Decking the Halls

Our Christmas decorating is finally complete!  The stockings have been hung by the chimney with care in the hopes that Saint Nicholas soon will be here.  And, they are very cute stockings if I do say so myself! :)  I shared in my last post about our Christmas decorations that we were still lacking a tree skirt and that I had plans to jazz up our dog stockings a bit.  Missions accomplished.

Stockings Before

Stockings After

The supplies: eyelash glitter yarn and thick sheen ribbon

I twisted the red and green eyelash yarn together and hand sewed around the edge of each stocking.  Then, I folded the thick ribbon in half and sewed with my machine to make ruffle trim for the top.  This part took a little longer than anticipated.  It has been a couple of years since I used my sewing machine last, so I was a little rusty and the machine was a little dusty.  JW thought me sitting at the table with the manual and all my crafty stuff strewn about was hilarious.  I was not happy about him snapping pictures of me at this point.  Just ask him.  It wasn't pretty.  Hormones may have been a contributing factor to my reaction.  But, I was currently perplexed and determined to revive my sewing skills.  Don't interrupt a girl on a mission and craving oreos.

I got it figured out though and they turned out cute!  They coordinate with our stockings very well.

Here's a final look.  (Remember, you can click on pictures to view them larger.)  I found the tree skirt at Home Goods in Dallas this weekend with Meg.  I love the ruffle edge that coordinates now with our dog stockings.  Even Joey can't walk by the tree without saying how well it matches.  His response was, "Our tree looks so good.  That tree skirt is ridiculous."  It certainly makes me smile.  I added some Christmas ball garland and some of our ornaments to the mantle.  We only hung one dog stocking since I can't find another matching stocking holder, and our new pup isn't here yet anyways.

This is our entry hall table for now.  It is usually where our tree is, but I really like it here.  It's fun to be greeted with a little touch of Christmas right upon walking in the door.  I'm contemplating leaving our decorations up all year!