This year I finally feel like our Christmas decorations look great and express my taste. So I just had to show them off to you!

Even though I’m Jewish, my husband is Christian. I have always LOVED Christmas lights and decorations, so after we got married I started going all out with Christmas decor. Honestly, my husband is just my excuse to decorate, because he wouldn’t even notice if we didn’t have Christmas decorations at all. I really do it because I just love the spirit of Christmas.

Snow, hot chocolate, twinkling lights…. I love it all. I love how happy most people are around the holiday season, despite the crazy competitiveness people get over parking spots. I love how people are grateful for the things they have during the holidays. I love the spirit of giving and picking out gifts for the people I care about. And I love how charitable people are around Christmas. I just had to express all that spirit here!

So here’s a little glimpse of the decorations we have for the holidays! If you want to find some of the decorations we used, sources are at the bottom of the post.

Most of our Christmas decor is around the tree and the fireplace. I sit on our couch all the time facing the tree and fireplace, and the view just makes me so happy!

One of the things I love most about Christmas is holiday cards! Lars can attest that every time we check the mail in December, all I look for are holiday cards and I’m practically giddy about getting them. I love to display them in our living room.

This year I got this adorable Christmas card display from Crate and Barrel. It’s already full (we’ve gotten even more cards since I took these pictures) so I think I need to get another!

If you look closely in the pictures, you can see our family holiday picture hanging up behind them. It’s the picture we used on our holiday card this year.

I mean, seriously, look at all those cute faces! We have the most adorable friends and family. Shoutout to the people who send cards the earliest because you get to be displayed forever on the blog :)

Most of my first Christmas decorations were gifts from others. My mother in law gave us these adorable moose stocking holders. My husband and his family grew up using these holders in Alaska, and I love how they’re such a big part of family tradition.

The little hedgehog holder is from target, we just couldn’t resist.

I also love this cute chalkboard that says happy holidays. We got the chalkboard for a baby shower I cohosted in August, but I’ve kept using it around the house for decor. It fits perfectly here for Christmas!

On our coffee table I set out these antler bowls full of ornaments. My mom got me the bowls several years ago, and I’ve always used them to hold cute ornaments.

Plus how cute is that little wood penguin? I love him! Even though my dog does knock him over regularly with his crazy happy tail.

I have a hard time finding holiday pillows I love, so we just went with these buffalo check covers this year. I’m always on the lookout for more festive pillow covers that are also soft and the right size!

But the best part of our living room at Christmas is when the tree lights up (every day at 4:30). Those lights always make me smile.

And if you are wondering where I got our garlands, I made them! You can read how to make your own pom pom garland here.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little glimpse into our holiday living room! I certainly love these pictures.

I hope you and your family have an absolutely wonderful holiday season, whatever you celebrate!

Fa la la la la la la…..

Sources:

Tree: craigslist, similar on amazon • Garlands: DIY project • Topper: Crate and Barrel • Stockings: Amazon and amazon • Pillows: amazon • Card Holder: Crate and Barrel (no longer available) • Stocking holders: Target (no longer available) • Tree Skirt: Target • Silver Ornaments: Target

Some of our Christmas Decor

The post Christmas Living Room Tour appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

If you’re looking for a fun, easy, and adorable Christmas craft, look no further. This pom pom garland is so easy to make, and it looks great on the tree. It is the perfect festive Christmas craft. It makes my tree look so happy and unique! And it really couldn’t be any easier to make. So much cuteness from so little effort!

I wanted my Christmas tree this year to be green and white. Last year I did more traditional with a red ribbon, but it wasn’t really my style. I wanted to do a garland this year that would be a little less traditional and a lot more fun! So I figured a pom pom garland would be the perfect way to do that. And I love it!

It does take a lot of pom poms to make the garland, but it is so worth it! This is the kind of craft that is easy and meditative. You can easily do it while watching tv or listening to music and just get into a flow. Bonus points if you listen to Christmas music while you make it. It probably took me a total of 3 hours of stringing to make 70′ of garland for my tree, but it felt like 20 minutes.

And there is no reason to sit there for 3 hours straight working on the garland. I made this over a few days, in between other tasks when I had time. Crafting is such an enjoyable break. So if you love crafting, keep reading for the full tutorial.

Supplies:

• Thin string (Twine is great, this is the one I used)
• Craft needles
• Pompoms (1.5″ (what I used) or 1″)

I wanted my pom poms to be pretty big, so I used the 1.5″ ones. The 1″ pom poms are much more cost effective. I ended up using more than 70 feet of pom pom garland on my tree, so I needed tons of them! I used 35 packs, or 525 pom poms total. If I had known I would need so many, I would go back and use the 1″ ones. I had to keep ordering more!

