did. My granddaughter was exposed to Covid at school, and today she tested positive. She's not showing any symptoms, and she's the only one in the family to test positive. First time it's hit so close to home. Looking forward to seeing more of your Christmas decorations.

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  9. I've known people who can easily switch out decor for any holiday or celebration. Always amazed me that it seemed to be such an easy task, when for me it would be just a big pain in the butt. Everything you've done looks really pretty and fits right in with your decor rather than screaming for attention. I like that. Take care. Stay safe.

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  10. Dear Melanie ~ your place looks lovely decorated for Christmas. I hope to get started maybe tomorrow. Happy Christmas month ~ FlowerLady

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  11. Hi Melanie - Everything looks just right! I love simple and am trying to keep our Christmas decor simple this year. Less is truly more. I love the new couch and corner unit from Target. Everything looks great. Glad you had a nice Thanksgiving. Ours was just the three of us here - hubby, college-son and me, with electronic messages from other family members. Hope you have a good weekend.

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  12. I always enjoy your decorations. Tasteful and simple, they're perfect.

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  13. Melanie, your entrance is so pretty! You've arranged all your Christmas touches so beautifully. That darling cardinal lantern is just right among your darling tree and those quaint Santa bells. I love your new sofa, I bet you're so glad to have it in time for the holidays.

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  14. I think your house looks warm and inviting. I try every year to eliminate more decorations, and this year I don't think I was able to get rid of a thing. Our tree is yet to go up, maybe this weekend but everything else is up and hopefully making our house look festive. Stay safe.

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  15. It all looks very nice. I love the Santa bells and the cardinal lantern! I love cardinals. We put up our tree Saturday. It's pre-lit and I've got the tree skirts around it and the topper but no ornaments yet. Sunday I thoroughly cleaned our entry hall (moved the hall table and scrubbed the tiled entry on hands and knees) and put out the nativity set and Advent candles. That's all I've done so far but I'll do the rest bit by bit over the next week or so. I really do love decorating for Christmas.

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  16. Everything looks so nice and festive. I always feel like you do when I'm in the middle of decorating. Somehow once it's done and order is restored it takes on a new appeal. I like your new corner shelf from Target. It looks great there. One of my favorite things is that little teardrop shelf in your entry. The sweet little vintage post card is perfect there.

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  17. I love all of your touches, Mel, and I would never think your living room as being small by the photos you take. I did laugh when you said you had fallen three times recently~~~ You know I just broke my leg in September just walking down steps! Then last week I got up from a chair in my den and gently pushed the ottoman away with my foot, it tipped over and I fell over with it! I ended up with a rug burn on my knee and they are nasty. You really have to follow the doctor's orders to keep it from getting infected and to heal 🙄

    Speaking of furniture, unfortunately, velvet is super trendy right now in some circles. My hair salon has a beautiful olive green velvet sofa in the reception area along with a Persian rug, and it had my little design wheels going. You might get what you want by finding a good, sturdy chair on Craig's List and then finding an upholsterer with a good rep and price. I have two chairs I'm considering. Shhhhhhh...

    Our Thanksgiving was just us as well. The dishes you made are interesting. Were they passed down or are they recipes you've used and loved? I made a ten pound turkey because we love the leftovers~Al for sandwiches, me for soups, casseroles, etc. I'm thinking of a beef fillet for Christmas, again the two of us, but he'll probably want the turkey. I'll surprise him!!! ;-D

    Covid is all over the place. I really didn't know too many who caught it back in the spring, but seriously, it's all around me now. My two son in laws and daughter in law had it but my three kids, their spouses, tested negative. How odd. They still quarantined from their spouses. They may have had it but didn't have symptoms and were over it when they tested. Al and I have had head and chest cold for over three weeks, nothing more or less. But last Friday I woke up with a headache-which I never have, and body aches. I got into a drive-thru testing place and tested negative on the rapid test, and then got the diagnostic lab test results yesterday-negative. I DO not want to catch it, but now I feel I'm back in the rat race. I do my errands: groceries, Walgreens, a bit of hopping around the room at my daughters houses with the mask on, and I'm very much into my masks, hand sanitizers and out of the way of people.

    Take care my friend. Looking forward to seeing more of your decorations and I want your Christmas menu!

    Jane🎄

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  18. I agree on the will to decorate being faint in me this year. I usually want it all out and move it around willy nilly till it feels right. This year I am a slug. However I got it done!

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