The theme...

Every year I like to have a theme for Christmas. Sometimes it's a 'thing' - reindeer, snowmen, bears. Sometimes it colors - gold and burgundy, red and white, silver and gold. This year I started off with a red, pink and light blue theme. It slowly morphed into a red, white and light blue/candy cane theme. Our tree is usually the same - all of our ornaments collected over the years. The 'theme' usually ends up on the mantels and small vignettes throughout the house.

The second year we were married we had moved into a new house and I was so excited about Christmas. We had a beautiful sun porch with windows on three sides over looking the water (it was fabulous). We were on a corner lot so as you drove by our house you could see the lights from the tree through the windows.

My sister-in-law and her husband were visiting for the first time and I worked really hard to make everything look nice. I took special care with our Christmas gifts - all wrapped in my gold and burgundy theme paper. I purchased a couple of different coordinating papers - all very pretty and sophisticated. You can only imagine my horror when our company arrived with their very large wrapped gifts - wrapped in Bugs Bunny Christmas paper. Yes, you read that right. Not quite the beauty and sophistication I had in mind. My husband knew I was horrified at the sight of that rabbit being laid under my beautiful tree. He definitely gets it.

Of course, I know that Christmas has way more to do with Jesus and love than it does with wrapping paper. I have since loosened up quite a bit. I still love themes but realize that not everyone likes what I do or even cares what my theme is. I really enjoy the time it takes to wrap a gift 'just so'. It bothers me a bit that most people don't appreciate the outside of a gift as much as the inside.

This year, with the red, white and blue theme I am doing red and white paper with red and white bows and a little blue for accents.

But I'll keep a little corner at the back of the tree for the cartoon characters...

Comments

tony said…
very happy to visit here!
December 6, 2010 at 11:28 PM
Donna said…
Dear Debra, That is quite a story about the themes and the out of place wrapping paper and made me laugh a little. I know it must be hard when you decide on a theme and someone brings a gift wrapped in gaudy wrapping paper. I didn't want 'Santa' paper when the kids were little. It really bothered me not to have 'worshipful themed' paper under the tree. Like you though, I've loosened up a lot over the years.

Having a beautiful setting is a special part of Christmas, but as you said...it's more about the spirit of Christmas.. giving..receiving..and good friends and family.

Thanks so much for visiting!

xo
Donna @ Comin' Home
December 7, 2010 at 7:53 PM
Laurie Anne said…
At our house the running joke is that some gifts end up under the tree "wrapped" in the bag from the store. We affectionately call it "Records Family Wrap". I thought that was bad until my husband took it to a new level of just "close your eyes". That is now the "Yoko Wrap". Ah, gotta love those family traditions, hehe :0)
December 8, 2010 at 4:32 PM
kristy said…
very beautiful x'mas tree
December 20, 2010 at 6:58 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Favorite Things....

Image
Join Melissa @ 320 Sycamore for her My Favorite Things party. Here are my favorite things: David Cook. The CD. Still lovin' it. Listen to it a lot. It's good. Very good. Philosophy Lip Gloss. I have the melon daiquiri flavor and love it. It's shiny AND stays on. Tastes good, too. About $12. Electric Pepper Mill. How did I live without this? Really. You can find one like this at Crate & Barrel for about $40 or so. Peets Coffee . I talk about Starbucks a lot because we don't have a Peets here. It's really the best in my opinion. Luckily you can find it in the grocery store for about $14/lb -or less when it's on sale. You know that's when I buy it! :) Measuring cups. I have these from Williams-Sonoma. I love them. I think it's my favorite thing in my kitchen. At least one of them. And one I use almost daily. It took a while for me to break down and buy them but I have to admit that it's the best $30 I have ever spent. When Little Miss moves us...
Read more

Changes...

Image
I posted some photos of my living room a while back. I realized how blah and boring it looks. I appreciate the suggestions I was given. One of them was 'paint'. We had the walls painted a couple years ago so I really didn't want to do it again just yet so I had to figure what else I could do to get some color in there. I thought about painting a canvas red to match the chair ( below). After talking to my sister she suggested dipping cool whip containers in paint to make the circles and an idea was born. I bought the 3 canvases (20" X 20") at Michaels at 50% off - the three cost $21. I got a quart of paint at Lowe's ($12 - Martha Stewart's Cranberry something or the other). The blue paint was a sample size of Olympic that someone didn't buy -$1. Cool whip container and little round container I had in the kitchen - free. Fleur de lis printed off computer, traced on canvas and painted - free. So for $34 I got this new look. Very David Bro...
Read more

Monday, Monday...

Image
Monday's are usually my favorite days. Everyone is back to work and school and I have the morning to gather my thoughts and eat a leisurely breakfast before starting my day. My friend, E, who I carpool with has her husband take the kids to school since he is off on Mondays. Today, however, has been a bit odd. We had a new dishwasher delivered this morning and my husband uninstalled the old one last night. This morning I wake up to a leak in one of the dishwasher hoses - thankfully just a slow leak but still an inconvenience. My husband had to come home and semi-install the new dishwasher to stop the leak. I have been washing the dishes in the wet bar sink instead of the kitchen sink since something is turned off there and the hubby said not to use it until the new dishwasher is totally installed. I am thankful to have a wet bar sink and not have to resort to washing the dishes in the bathroom - something I am sure we've all had to do at one time. I have some things in t...
Read more