I definitely underestimated how long the garlands would need to be, but I’m a sucker for the cascading way they are hung. If you hang them without the cascading, you’ll need much less length.

Step One: Cut String and Thread Needle

I cut my strings into approx 5′ long segments because that was about as long as I could manage without tangling the string. The first thing you want to do is cut your string segment, then thread the needle and tightly knot the string. You also want to put a knot at the end of the string so that the pom poms don’t fall off, leaving a little room on the end in case you need to tie any garlands together.

Step Two: String Pom Poms

Next step is to just go ahead stringing the pom poms! You want to pierce the pom poms slightly off of the middle. They should slip on easily. If you feel resistance, go ahead and re-align them on the needle or you will have trouble moving them down the string.

Once you get them on, move them all the way along the string until the end. Space them out so theres about 1/4″ in between each pom. It is much easier to do this as you go along than to try to space them out later.

Step Three: Tie and Hang

Once you’ve gotten all the pom poms on the string, untie the string from the needle and tie off the end. Then hang them on the tree!

I ended up hanging the pom pom garlands and then figuring out the length needed to finish that string around the tree and tying them together to get the correct size. They aren’t hung perfectly, but I really love the effect they make.

This is by far my favorite christmas tree yet! The pom poms remind me of snowballs and marshmallows and they definitely show my whimsical style. I’m a sucker for the combination of white and green.

Plus I love our tree topper that we got from Crate and Barrel. The moravian star shape is super unique.

Here’s a close up of the garland on the tree:

Seriously, how cute are they?! It still makes me so happy to look at, and I see this tree about a bazillion times a day.

Every time I see the tree it makes me smile. I haven’t decorated that many Christmas trees, but this is the first one I really feel like is “my style.” And it’s super festive.

To be honest, I think all Christmas trees are beautiful if they are lit up! And I love how the pom pom garland looks lit up.

This is by far my favorite Christmas decoration. Maybe next year I’ll add even more ;)

So go ahead and make your own pom pom garland, and let me know how it goes for you!

Supplies and Decor in This Post:

The post DIY Christmas Pom Pom Garland appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

One of the highlights of living with Lars (among the many, many great things) is that I get to decorate for and celebrate Christmas! Though I always get together for Christmas with my Dad’s family, it is more about family coming together than the holiday. And I love any kind of themes and decorations, and Christmas is a great opportunity for both those things.

Hannukkah is great and all, but the pins and opportunities for decoration are more plentiful for Christmas. So since we are hosting Lars’s family next week for an early Christmas celebration, we had to get a tree together!

I know for many families an actual Christmas tree is nostalgic. Either real or fake, it carries a lot of memories. For me personally, if I’m going to have a tree, it’s going to be in the most environmentally friendly way.

Last year I did a lot of research and decided that a potted plant that we could decorate year after year was the greenest option. Well, unfortunately for Lars and me, the plant we got was infested with fruit flies and no matter what we tried, we couldn’t get rid of them. I don’t have the best green thumb. So the potted plant wasn’t a great option for us.

So this year I wanted to try something new. Enter, the $10 upcycled tree!

What you’ll need for this project:

• A tomato cage (the taller the better- we got ours at Lowe’s for $4)
• Green fabric (ideally used- we bought a used tablecloth at goodwill for $6)
• Masking tape
• Needle and thread
• Adhesive backed velcro
• Scissors

Step One. Tape top of tomato cage

The first thing you’ll want to do after turning your tomato cage over is to tape the tip together so it comes to a point. Easy peasy. Masking tape works great.

Step Two. Drape fabric and trim

Using some more masking tape to keep the fabric from falling, drape it over the tomato cage. Trim off any extra fabric from the bottom.

Step Three. Sew top closed

Using a needle and thread, I hand sewed the tip of the tree so that it would rest on the tomato cage. I only sewed about 4 inches. I’m a terrible sewer, so if I can do it, you can. It doesn’t have to look neat because it will be covered in lights and a tree topper!

Step Four. Add velcro

To keep the fabric laying correctly, I also added a few pieces of velcro. Now the fabric cover is removable and rests wonderfully on the tomato cage.

Step Five. Decorate!

This is the most important step! It’s not a Christmas tree without lights and ornaments!

The tallest tomato cage we could find was 54 inches, which was just fine for us. I don’t need a tall tree. But if you want a tall tree you could stack the tomato cage on a box or stack a few tomato cages on each other.

Bonus points if you recycle wrapping paper too! It’s cheaper and greener. We use the circulars they leave outside our apartment all the time. They just get tossed otherwise.

I love our sweet little upcycled tree! If you make one too, send me a picture and I’ll feature it on the blog!

The post DIY Green Christmas Tree: Upcycled, eco-friendly, and only $10 appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.