Growing up, my mom always decorated for all of the major holidays with Christmas being my favorite by far. From the candles in the windows to our 15’-18’ Christmas tree…yes, you heard that right…18’! Straight out of ‘Christmas Vacation’ but minus the squirrel. It was a sad year when we had to settle for a “shorter” one hehe. Did I mention it was real?! You should only do real; you just can’t beat the smell. We learned very quickly that we needed to anchor the tree to the walls it was up against due to the weight of the lights and ornaments. We learned this from it actually falling over one year I might add. You live, you learn right?!
Now that I am full on adulting, I get to do some decorating of my own. This year I got to include the barn on that list. But where does one even begin in this world where Christmas starts so early?! Whether you are someone who decorates before Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, the first day of December, or right before Christmas, it always seems to feel like a mad dash towards the finish line. I think we all need to just pour a glass of wine and enjoy the moment. It’s time to slow down and take it in! Otherwise, what’s the point?!
Decorating kept me a bit warmer during this cold streak that slammed our area. While I have decorated the barn and seen the barn decorated in so many different ways, I truly think decorating it for Christmas might be the best. There is just something about it! The smells of the fresh evergreens, the glow of the twinkle lights, and the warmth of the…wine? If there wasn’t snow on the ground right now, I would totally get that bonfire going!
For this undertaking I got to repurpose some of our Fresh Air Farm décor as well as spruce things up with some new items. Now, I can wrangle some mean garland, let me tell you what! My poor hands might say otherwise though… I wrapped and draped and wrapped and draped the beautiful fresh garland all around the barn. I love the mixed garland; it just adds a little something extra. Remember, you can never have too much garland! Ever! You can cut it to any size that you need for any spot you want to place it. I also brought in nine wreaths. Yep…nine!
Six on the windows with beautiful little bows that I made from a jute ribbon I found at Hobby Lobby because I wanted something a little different than the standard red bow that they came with so those went bye bye. I placed a wreath on both of our vintage trucks that we love so much and then a huge one on the exterior wall of the barn to add some drama. The base of the entry table was created with a twig runner and a lamb skin rug for contrast, both from World Market. Then I brought in some DIY snow globes created with glass items we already had along with the snow, trees, and of course a red truck from Hobby Lobby (btw did we start this whole red truck trend? I’d like to think so J). I finished everything off with, you guessed it, more fresh greens!
There are three potted evergreens out on the patio for some vertical interest and four live cedar trees upstairs in the barn strung with beautiful white lights. You have to go with the warm yellow glow and not the bright white though! The potted evergreens were from Grass Pad, but when choosing these you must choose trees that are cold hardy for 2-3 zones colder than where you live if they have a chance of surviving the winter out of the ground. Being out of the ground, the plants roots aren’t as insulated.
To help with that you need to also add a thick layer of mulch. It’s best for the potted evergreens to not be in direct sunlight, otherwise they will thaw during the day and refreeze at night and you don’t want that! Our four cedar trees we put inside the barn are from right off our property…so I guess you could say they are very local hehe.
Well it looks like I am all out of wine and am in need of a refill so…that’s my que. Now get out there and enjoy, enjoy, ENJOY this beautiful holiday season we are in!!! Happy holidays from the FAF family!
