Decorations

This little mushroom is a new addition to the tree this year. I found them (it comes in a pack of many) at World Market and they instantly made me think of the wooden mushrooms my mom has on her tree. Her mushrooms were purchased in Germany and they've been on our tree as long as I can remember. The wooden mushrooms are in a pair and use a twist tie, sort of like you use to close a garbage sack, to attach to the tree. Over the years, the ties have broken off so she doesn't have as many as she used to. When I was a kid I hated the mushrooms because there were so many and putting them on the tree took forever.

Honestly, I really don't like decorating the tree. It's so tedious to make it look perfect and of course, I can never achieve perfection. This year, my tree looks a bit lopsided due to the light placement, but I had to finally say "good enough" or it never would have gotten done. Also, my mom really gets into decorating for Christmas. Decorations in every room! I tend to be more minimal. For example, my mantle:



I do love Christmas ornaments though and I'm always on the lookout for them whenever I travel. There are also some stores that I shop at specifically for their ornaments. Such as Anthropologie:



On my tree are also hand made ornaments from friends. My friend Sheri makes ornaments like this one every year. I'm looking forward to getting my fourth one from her soon.




Of course I already showed you the adorable Lulu ornament that Kristin gave me, but she also gave me this really cute glass Dachshund:



Some other places I've found great ornaments over the years include Target (no luck this year though), the Container Store (they call them package tie ons, I call them ornaments, and Smith & Hawken. My favorite thing to do is shop at these stores on the 26th of December to get ornaments on sale. In fact, I like to buy all manner of Christmas things on sale on the 26th. The cards from Target are especially a weakness of mine.