Merry Christmas!

Can you believe there are only HOURS left till Christmas? I am supposed to be wrapping presents while the kiddos are out but I thought I'd take some computer time (again..while the kids are out and not hogging this machine) to post some things I promised earlier. Christmas decor.

Many of the photos I took came out so blurry or I just couldn't get the right angle. I do have some a few worth while shots though. I simply puttered out after all of this decorating. >>> *sigh*...here come the neighbors kids up the drive...ringing the bell. They come over EVERY day! I guess it's better to have them here than my kids down the street out of eyesight. <<<>

First I'd like to share this Be-U-tee-full sunrise (5:45am). Look at the blues and corals in here! It was VERY cold when I took this photo, but no snow like most of my Northern friends are getting.

OK. Here is a photo of my mantel with a silver theme. The lights are so bright in the photo so it's hard to see how much it sparkles.

These 3" votive look HUGE. Bad angle (I warned you). It's a red and gold theme.

Now, are you ready for this?! My neighbor has over 100 pieces of faux Department 56. I say faux because they are not truly department 56 but ceramic houses she purchased from Joann's years ago. For those who don't know department 56, they are the small ceramic villages and figurines you see at Hallmark and various other shops that show small scenes and characters from Charles Dickens and...several other themes, I just can't remember them. You can light them up and they are wonderful to look at.

My neighbor sets her houses on a hand-made layered tier most of the year, just like sitting on steps, but this year she went vertical and made table bases in decreasing sizes to stack on top one another, making her village a sort of Christmas tree. I can't explain, you'll have to look at the photos below to understand the time and effort she put into this! It's AMAZING!

Here it is from the other side.

Here's a close-up of one of the villages. Each village is placed in a specific spot so it all works together. She really takes a lot of time and effort to do this so it all is strategically placed. Most of what I learned from decorating has come from her. She is not a professional, only enjoys the art of crafting and making things. I'm going to send these images to some magazines and nominate her for...something! I love looking at it.

Below is a small scene from the left front. If you look in through this window from the back of the house you can see that she made a snowy scene by putting some polyfil around her window panes, so it has that wintery Christmas feel.