Bottle Brush Tree Mantle

This Christmas season feels rushed. I didn’t think it would be a big deal that we had one less weekend in between Thanksgiving and Christmas but it sure did make a difference. This holiday season I didn’t do my typical set up. I put decorations that I already had in new places like the mantle and I really liked the way it turned out. I think I spent a majority of my time organizing my decor rather than actually putting it out. We live in an old farmhouse in the middle of a hay field and we are constantly battling mice in the barn and house. I know it’s disgusting but it’s a reality of living in an old house. For the most part we have not had a mouse in a really long time (our streak ended last weekend)  but keeping them out of the barn is a different story. A couple of my Christmas bins were not sealed all the way shut and a mouse made itself at home in there. What wasn’t destroyed was cleaned and sterilized and repackaged into a new tote. So I guess maybe I just answered my own question as to why I didn’t put up most of my decor haha.

We call our living room the “Christmas room” for obvious reasons. It is so cozy in here with the plaid carpets and deep green walls. We spend a lot of our winter evenings in this room next to the fire. This room is special because it just holds Christmas so well. You can put up everything or just the tree and some decor on the mantle and it still feels like Christmas. It was also featured in the December 2017 Country Living Magazine which is an experience that will always be special to me.
It’s taken me a while to figure out how we actually use this room but now that we have the duo couches and chairs to pull up for guests this is kind of the “crash pad” room. I’m still trying to figure out what to do with the bare wall next to the TV and I’m contemplating adding a desk area there. TBD. The hard part with this room is everything is off center. The entrance to the room is not even with the fire place and the room is long and narrow. After the holidays I will probably rearrange everything again because it always seems so bare without the tree up.

Back to Christmas decor. This year I just didn’t feel like taking anything down. So if decor could fit where things were already up then that is where it went. I set just a few of these trees on the mantle as I was unpacking my ornaments and I loved the way the green looked against the burnt oranges and pinks. I decided to fill the mantle with the rest of these bottle brush trees and call it a day. I can’t find my stocking holders anywhere and they were a bit more than what I wanted to pay at Target so I’m waiting for them to go on sale and I’ll probably hang my stockings Christmas Eve.

Clearly I am in no way a minimalist but this year I just wanted to keep it stress free and simple. Every year I seem to buy more and more Christmas decor and this year I made do with what I had with the exception of a few vintage pieces here and there. I always treat myself to a new box or two of Shiny Brites to make up for the few casualties that seem to happen every year.

What about you? Did you go all out this year or keep it simple? I’m off to finally put up my wreaths on the outside of the house.