It's HHHHEEEEERRRRE.

Enter Christmas 2010

With the start of December, it's suddenly legitimate to start putting up holiday decorations.  (All you people who never put away last year's decorations have one up on the rest of us.) I always love the characters who leave the Thanksgiving table to  put up their Christmas tree but haven't ever had the guts to do it myself.  Seems a bit like wearing white shoes in Sept.  or so my mom tried to tell me.  

 Not having a basement or attic to store boxes of holiday gear means approaching festive differently.  Living in tight quarters means you have to think a bit more about decorations and be strategic. The six foot pine just won't work but a tabletop tree is just fine.  Here's two from Martha Stewart that could work:

I'm a sucker for wall trees.   They don't take up any room and feel modern.  

and the amazing Donna Hay's wall tree made of cookies-so sweet!

If you're lucky enough to have a fireplace, (please don't gloat) by all means, deck it out!  The branch-in-the-vase tree is perfect for small spaces. Hang a few ornaments and call it day. 

 Real Simple gave the idea to hang vintage balls by satin ribbon as a "chandelier effect".  Always loved this...

The poinsettia tree is easy to make and fits nicely into small quarters. It also gives a lot of look. Make by soaking triangle oasis (green foam found at floral/craft shops) then cut off branches from poinsettia plants (keeping as much stem as possible) then starting at the bottom work up filling up the oasis till all you see is green.  

 And I am a firm believer in lights.  Maybe not to this extreme, 

but Christmas is about shiny and bright so light something....

Live large,

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