Here they are, all in one post, my favorite ways to get ready for the Christmas holidays! I hope you find this helpful as you decorate, craft, cook and prepare for the holidays!
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Hope you enjoy these ideas as you ready your home for the holidays!
How to Repair Those Dead Christmas Tree Lights
Sometimes the fix is an easy one, but you just have to know where to look! 🙂
Pottery Barn Inspired Garland Tutorial
I was obsessed with this picture when I first saw it in a Pottery Barn catalog. Since the cost of the garland was outside my holiday decorating budget, I found an easy, inexpensive way to make it for my own front porch.
Here’s how the garland looked on my front porch.
Cranberry Trifle for Christmas Dessert
This trifle is really good and so easy to make. Your guests will never guess how easy this impressive-looking dessert was to make!
Make a Beautiful Colonial Williamsburg Centerpiece for Christmas
These elaborate apple or lemon tree centerpieces are not near as difficult to make as they appear. They are actually quite easy and make such a beautiful eye-catching centerpiece for a table or buffet.
Hang Wreaths on Your Exterior Windows
The wreaths look especially magical if you live someplace where it snows during the holiday season. Thanks so much to my neighbor, Michelle, for capturing this photo a few years back when we had an epic snowstorm here in Georgia.
Easy Holiday Centerpiece that takes 15-Minutes to Make (if that long)
Such a fast and easy way to dress an entry table. Works great as a table centerpiece, too!
An Insanely Awesome Champagne Punch: Great for Parties or a Christmas or New Years Brunch
Makes several batches because this punch is a big hit and always goes really fast!
Set Up A Hot Cocoa Bar To Enjoy All Winter Long
I had so much fun putting his Hot Cocoa Bar together! It would be great to create for your holiday guests or a holiday party!
You’ll find a tutorial for making the sign below.
Make This DIY Sign for Your Hot Cocoa Bar
This is a detailed tutorial sharing exactly how I made the sign to go above my Hot Cocoa Bar.
This is such a fun napkin fold to make and your guests will find it delightful!
10 Beautiful Mantels All Decorated for Christmas
If you’re looking for a bit of inspiration as you decorate your mantel this year, you’ll find it in this post!
Emergency Substitutions for Common Ingredients
Ever find you’re missing an ingredient you need when preparing your Christmas dinner? Here’s a list of common substitutions you can make if you’re out of an important ingredient.
Decorate Your Door With Triple Wreaths: Grandinroad Knockoff
It took me a while to figure how to make this “triple wreath” thing work for my front door. It’s an over-the-top look that’s a lot of fun to create!
Make a Winter Snow Globe, Easy DIY Project
This would be a great project to do with the kiddos. Also, I think these would be wonderful to make as place cards for a Christmas dinner party, writing each guest’s name with a sharpie on the little ornament inside. Then the guests could take them home to enjoy after the dinner.
21 Drinks Great for Holiday Parties
I would love to make every one of these recipes! So many good ones in this post!
Decorate a Lantern, Mailbox or Pergola for Christmas
This is seriously the easiest arrangement you could ever make for a gate, post, lantern, pergola or mailbox. If you don’t have a magnolia tree in your yard, use holly or another long-lasting evergreen. There’s a lot of faux greenery available out there that would work well for this, too.
Create a Table Centerpiece With Dept. 56 Lit Houses
If you collect Dept. 56 houses, consider using them down the center of your Christmas dinner table this year. This works great on most tables. My table is a bit more narrow than I would like and I was still able to do this. If you table is a bit wider, it will work even better!
Christmas Vacation Movie-themed Table Setting
Are you a Christmas Vacation movie fan? Check out this fun table for a bit of inspiration if you collect the Dept. 56 Christmas Vacation lit houses.
Christmas Vacation Movie Themed Gift Wrapping Idea
If you’re looking for a unique way to wrap your gifts this year, check out this post where I share a DIY idea inspired by Clark’s Christmas tree escapades in the movie, Christmas Vacation.
Decorate a Porch for Christmas
Decorate your porch and enjoy it all through the holiday season! Even if it’s too cold to be outside, you’ll enjoy seeing it from inside throughout the holiday season.
Snowman Spice Cake Dessert and Centerpiece
Bake this adorable Snowman Spice Cake for a festive holiday dessert! He’ll make a great centerpiece for your holiday table, as well!
12 Beautiful Christmas Banisters
Looking for a bit of inspiration for decorating your staircase banister? Check out all these gorgeous banisters ranging from simple but beautiful to over-the-top gorgeous!
23 Themed Christmas Tree Decorating Ideas
So much inspiration in this post if you’re looking for some new ways to decorate your Christmas tree this year.
These make the cutest Christmas present topper or use them as ornaments on your Christmas tree.
