Red and White and Close to Finished

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It’s that time of year again where I push myself to get a bunch of things done, spin out of energy, get a cold that won’t go away, and the days disappear. Otherwise known as winter.

Oh, and the asshole squirrel is back and trying to get in the house again as of this morning, so there will be more updates on that little mofo soon.

In brighter and happier news though, I am making progress on my red and white Christmas tree in the living room. I have settled on a white/silver/gold/red color scheme, and while it’s not quite finished exactly where I want everything (because I can’t seem to stop futzing with it), I expect to put the ornaments down and call it done sometime this weekend.

I haven’t really done color themes for the tree in the past, and that’s because I have far too many weird and wacky ornaments from my Old World Christmas collection to really fit with a theme of any kind. Now that I’ve decided to part with that tradition for something different this year, I had to go out and purchase a few new ornaments that would tie together. Except I’m used to just throwing ornaments on the tree in a drunken fashion, so I don’t really have this whole balanced-and-magazine-worthy tree decorating thing figured out. Which is also making a huuuuuge mess, but the creative experimenting been fun.

Small tip: I was messing with this tree for a while until I decided that I would try the lets-have-wine-and-see-what-happens approach. Decorating while intoxicated works, right? Only I talked myself out of it since I’d read somewhere that says you shouldn’t drink alcohol when you’ve been taking cold meds, so I instead gave my tree the side-eye until I realized that my mistake was making the tree not personal enough. In my efforts to make the tree perfect, I had forgotten about all of the sentimental fun. So, I have been slowly incorporating my personal collection back into the display little by little (to my surprise, there were far more ornaments I already had that fit the color scheme), and it seems to be working out much better than expected.

As for the rest of my OWC collection, it and the other family ornaments are still going to go on a tree, just not the one in the living room. I resurrected my old tree from last year and put it in the newly painted kitchen. As you can see, half of it is burnt out (as a pre-lit tree, I knew this day would eventually come), but I’ve been trying to save it with some help from a nifty light-checking tool that a manufacturer sent me to see if it would help.* It seems to be working so far, but I think some of the strings are simply beyond saving, so I’ll have to put some new lights in those areas (I am too lazy to remove the old lights wrapped around the branches, but I will still put new lights on).

I’m also working on a few projects outside to make the front entryway more festive, but more to come on that soon. The ruby red snapdragons and lacy-soft dusty miller I planted around the mailbox earlier in the fall have been beautifully maintenance free, and they look color-perfect for the holiday season. One of the few things I have ever planted that turned out exactly the way I wanted!

I’m working on a crafty project for the mantel and dining room table, but I’ve yet to see one of the pieces turn out successfully, so I’ll keep ya posted on it when it’s either up and glittery and a Christmas miracle or embedded into the drywall. Technically, I consider it decoration either way.

*FYI, this post is not sponsored.