“You’re already done decorating for Christmas!”

You’d think this would be true after my home was the Grace 1972 showplace house for the Homes for the Holiday Tour a few weeks ago. But the truth is that what I created in two days with the fellow creative collaboration of the women from Gathered and Floret + Foliage was only a glimpse of Christmas magic. And like all magic, it faded like a wish. (If you missed it, take a quick peek at my last blog post, Homes for the Holidays Photo Tour.)

The rooms that Gathered constructed for the tour were torn down and taken away in the totes and trailer they arrive in a few days before. And the fresh spruce and cedar garlands from Floret + Foliage have dried and withered, their piney aroma but a memory (and their needles filling my vacuum on an epic level).

And so I begin again.  Creating Christmas like we all do, slowly and surely, one holly berry, pine cone and unpacked plastic tote at a time. I’m not even close to finished but I have completed a few small projects that I thought I’d hop on the blog and share.

The first redo was my mantel. We chose a lot of red as an accent color for the home tour, but I prefer to decorate in more of a neutral pallet.  The red really made a Christmas splash for our guests on the tour, but for my personal decorating I removed much of the red from my formal living room.

Here is how the mantel was decorated for the tour and how I’ve updated it to reflect my personal style and color scheme:

I found these garlands and accessories at Scheel’s and I just love them! (The twine Christmas trees are also similar to several we’ll have on hand at Grace 1972 if you like this look.)

The second place I’m transforming is our parlor. Here’s a quick revisit of how it looked decorated on the tour by Gathered and what it looks like now:

And again, a corner from Gathered’s decorating and how it looks now with a vintage dry sink from our personal antique collection:

I am still very much in the process of inserting additional Christmas decor here and there, but for now I am just cleaning up the pine needles and as I slowly create a new vision for Christmas on the home front.

The little black Merry Christmas sign waaaaaay in the background in this last shot is from my shop, Grace 1972. We have several of these in stock and I just love them! Lots of great neutral and holiday colors schemes to choose from. Here’s a closer look:

In closing, here’s a few more corners, some with Christmas beginning to seep in and some as blank slates once again.  (You will note that although I removed the red from our formal living room, I am actually incorporating red into our kitchen. With the white cabinets, I just love the little pop of red that a few well placed holly berries provides this time of year, and the contrast of it against the white is just too impossible for me to resist.)

And so there’s a little glimpse of real life and how the holidays usually tiptoe (not explode) into our home.

I’ll show more of my Christmas decorating as things come together. In the meantime, it was so fun to fast forward to full blown Christmas for a few magical days but I’m also enjoying the slow and intentional pace that I typically have when bringing the holidays back from remembered magic into the now.

Happy creating! Know that the only criteria or timeline for your own wonderland is that it belongs to you and you alone, it is yours, in whatever form or color or date that you choose to breathe it into life. Your wonderland may be only one string of lights, or a Christmas card from a special friend displayed on your bedside table, or switching your car radio to Christmas music.  The magic of the season is always grand when it arrives in your heart, no outward sign of it is required.

That is what makes Christmas so special, it is a gift that belongs to us all, in both humble and magnificent forms. It exists everywhere in all circumstances for all who simply believe.

Merriest of Christmases to you all, dear friends!

Peace, Joy and Blessings,

~Audra

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14