Deck the Halls

I'm not a Christmas person and when I tell people this, inevitably I receive either a sideways glance or a barrage of psycho-analytic questions to determine why it is I just don't jump into the holiday spirit. The fact is, I truly love Christmas eve; the magic of the night and the beauty of the true meaning of Christmas is what it is truly about for me.  The running around the mall and the spastic Christmas shoppers, on the other hand, I can do without.

Now, as you know, no holiday can go by in our house without some serious decorating.  Let's be honest, even a change in weather sometimes motivates a decor change here at The Olden Household.  As I have mentioned in the past, my OCD manifests itself in a variety of ways, but for Christmas decor it takes on new limits with half a dozen large Rubbermaid chests.  Each one is labeled in detail, and each contains a different colour combination.  I mean, let's be serious, we can't commit to the same colour scheme every year... can we?

Last year we did a traditional front foyer in gold, green and red.  Our tree and family room was gunmetal silver and blackened cobalt.  Well, this year, I decided to change it up a wee bit......

First, my little obsession, the outside of the house:

Close up of the fancy urn

There is no denying that even though my mom has retired from the floral and event business, and my sister is no longer designing full-time, there is no way on earth we will be giving up the idea of adorning our houses!

This year the foyer was inspired by old Hollywood; black, white and silver.

Originally the Hollywood idea was going to be the theme for the tree, but Dave had other plans...

                                          

While unpacking a blanket box, I finally came across my Hudson Bay blanket and was inspired to have a traditional tree.  Although to my chagrin there is no such thing as a Bay blanket tree skirt, we did manage to come up with our version of "Lodge Chic" for the tree this year.  The very best part of buying the pieces for our new tree theme was that Dave and I had the chance  to adventure through the countryside (and to the Bay of course) to find all the little pieces to create a tree that was all our own. 

Punk Rock Moose

We were blessed to be able to do all of our family visiting this Christmas with the aid of our little friend global warming. The roads were dry and it was, as always, so nice to see everyone without struggling through the snow.  However, on the 27th of December this is what we awoke to enjoy... from the warmth of our house.

Dave took a week off for the holiday and we had every intention to go to Vegas, but our little Miss. Humphery was a bit under the weather.  Being the crazy pet  parents we are, we have postponed our little jaunt.  Humphery is feeling better now, but she regrets that the tree will be packed up this weekend.  I may not love Christmas, but she certainly does.