Deck those halls

Most of the time, I just can't get into seasonal decorating. I can't help but feel like it's a little pointless to put up decorations that you're just going to take down again in a few weeks. So getting around to putting up our Christmas usually takes a while. But once I do get started, I tend to actually have a lot of fun setting up the tree, decorating the mantle and throwing garlands on everything.

This year, I snagged an unlit six-foot tree at Target for $15...a vast improvement over the tree we've used the last few years. (We used it last year too, I promise, I just didn't post a pic apparently.) Anyway, now our house feels more like a real grown-up home, I think.






So the way our place is set up, there's two living rooms. The front door opens right into the front living room, and the middle living room separates the front one from the kitchen and also leads to upstairs. Those shots above are taken from the stairs; here's a shot of them from right next to the tree:



I also tackled our mantle!




My sweet friend Ally sends me the sweetest ornaments. The photo above is of one she sent last year; it's heavy and I like to display it safely. This year, she sent a lovely replica faberge egg from the gift shop at the Met. She lives outside Manhattan and I love how her ornaments always have a tie to the city.








I had fun playing around to shoot and edit these photos; it's amazing how much faster/better I've gotten at adjusting my settings to fit the scene. (If anyone's wondering, I got that faded VSCOcam effect using part of this tutorial.)

Do you decorate for each season, or just the holidays, or not at all? Do you dread it until you get started like me, or are you one of the "It's November 1st let's put up the tree!!!" types a la this mom?