Christmas Mantel Decorations

I was so busy this past weekend with Christmas crafting and decorating like crazy. My poor hubby said the living room looked like a tornado hit. (Like the close call we had here.) I had glitter, beads, ornaments, wreaths, garland, and all sorts of things strewn about the room as I tried to decide what to put where. It was more fun this year because I decided to splurge a little and purchase a few new decorations. I had barely purchased any Christmas decorations in the 5 years we have been married besides a few ornaments so the few decor items I had were gifts or hand me downs. Here's what I came up with for the fireplace.

Having a blazing fire going helps make it seem even more cozier. I loooove our fireplace. Hubby complains that they are such an inefficient way to heat a room because they send most of the heat up the chimney and just suck in cold air through all the little gaps in your house. But who cares when you can snuggle up next to something so warm and beautiful.

On the bottom left of the fireplace I added this little reindeer guy. I picked him up at Old Time Pottery (which is soon to close, grrrr) and gave him a coat of heirloom white paint. He used to be silver, but he just blended in too much to the fireplace so I painted him to make him pop out a little more. The greenery in the vase is some pieces I picked up at several places including Target and Old Time Pottery.

Along the top of the mantel I draped a glittery garland that I have had for several years. I think I picked it up at 90% off at Michael's maybe. I added some little ornament and glittering white picks along with a couple strands of beads that I bought at Old Time Pottery.

The big white star was originally gold, but it was a bit too bright for my taste. I think it looks much better in Heirloom White, don't you think? The star was yet another Old Time find for $6.99. The "Believe" sign I picked up at Gordman's a few years ago.

I stuck some more flowers and greenery into another vase. I filled in the base with the extra ornaments leftover from my ornament wreath project.  A couple candles I had hanging around added a little more glow to the arrangement.

The "NOEL" candleholders are a set I purchased this year at Wal-Mart for $5. They came with those battery operated tealight candles that flicker to look like real burning candles. I like that I can just flip a switch and not worry about keeping an eye on them like real candle flames. I have a cat that has already burned her whiskers off once from sniffing a candle so it never hurts to play it safe.

The final section of my fireplace arrangement is this grouping of three little trees. The large, white tree I found at Sears of all places. I walked past it twice while shopping for gifts and I had to come back a few days later to buy it because I kept thinking about it. It was only $6.49 on sale.

The smaller trees on each side I have had for a long time. I remember using them for decorations when I was a little girl. We used to have probably 5 or 6 of them, but many of them were broken over the years. The ornaments are delicate glass and a few are broken on these trees also. I actually saw these exact trees in an issue of Better Homes & Gardens a few years ago. I guess they are vintage or something.

You may have noticed that there are no stockings hung with care waiting for St. Nick to appear. We don't actually have any stockings at our house. We do get stockings at my dad's for Christmas though. My stepmom ordered personalized stockings for all us kids and they are filled with goodies for Christmas morning. Whenever we have kids we will start using stockings although probably not over the fire!

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