Getting Back to the Basics....

And so it begins...

Last year, I pulled out all the stops...or boxes I should say.  I don't think there was a single nook or cranny within my home which was not ornamented and decorated.

This year, I am in a different mood.  With all the craziness in my life right now, I am longing for simplicity.  So, later today...my husband and I will bundle up the Grandloves and we will ventture out onto our 5 acres and start cutting and clipping away.  Magnolia, pine, cedar, boxwood...and some stuff I am not sure what it is - but its "purdy."  :)

I have already started gathering picthers and pots and even silver ice buckets.

Simplicity!

Later, I will add fruits and nuts and maybe some fresh baked cookies. Oh, I will still get out a few of my treasured Christmas lovelies....like my reindeer....

(seen here on my Family Room mantle from Christmas 2009)

Yesterday, I purchased a few darling, miniature everygreens at Lowe's.  I am going back tomorrow for more, as well as, some minitaure Rosemary topiary trees...because I have lots of ideas for these.  I love how something so simple creates such  simple impact.

So until my house is photo ready....(i.e. diapers picked up, dinosaurs and Transformers put away, piles of magazines stashed....you get the picture)....I am sharing these inspiration pics for your enjoyment.



Wrapped in a simple burlap sack and tied with satin ribbon...what a great welcoming
statement to guests.



Though not exactly a miniature tree...simple gold ornaments keep this setting from
being too rigid and over-the-top.



Even a smaller evergreen by the fromt door with simple white lights is welcoming!



Again - while not exactly a "miniature" tree, this smaller evergreen takes on a fuller stature
when placed in a beautiful, chabby-chic painted urn.



  

How cute would the "Charlie Brown" style trees, wrapped in burlap be on a kitchen table
or added to a guest room.

When I first saw this picture...I said "Yes, I'll take it please."  Love this!

This isn't a real tree per say, but again....this simple crafted tree with a
log base - paired against more formal pink and white dishes...makes
a Christmas statement all on its own.



This picture beckons to me this year like no other.  I'm sure it has something to do

with my large collection of Pink and White Staffordshire.  Look at the mini evergreens

planted in the tea cups.  This is the perfect illustration of "simplicity" at its best.



Rosemary topiary in a scotch plaid pot.  Simplistic and Classic!

So - when the stress of the Holidays has you feeling like you are stretched to the max...and there just isn't enough time to decorate your home the way you really like it....(or how you think other's expect you to...) -

just remember that "Life is really simple, we insist on making it complicated." - Confusius

Thinking of you in the coming days....Barb