Sales, sales, sales

Hit the after Christmas sales - well, only Target so far.
I'm beginning to see how this works. Target runs a couple of "collections" for the season that allows you to coordinate your decorating. Though who in their right mind would buy a whole collection to redo their house for a holiday.. (wait, I'm doing a sizable job of that).
This past year one of the collections was green, red and white stripes. There were table clothes, towels, shower curtains, napkins, plates, nicknacks, etc... all in this motif. It was bright and cheery and the color scheme was toned down enough one could even keep some of the items out year round.
Two of the other collections featured red and white. One was a plaid look and the other was snowflakes. The plaid would also work year round (table cloths particularly), but the snowflakes was strictly seasonal. Since my home is already painted green, I'm going with a combination of the red and white to round out my color scheme.
In my hall of 9 doors (10 if you count the double master bedroom door), right after Thanksgiving I bought evergreen wreaths with red bows. The look was stunning against the green walls. So I want to run with the evergreen garland and red accent colors through the house.
I have the plaid table cloths ready to go now. I couldn't find matching napkins - but I wouldn't want to overdo the pattern anyway. Solid red napkins will be easy enough to find or make. I have one set of white dinner plates from World Market. I'll watch the sales this year and pick up a second set (and some dessert plates) when the price is right. (I didn't like the white with silver trim plates that Target featured this year - the silver trim limits the use of the dish. Plain white is more versatile.)
I decided to go with the snowflake shower curtain for the family bathroom. It'll add a touch of whimsy to the decorating. I need to paint that room, so I'll paint it red with a darker burgundy sponge job on top. I like dramatic colors in bathrooms and red is a nice year round holiday color (also does wonders for the complexion). Valentines, 4th of July, even Halloween with Red and Black will look good. I'll watch for sales and buy some red and white towels during the year. I did find a sassy set of embroidered hand towels - one says Naughty and the other Nice. I already have a red floor mat in there since deep red and pine green are a kind of running color motif in my house.
But evergreen and red/white alone would be a flat palate. The eye would soon be bored. So to spice it up a bit, I've picked up some jewel toned glass ornaments.
When I was in Paso Robles this past Christmas I drove along Vine Street, which features their Victorian homes. Every year they do a special Victorian Christmas night when crowds come to tour the street of decorated houses, listen to carolers, and drink hot chocolate. One of the favorite stops is the house of Ebenezer Scrooge. A sour spirited gentlemen an red long johns and nightcap rales against the jolly crowd. (here is a youtube upload from this year - a little shaky in spots, but you get the idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW68qhlfH44).
It looks like loads of fun, so I'll have to add that to my holiday calendar to see if I can catch it. (that along with the Christmas boat parade in Naples, Long Beach)
But this year I only got to see the decorated houses during the day. One popular trick is to hang large glass ornaments with fishing line from the bare trees. Done well, it is quite pretty. One family strung line between two or more trees and suspended the ornaments across the front of their home. This array of bright glass balls seemed to be suspended in the air - it was eye catching. Then when I got home, my daughter in law had a link to a website where someone had used this same basic technique to create a glass ornament suspended Christmas tree.
I have an opening between my living room and family room that has been begging for something fun as a decoration. I think I may suspend the glass ornaments in there. If there are enough, I may even do some in the hallway. Additional ornaments in glass containers is always pretty too, or around candles on a plate.
I'm actually feeling pretty ready for the decorating part now. I still need to get garland, but what is available during the sales is not acceptable. I'll do some on line searching off season to see if any is available, or buy it early next year. I would like to find a large wreath for over the fireplace - one with a hunting horn in it. Or maybe just a large horn embellished with greenery and a bow. I still have plenty of time to locate that.
Now to finish putting this year's decorations away...