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It's been a long time since I wrote a blog post and a lot has happened! The biggest thing is that my hubby and I built a house and relocated to Coastal North Carolina! It was a huge decision and a lot of work to move out of our big house in Tennessee and start over in North Carolina.
We left Tennessee in July with a loaded Uhaul and 2 pods full of boxes to begin our new adventure. We rented a condo and settled in to wait for our house to be finished. We sold almost all of our furniture before moving, so we spent time looking for new furniture and decor and dreaming of how our house would look when it was all finished. (There might be a blog post in the future about how we furnished the new house!)
Finally in November, we closed on our new house and started the process of moving in and getting settled. We closed the week before Thanksgiving and my "mini" was coming to spend the holiday with us, so I had to work fast.
We got the basics moved in and set up before she arrived and we had a quiet, low key holiday, complete with Black Friday shopping and a boat regatta!
Once Thanksgiving was over, my mind quickly turned to both unpacking and decorating for Christmas. All of our kids were coming to spend our first Christmas with us in our new home. Seven extra people in our 3 bedroom home. I wanted it to be perfect.
I sold our old Christmas tree when we got here because it was a 12 ft. tree and I have 9 foot ceilings, so I was starting basically from scratch. I had a couple of pencil trees that I moved with us that I put to use first, to get the ball rolling.
I have TONS of ornaments and decorations, so I had everything that I needed except trees. I love the smell and look of a real tree, but I hate the mess and the expense of it. As a result of our move, I have become quite a Facebook Marketplace shopper and found the first tree that I bought on Marketplace. I don't remember how much I paid for it, but it wasn't much. It is flocked and sparkles---that is a nice way of saying that it leaves a trail of snow and glitter all around it, but I am going to be honest, it is my favorite. If I could leave it up all year, I think I would. I grabbed some shiny and glittery picks from Hobby Lobby's 70% off sale and it became my whimsical tree. I added a fun flashy light to the top to complete the look.
I mentioned my happy place #HobbyLobby earlier. That was my next stop for my "main" tree. I had seen a beautiful tree on their floor, but it was over $700 and that was a little rich for my blood. Thankfully, trees are part of the 70% off sale, so I got my tree for about $200.
It is one of the prettiest artificial trees that I have ever seen. The branches just fell into place and it is prelit. I decorated it with all things that we already had, things my kids made, things I made when I was a child and even some things that my mom made. I love spending the time to look at the ornaments and remember where they came from. It is one of my favorite parts of the holidays.
I won't lie, we weren't even sure where we would put a full size tree. We were having a large built in added to our family room that would not allow room for a tree. One evening I glanced out to our sunroom, where my office is and realized that I could
move some furniture and put the tree in that room. It makes me particularly happy because it is right at the end of my desk, so I get to enjoy it all day while I am working.
I'd spent a lot of time looking at things on Pinterest and had a picture of what I wanted for my kitchen decorations. Honestly, I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I used little 70% off wreaths that I grabbed at Hobby Lobby and some buffalo plaid ribbon that I had on hand and pulled it all together. Like any good Southern mama, I'll put a bow on anything that isn't moving and my cabinet doors were no exception. I love the little extra touch with the bows on the pendant lights and the wreath on the china cabinet.
Of course, I have my mom's nativity that I put up every year and the Willow Tree nativity that she bought for me. I wouldn't be Christmas without remembering the reason for the season. I also "repaired" a few of the things that she had every year at Christmas that I remember from my childhood.
It was very exciting to decorate my new space this year. It's time to take it down and that makes me a little sad. If you know me, you know that it isn't uncommon for me to be rushing to get my tree down before Valentine's Day, but this year it is coming down early. There are repairs that need to be done in my house next week, and I don't want these things to be in the way, so it is time to pack them up.
Never fear, though, Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I think I will put a little more effort than normal in decorating for that. There are also big projects in the house in the works. I will drag you all along on those projects. I've got big plans for 2023 and I hope you will hang with me while I do them all. Faith, health, cooking, decorating and crafting are all on my list. I hope you will walk through 2023 with me!
I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season with your family and I pray for each of you that 2023 is your best year ever!
Until next time,
Frances