Welcome To My Little Christmas Nest...

Okay, so it's no secret now that I love to decorate for Christmas. Did you know that I like to decorate outside as well?

No, I do not do outdoor lights like The Griswold's, but I do have a flamingo. It's pretty special. It has a hat. It's head moves. It's cord is carefully covered with strategically placed leaves. It's strongly secured to the ground with a cinder block. Yeah, I'm classy that way. Haggie seems quite smitten by her, doesn't he?

Every Christmas I hang my outdoor lighted garlands. They're battery timed, so I put them up there and they do the rest, like clockwork. Easy peasy. The wreath on the courtyard gate is the same. For the window and door, I purchase a fresh cut wreath from Costco. They're such a good deal, it's a no brainer. Although I have an artificial tree, I love the smell of fresh cut pine-- so this is how I get my fix!

Okay, this is my favorite Christmas decorating tip: visit your local Christmas tree lot and ask them if they have any branches they want to get rid of. Some people like to trim the bottom branches off their tree before they leave the lot. The guy at the tree lot I went to keeps a "free, help yourself" pile. I get free greens, and he doesn't have to cart them to the dump. It's a win-win. I like to snuggle the pine greens into my existing planters.

Even the fairy garden gets a little fluffed up with pine.

The front door to my little nest. Welcome! Please come in...

This is just inside the entry of my house, hence the picnic basket full of shoes. I love this old vintage dresser. It has lots of storage, and what little nest doesn't need more of that? I use to store my shoes in there when I came in the door, so they wouldn't be piled all over. However, I eventually found that I wanted to use the prime real estate in those drawers for other things.

A few of my favorite little things... I've always loved pine greens with red roses. Can you imagine how great this would smell if they were real?!

I love The Polar Express, and so I went nuts when I saw this Polar Express bell. It's an ornament, but I like to place it near the book. I love the story, and the graphics of the book and animation. One year I went to the 3-D version of the film at the Imax Theater downtown with friends. I loved the snowflakes...

I have this little Christmas pennant hanging on my lamp. My fabulous friend Debra made it, and I love it!

Okay, I know that you've seen this room(s) before, but I just need you to note the size of this room. Okay, now picture it with twelve people, a baby, and a large dog. That is what this room was like the other night when I had my family over. My family is much larger than twelve people, but not everyone lives near. Last night was the first time I've ever had my family over for a holiday celebration. I've always lived in tiny apartments, so it was impossible. It was really fun and special to have them over to my place during a holiday season... finally. I baked a bundt. (Isn't that just so retro/vintage? Hee hee! It was chocolate and I served it with toppings!)

Haggie loved that everyone came over just to see him. He was able to show off his new Christmas light bulb squeaky toy, and let my niece's adorable six month old baby boy sit on his back like a baby monkey on a pig's back. (We changed the words to the song... "baby Brennan, baby Brennan, riding on Haggie's back... Baby Brennan!) Ah, good times had by all at The Little Nest!

Hugs,