my christmas staircase

Well hello, it’s been a while!  As you may remember, I had surgery in September and I’ve been enjoying a slower pace of life.  So slow, in fact, that I’ve had a few readers ask if I’m going to return to blogging.  Wow…did that make me feel great!  It’s nice to know that I’ve been missed.

I definitely missed out on fall decorating this year…and I think because of that, I’m jumping into the Christmas decorating earlier than normal.  You may have noticed in my Instagram stories earlier this week that I was decorating my staircase for the holidays.  Several people wanted more information on the greenery/ garland I was using.  Soooo I thought…why don’t I write a blog post and share what I did.

I am keeping things simple this year, so I used three items to create this look…greens, white lights and red buffalo plaid ribbon.  Over the years, I have gone back and forth between using artificial garland and live garland.  There are pros and cons to both.  I love the look of the live, but it dries out so quickly and then leaves a mess.  I decided to use something a bit different this year…THESE HANGING GREEN SWAGS are perfect!  They have the lush look I want, but without all the mess.  Yes, they are artificial…so they will not dry out and die.  I purchased ten of them to hang on my staircase (and if you know Hobby Lobby, they will be 50% off next week if they aren’t on sale this week).  I simply gathered each end and tied them to my banister with some natural jute, overlapping them just slightly.

Once I had all the greens attached to my banister, I added the white lights.  I tried to weave them in and around the greens for some dimension.

Then came the fun part…the ribbon and bows!  I love a good BUFFALO PLAID RIBBON, and I’m especially loving this red and white pattern this year!  I attached the bows in the same area where I tied the jute.  It is the right spacing AND it somewhat hides the jute.

Of course, I love the way it looks!  And Claire said that when the lights are glowing in the evening, it makes her “feel cozy.”  I just love that she feels that way!  I’m hoping we have lots of “cozy days this season.”