Winter Decorating

I was ready to start decorating for winter as soon as I put my Christmas decorations away.  With the imposing Christmas tree gone and the somewhat garish wreaths and decorations packed away, my house felt much bigger and emptier than it had in a long time.  So it’s time to fill it up again, but not nearly as much.

Here’s where I’m going with my winter decorating this year, and I’m warning you: I have a thing for wreaths.  I don’t know how this happened or why.  But when a willow tree came down in a storm this fall, I grabbed as many useful branches as I could and made a bunch of wreaths.  I glued bittersweet branches on this one.
 

I had my eye on a set of snowman dishes on sale at Kohl’s (ridiculously cheap!), but when I went back for them after Christmas they were no longer available in-store or online.  So I settled for these really cute snowman placemats instead.  The woman at the register asked me how many children I have, as if children necessitate placemats.  “One,” was my answer.  I wasn’t aware that you need children—more than one, to be accurate—in order to enjoy decorating or use placemats.  Touché, crazy checkout lady!

The centerpiece is a candle surrounded by pineboughs and sprigs of holly.

A little pine tree stands on my seasonal table, surrounded by pinecones and holly.

Another wreath hangs over my old-looking wooden bowl filled with balls of yarn.  I don’t think I’m the first to decorate with the stuff, but it’s wintery, and I like it.  In spring, this bowl will be filled with something else.  Probably.  Or maybe I’ll just switch out the yarn for springy colors.

Ahhh, yet another wreath over the well-used, not-very-ornate baker’s rack.  This wreath makes me think of shimmering snow, and had been part of my Christmas decorating for several years before I decided to keep it out this year for the rest of winter.  The little snowmen on the baker’s rack look lonely – I see opportunity here for more.

The Christmas tree stood in the corner of the dining room this year, and now it seems really empty.  (I used to have the cat tower here, an ugly but necessary piece of equipment for a household with three cats.)  But now that this corner stands empty, I see a better use for the space – it’s a brand new decorating opportunity in this house, something I haven’t experienced here in several years.  I don’t know what will go here, but I’m enjoying the empty space and the opportunity it presents.  I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I can really envision a wreath here.

How do you decorate your family home for winter?