Christmas Cheer For The Patio

 Oh happy day, the sun is shining.  We haven't seen the sun in days and days.  It is still cold, but that's okay.  It warms my spirits to see the sun shine.  I don't mind some gray, rainy days, but I am quite affected by them and the sun really perks me up emotionally.

Are you getting everything all decorated up for Christmas?  Or are you treading water - or running behind? We got most of our decorating done right after Thanksgiving and I have been making some new things and adding to it each day.  I am just that person.  My children always made fun of me for my mad decorating at holiday time.  There are trees in every room and decorations everywhere.  That's the way I like it.

Do you decorate outside?  We do.  (If you ask Dan, he will say that I do and he is just the worker bee.) But he likes it too.  He says so.  Right, Dan?  Anyway, since this is our first Christmas here, I was not quite sure what I was going to do for outdoor decorations.  Dan put up lights around the doors and on the top of the patio fence.  There are lights around the carport and our wooden snowman is sitting out to greet everyone who passes by.

We never use our front door, but the front of the condo is decorated too.  Others in the neighborhood walk their dogs and pass by a lot and I wanted a cheery greeting for them all.  I know, I know.  Overkill.  But, that is me.

My daughter called me after they had gone to Lowe's to get their Christmas tree and told me they were giving away all the greenery pieces they cut off the bottom of the trees.  She said they had carts full of greenery.  Free?  Greenery?  Yahoo!  We are on a budget and I was very excited to hear this.  All of our trees are artificial, but I love the smell of fresh greens in the house.  We hopped in the car with our friends Tonya and Jeff and headed to Lowe's.  Tonya and I loaded up on boughs of greenery and brought them home.  Free is fabulous in my world.

I wanted to hang boughs on the patio doors.  That would look festive.   I had a couple of sacks of pine cones we had picked up under a big pine tree in the complex.  I had "cooked" them to get rid of all the little critters and the pine sap so they wouldn't drip everywhere.  Have you ever done that?  All you do is line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and fill it with pinecones.  Heat the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit and let them cook for about 30 minutes.  The heat dries the sap and eliminates all the little critters that may come crawling out in  your house.  Yeah, that.

You don't want sap dripping on your furniture or down the walls if you hang them.  It also makes the house smell really good while they are "cooking."

To decorate the doors, I tied a couple boughs of greenery together with some floral wire.  The pine cones are connected with light weight floral wire and then wrapped around the stems of the greenery boughs.  Simple velvet bows using outdoor ribbon complete the look.  We used Command brand hooks to hang them since the doors are metal.  You can't use nails.

These are also hanging on our front door and windows.  They are so very Christmassy and I particularly like the natural look.  There is also a big one on the patio gate with a really big bow.

It is so pretty at night with the lights on and the greenery and bows on the doors.  We always park in the carport behind our condo and come in through the patio doors, so that is where most of my outdoor decorating emphasis is.  I used a little artificial tree on a crate and put lights on it.  The empty summer flower pots are filled with greenery so they don't look so forlorn and there is a pile of white lights behind the red Christmas star for a little extra glow.  I added some pine cones to the greenery for a little more texture and naturalness.  Is that a word?

It's just a little Christmas cheer to welcome all who enter our home, including us.  Years ago, I took a 6 week decorating class and the first thing we were taught was "first impressions."  The first thing guests see is their first impression of your home.  It may not be important to you or at the top of your list when life is filled with so much to do, but it will make you smile every time you see that first impression.  That little extra touch.  It says welcome, you are home.

This was a really inexpensive way to decorate our patio.  We had the lights and the ribbon.  The greenery and pine cones were free.  That's the best kind of decorating.  I will be really sad when it's time to take down all the festive decorations after the holidays.  Everything seems so bleak and empty until spring starts to show it's lovely face.  I am going to have to come up with an idea to decorate the patio until then.  Something wintery and frosty.  We'll see what happens.  I think I have an idea formulating.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.  Norman Vincent Peale