Christmas In The Living and Dining Room 2015

I figured if I waited for the sun to come out for some decent photos, I'd be posting Christmas decor in March.  It has been raining nonstop for two days.  Apparently the weather gods wanted to remind us that we live in Oregon.

Lately, I've been hearing about people trolling Christmas house tours online, and how it's making them feel less than stellar about their own decor.

I read somewhere today that a woman was actually falling into a depression because she felt her house didn't live up to Blogland.

I'm a wee bit excessive when it comes to decorating for Christmas, but none of it is fancy, and it certainly isn't expensive.

I've been reusing the same stuff for years, with only a few things added in here and there.

I haven't bought a single thing this year, other than my .99 cent Black Friday Home Depot poinsettias and $6 garland for outside.

You'll spot lots of Dollar Store ball ornaments, cheap DIY projects, pillow covers sewn from random things in my stash, and tons of fresh greenery, that I scavenge in my yard and around the neighborhood.

So hopefully, the Santa landing pad that is my living room right now, doesn't make it appear like I cleaned out the shelves at Target, or that only families with a stock pile of money can turn their house into something that looks like Santa threw up in it.

I mean that as a good thing.

Did you know my birthday is this month?

I'm turning 40 on the 23rd.

Do you know what my husband and family did?

They threw me a surprise party.

This past Saturday.

It was a COMPLETE surprise.

I didn't have even the tiniest idea that it was happening until I walked in the door at my sister's house and saw faces from past and present.

It was INSANE.

I think I'm still in shock.

My brother-in-law took lots of photos, and volunteered to do a guest post on the blog.

Anyway, my sister's house was FILLED with flowers, even the BATHTUB had flowers and candles floating in it, and I got to haul a lot of the bouquets home with me.

The lilies above were a gift from a friend that was there.

These were from one of the bouquets.

Word on the street is, my mom was stressed out 'cause she couldn't get them to open for the party, even using all the tricks of the trade.

My take is, with all those buds, I'm gonna have fresh lilies until Christmas.

Inside the (dark) firebox of the fake fireplace.

One of my early birthday presents.

Love.

Christmas book advent.

My mantle is the same as always.

Lit up with all my insulators, collected from throughout the house.

I couldn't love them any more.

"One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong."

Did you spy that guy, front and center?

My very first purple insulator.

Grace was invited to my surprise party, but was unable to make it.

She mailed a gift to my mom to pass along.

This beauty is what I discovered wrapped up in the package.

I'm seriously in love with it.

Photo bomber.

I'm in my bedroom right now, and can smell the lilies in the living room.

They're so amazing.

Do you have any idea how crazy the constantly crooked pictures make me?

Let's pretend I straightened them all before I drug the camera out.

Cat photo bomb.

I told you, this is his new favorite spot.

The red striped pillows are from last year.

The grey striped ones are napkins that I found at Cost Plus for less than two bucks.

I backed them with drop cloth.

The black and white Christmas themed ones are canvas that I got last year for a song.

I backed them with red and white polka dot fabric from my stash.

The dark grey one in the center is an old sweater.

Paperwhite buds (Winco bulbs.....I love them so much) and a silver Dollar Store tray I've had for years, with candles.

Some pulled back shots.

I probably should have turned all the twinkle lights off, but that would have been way too much work.

From the dining room.

The laundry basket full of The Kid's clean clothes is just barely peeking out from the left of the first photo.  ;o)

Posts like this make me want to rip everything off the walls, drag all the furniture into the driveway, and bring it all back into a blank slate to start over.

Nothing ever looks the same as it does in person.

That's not a good thing.

The bear was in the attic.

He begged to come down for the holidays.

More blurry photo bombing.

Moving into the dining room.

Don't mind the fact that I didn't clean the Christmas project stuff of the kitchen counter.

I hadn't planned on taking pictures today, so clearly nothing is "staged."

You can spy my clean dishes drying on the counter in the mirrors.  :)

I wish I had turned the light off in my little white house from my sister so you could see it.

She brought it home from Amsterdam and it's so dang cute.

My poor dining table top.

That's a DIY waiting to happen.

Remember the clothespin snowflakes from last year?

I do love them

And last, another lily shot.

So that's what's goin' on in the main part of the house this December.

We'll see if I manage to photograph the rest before Christmas gets here.