Christmas decorating

Okay. If you know me well enought to be reading this blog, then you probably know that decorating is NOT one of my talents. I have no vision for it whatsoever. NONE. For the sake of my family, though, I'm trying.

Here's what I did this Christmas:



I made the wreath (bought the wreath and bow and put the bow on the wreath. Done. So clever, I know.)
I painted the letters J-O-Y (just don't look too closely, please.)
I redid the bow on my BELIEVE glass block from red to gold, put nuts and a candle in a tall glass vase and put a bow on it.
And--here's the big one--I made new stockings.
Our stockings were mismatched and ugly. What I really wanted were the cable knit stockings from Pottery Barn, but who wants to spend $30 on a stocking? And no one else had any that were similar. SOOO, I made them. I bought some sweaters at a thrift store, cut them up, lined them with fleece, and sewed them into stockings.

I must stay, I'm feeling pretty darn good about myself. Honestly, I was impressed. I think they turned out pretty well, and I was totally flying by the seat of my pants on that one. No pattern, no tutorial, no anything but a picture and an idea. None of them are exactly the same shape, but...who cares? They are cozy and soft and (almost) exactly what I wanted for less than 1/4th the price. Sweet.




Something's still not quite right about that candle in the vase...but I don't have any mental energy left to figure it out or fix it. Maybe next year.

These very simple projects took an embarrasing amount of time and energy. I have to work hard, REALLY hard, at any kind of decorating. What can I say...I love my kids?!