Christmas at CottageModern

With a new baby in the house, by necessity my Christmas decorating was slightly minimized.  This was a bit painful, as I love to deck the house out for the holidays!  That said, I told myself that it might be the last year for a long time that I get to have things the way I want them :), so I made a point to get out all of my fancy breakables and load the tree down with sparkle and shine!

We went to pick out the tree this year, and I had in mind something a bit scraggly with lots of random branches sticking out everywhere.  I wanted it to be "not so perfect", and although my husband thought I was crazy, within minutes I spotted what I was after.  Too bad it was 12' tall.  Even though we have standard 8' ceilings, I wasn't going to let that stop me, and had one of of the workers do some minor "remodeling" to get it down to about 7 1/2 feet.  I love how it turned out, and how it looks all decked out in turquoise and green!

I'm not allowed to buy any more tree ornaments.  This is what I'm telling myself since its become clear that I have more than I can even use.  My problem is after-Christmas sales.  Every ornament on my tree was either a gift, or purchased at 70 - 90% off at the end of the season.  Its become evident that I'm unable to control myself when things are that deeply discounted, but we'll see what happens this year :)

I felt like I needed to change my mantle up a little bit for the season.  Last year, I did decorated it like this, and I'm ashamed to say that it stayed like this for the entire year (except for the hanging balls and ribbon):

I like the symmetry of the new mantle, and the lanterns and candles add a nice ambiance when lit.

I love this winter white owl, and am delighted to finally have this hearth tiled.  Last year, it was unfinished with exposed concrete, and this year my dad finished it out for me in this nice marble subway. He did a great job, and its nice to have another project checked off the list.

I did have a few more touches of Christmas around this house, including this wreath I made a few years ago, but mostly I focused my efforts where I was able--because I only have short windows of time these days, it took me a week to get that tree decorated!  Thanks for stopping by for this little Christmas tour!