Dress Up Your Presents With This Easy DIY Christmas Mouse Or Hang It On Your Christmas Tree
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Wow! That’s the ultimate Christmas post Susan! I will definitely be coming back – especially for the beautiful gate post decoration and the Christmas trees. Maybe the champagne punch and mantels too … ! Thanks again for all the great holiday cheer!
One of my favorite pictures is of your home, decorated outside for Christmas with snow on the ground! Seeing it always makes me happy! I need to send pics to you of my inside decorations for this year! Since this is our “first” Christmas as a married couple , I am doing more decorating. Going to have a tree this year!! Yippee!
The cranberry trifle sounds lovely! Could I use cranberry jelly in place of the cooked cranberries? My family loves the jelly, but not the actual fruit ( go figure!)
Thanks, Annie! I don’t see why not, I bet that would be great!
Yowza, Susan! You could get a Doctorate Degree in Christmas ideas!! Thank you so much for all the info and the effort it took to put this outstanding, informative post together. I will be re-reading it a few times to make sure I haven’t missed anything. Have a wonderful Holiday!
So many great ideas, and I’ve copied a few! Thanks!
All such a Christmas and Holiday feast for the eyes! Thanks so much for the inspiration, Susan.
On the subject of outdoor decorations, hopefully you won’t mind me sharing the following tip for using battery operated lights in a sheltered area, even if deemed for inside use and regardless if the temperature is well below zero:
Wrap the ‘battery pack’ in ‘foam plumbing tubular pipe insulation’ that retailers like Lowe’s or Home Depot carry. It is usually gray in color, round and split, can be easily cut to size with a kitchen knife or box cutter, comes in 3′ to 6′ lengths, in different diameters (1″ the largest) and is reasonably priced. *Note: The key is to keep the batteries warm and depending upon the size of the B-pack you might have to do a bit of customizing/ piecing however an elastic band or even cello tape will hold it into place.
To conclude; as I do not have an electrical outlet on my front porch I find by doing this I can still have the miniature lights that I want without bothersome extension cords. -Brenda-
Footnote: I use the LED type that use double AA batteries that come with a built-in timer. i.e: 6 hours on, then off for the next 18 hours.
All great ideas Susan! I just love your DIY Cocoa sign. I am thinking of making one for beside our front door.
I LOVE the wreaths with ribbon on your windows!! I would like to do the same, but I have a variety of windows on the front of my home and would love to get your suggestions to on how to use the ribbon and wreaths. I have single windows such as yours – that’s easy. Then I have “double windows” which look like two single windows right next to each other with a wood piece separating them – question is do I hang a wreath on each of those? Third is I have a large window pane over the front door and 2 windows the same shape only larger in the piano room and study which those rooms are located on each side of the front door. These windows have the rounded top and do not open. Do I just leave those blank?? Thanks for any suggestions you may have!
Thanks, Dana! I would definitely hang a wreath on each of the double windows. It creates such a dramatic beautiful effect if each window gets its own wreath. You spend a bit more upfront, but you’ll have your wreaths for many, many years!
The other windows you’re describing sound like Palladian windows. If those windows are what I’m envisioning that I’ve seen on other homes, they are probably much larger than the other windows so I would purchase a really BIG wreath for each of them. If they are big windows, they will need a larger wreath. I would hang a wreath from them so the front of your home will look consistent. Since Palladian windows don’t normally open, you’ll probably have to use a heavy-duty, suction cup hanger to hold the wreaths you hang on your Palladian window. You can find those on Amazon.
Here’s an idea to try: Hang wreaths on all your other windows, then go run an errand to clear your head. When you come back home and see how everything looks, you’ll instantly know if you need a wreath on the Palladian windows. If you do hang one on those, I would go with a nice big one that’s in proportion to the window. A regular size wreath like you have on your other windows would probably look lost, unless your palladian windows are normal size windows and not the really big ones I so often see here.
Hope this helps!
Great advice! If I do choose to hang on the Palladian windows and I have used the ribbon to hang all the other wreaths – do I just tack up the ribbon to the top of the Palladian window on the wood part of the window? So it too looks like it’s hanging from Ribbon?
If you can, I would. I love it when wreaths are actually hanging from ribbons instead of just stuck in the center of the window. Wreaths always look odd to me, just stuck in the center of a window like they grew there. lol I love seeing them hanging, just a more romantic look, I think.
Thanks again! That is my thought exactly – or more like a floating wreath – which would be weird . .
What a wonderful, holly-jolly post Susan! Thank you! I love my wreaths with their pretty red ribbons hanging on my front windows, soooo pretty. My house is white with forest green shutters and so the green wreaths with the red ribbons just look fantastic along with the evergreen roping swaggered along the railings. I also swirled it down the two front posts. LOVE it. Some year, I’d like to do you Pottery Barn knock-off and add the Christmas ornaments, but it seems I’m swamped from Halloween until Thanksgiving raking / blowing leaves! Ha For now I’ll just enjoy yours! Merry Christmas!