Lisa: 'Tis the Season

Last year we had just barely moved into our house, and I didn't really have my act together enough to put up any Christmas decorations besides the tree. Well, this year I am the master of my domain and I had the decorations up by the end of Thanksgiving weekend! I love how festive everything looks.

Here's the tree by the fireplace. We put it in the corner of the living room this year, instead of in front of the window, because we ended up bringing up the futon from downstairs for more seating. There just wasn't room for the tree in front of the window without major furniture rearrangement.

Here's the dining room table. I figure since its function is largely decorative anyway, having a large semi-permanent centerpiece will not be a problem.

I wanted to get a close-up on the ends of the runner, since I like it so much. I found it at the new HomeGoods attached to the T.J. Maxx near my house. Obviously, it's made for a bigger table, but we intend to get a bigger table eventually so that all works out.

On the IKEA cabinet under one of the Jamaica Trinnaman paintings I got for graduation, I put a bowl filled with cranberries in water. There are little oil lamps floating on top.

At HomeGoods I also found some garlandy stuff with red glass beads, and I strung it up on the dining room chandelier.

Last year, I bought a bunch of Christmas lights, but when we went to put them up, there were no plugs on the outside of the house! We asked our neighbors about our conundrum, and they recommended a little thingie that you screw in to a light-bulb socket that converts it into a plug. We used one during the summer to switch out our bare-bulb patio light for a string of lanterns:

Anyway, the same thing worked like a charm for the Christmas lights on the front porch! We just swapped out the light bulb in the porch light and went crazy.

Super fun! Plus, now I don't feel like all the neighbors are wondering why they let such undesirables move in.