Happy New Year!  I have so much excitement putting the decorations for Christmas, that it seems to go by in a flash, but this packing up thing always seems to take longer.  Not to mention, somehow there is more to pack up each year.  I wonder how that happens… I was listening to the radio last month, and they were listing Christmas destination houses – you know the ones that take a month and a whole work crew to set up – and I had a little inkling that left unchecked, that could be me in another decade or two.  Well, “Crazy Christmas lady” wouldn’t be the worst thing to grow old as.

Anyway, I was trying to get our Christmas 2013 wrap-up (get it? ha ha!) posted on Christmas Eve, but I was having technology problems, so I hope that this cheers you up a little as you are taking down your own tree.  The last couple of years, I have tried out themes to our Christmas decor.  Christmas 2012 was all about silver and red with a burst of bright turquoise.

For 2013, our theme was snowy white.  I grew up in Canada, so Christmas was associated with cool temperatures, bare branches, and as often as not, snow on the ground. Even my kids, who grew up in California, ask for snow at Christmas. So, I decided to create a snowy Christmas for us at home.

I pared down my decorations to focus on the white and silver, as well as outdoorsy decorations like animals, trees, and snow. I also made several new projects in a white and woodsy theme.  I put links to all the DIY projects at the bottom of this post.

When you walk into our house, this big window is the first thing you see.  I was recently mildly traumatized by a visiting architect who called the window “tragic,” because it looks out on our driveway and into our neighbor’s house.  While his delivery was a bit quirky, I see his point, so I have some ideas for softening the view down the road, but at least for the month of December, we can focus on our Christmas tree!  Here is how it looks by day (hard to photograph with that window behind it) and night.  I picked up some new white ornaments in stores and also made many, including some that the kids did.

This is the new Christmas tree skirt for our simple white theme.  I sewed our previous one the year we were married more than a few years ago, so I’m enjoying the change of scene.

Our homemade ornaments included these clay ones I created with the kids as well as some white felt poinsettias.  I got a little addicted to those and started carrying a bag of felt and beads around to work on them anywhere and any time…

After the tree, the mantel is a big Christmas focal point.  I used last year’s DIY felt and feather Christmas trees mixed in with some new white houses to make a modern winter village.

The white felt stockings were on sale at West Elm, and I added our initials on these circles.

Welcome, Santa!

A few more touches around the house are below,  I like that they are more “wintery” than strictly “Christmas-y,” so I plan to leave them up a little longer.  Did I mention I’m tired of packing up?

Here are our new pillow covers:

In the front hall, I “planted” this faux birch branches.  I have in mind to adorn them a bit more next year – stay tuned!

And in our family room, I hung this DIY antler painting.  No reindeer were harmed in creating it, and s I plan to leave it up a little longer.

And while we enjoyed our California version of white Christmas for most of the month, we went to see the real thing in Canada, and I brought home these pictures:

As promised, here are the links to this year’s Christmas projects:

• Clay ornaments with the kids
• Faux birch logs
• Felt poinsettias
• Christmas pillows in white and grey
• Antler art
• Christmas tree skirt in gray and white
• DIY felt and feather Christmas trees (from last year)

Back to those multiplying storage boxes!

“Jewels”