Decorating Simply

We decorated our home simply for Christmas this year.  There is beauty in the simplicity of not owning a bunch of "stuff" with which to decorate for the season.  I rather enjoyed the challenge of creating a festive home without buying anything but rather using natural decorations like tree boughs and pine cones.  I supplemented with lots of candles, eager for an excuse to pull out the crystal candlesticks we received for wedding gifts.  

 Instead of letting the extra December mail pile up some where in an unsightly pile, I decided to display the Christmas cards we received to brighten up the house by hanging them on a ribbon.  They looked so neat and tidy in their columns at first, but not anymore!

While I enjoy sewing and certain crafts, I don't have a natural "crafty" bent, so I was proud of myself for actually attempting a craft from a magazine - turning the 1" round slice cut off of the bottom of our Christmas tree stump into an ornament marking each year of marriage.  It seemed so simple yet sentimental!  The first problem we encountered was that we don't own a saw, so we couldn't saw off the bottom of the tree when we got home like you are supposed to.  So, we planned ahead and cut off the extra slice while out in the tree field.  It took longer than it did to actually cut down the tree...and it was hard to keep it smooth and flat.  I carried the wet slice back in my coat pocket, then tried to wash the sap and dirt off in the sink at home.  Now the slice was quite wet, so when I tried to write on it with a sharpie, it smeared.  No problem, I thought; I'll just let it dry out, then write on the opposite side.  The next day, I carefully wrote on the back, only to have water spill on it and smear the writing.  Oh well, it will be a memento of our first Christmas anyway, and I'm almost glad it doesn't look perfect because it will remind us of our humorous endeavor.  We haven't tried drilling a hole in it to hang on the tree yet, so, meanwhile it is sitting on our dining table on display.