CHEER: DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS

Every year after Thanksgiving I look forward to the "a-okay" from my husband to start decorating for Christmas. This year, Jon surprised me with a real tree. We bought a pre-lit tree before we got married and used it for two years, but this year I had my heart set on a real one. We went to a little tree farm in Georgia that our families go to get their trees and picked out our very own. It's beautiful. Just a few glittering lights and a handful of collected ornaments. We love it and so do the cats. ;)

This Christmas is also the first Christmas that we have a fireplace for our stockings! It's probably one of my favorite things about our new place. We set up a fire as often as possible now that the weather is getting cooler. :) For day 5 of Christmas Cheer, Jenny and I wanted to share with you a couple snapshots of our Christmas decorating. I'll be sharing my mantel decorations and Jenny will be sharing her beautiful Christmas tree and DIY tree skirt later today. :) 

When decorating my mantel, I went for a more "neutral Christmas" look. I reused a fall inspired mobile DIY to add some texture to the wall, stuck some candles in a few of my collected bottles, used spare Christmas tree branches to add a touch of nature and a few of my favorite pieces from around the house. 

A couple tips when decorating your home for Christmas:

* Use natural pieces from around your yard or from your tree. I re-used the extra Christmas tree branches all around my condo, cut a couple pieces of holly from outside to decorate, and used some of the pine cones I picked up from work. 

* Candles are an easy way to add warmth to any corner of your home. Since Jon is sensitive to strong scents, I usually stick with the simple white candles and let them sit out alone or put them in decorative candle holders. 

* If you're having a difficult time decorating an area of your home, try decorating it by a color palette and picking things from around your home that compliment that color combination. 

* Once you've decorated a space, step back and see if you like the way it looks as a whole in your room. Maybe take a couple things out or rearrange it until it feels right. My favorite thing to do is to get help from Jenny so another pair of eyes can take a look at it and offer suggestions.

* And most importantly, have fun. :) 

What are some of your holiday decorating tips?? :) Feel free to follow along with my Christmas pin board to get more inspiration AND please share your pin board in the comment section below. :)