Friday Night Festivities. . . and a few finishing touches!

‘Girls Night’ on Friday was so much fun. We gathered at Cheryl’s to enjoy each others company and I took along the ‘fixins’ for a Christmas Cocktail (as seen here by Sandra Lee, or watch her video on how to make this and her snowtini HERE).

Here’s mine I made.. . it’s a little pear juice, a little Pom juice, fresh pomegranate seeds and champagne :-) I was also feeling rather decadent and took along some caviar!

It’s not to everyone’s taste, but I LOVE it!  One of Cheryl’s friends tried it and liked it, one of our other friends tried it and didn’t – it was too ‘fishy and salty’ for her. That doesn’t sound appealing at all does it “fishy and salty!”.  What about you? Have you ever tried caviar – did you like it? Surely it’s not just the rich and famous that eat it?

   Here’s me munching on caviar :-)

 

So, on to the finishing touches! Last week I did what a few bloggy friends had mentioned . . . I went along to my local Lowes store and asked if I could have some ‘free’ Christmas tree clippings. This is what I got . . . .

I’m sure I could have picked up more, but I didn’t want to look greedy, and this was all pretty heavy too. 

So THIS . . .

went to looking like THIS . . . .

See the difference, it looks much fuller now with the greenery hanging over the white mantle. And I stuck some fresh greenery at the back too.

I also used some of the greenery to make these, one for each column.

I had quite a bit left over so I put it outside at the front door. 

Other finishing touches . . .  I added my little Boyds Bears to the Christmas tree area in my bedroom,

  and using what I had I cleared up the dresser, added a flower arrangement (that usually sits elsewhere in the house) and a lamp and some photos.

It all looks wonderfully cozy at night.

   And lastly, I added a tray to my bed. One of my ‘snail mail’ pals sent me some sweet goodies last week . . .

See the cute little pillow above with the little dancing girl fabric, she made that for me, and also sent the Victoria magazine and some handmade stamped cards, which are adorable :-)  Thank you Carrie.

So, that’s it for today. The countdown has started here, only one more week left at school!  How’s the Christmas preparations going for you all?

I’m linking this post to The Nester’s Christmas Tour of Homes. For more of my Christmas decor you can click HERE and HERE (if you haven’t already seen them)

 

Denise