These are an inspiration, truly Flo! I’ll have some saved ideas for next year. I had my Birthday card framed from Lia and love, it’s very special to me. Melinda I especially love your vintage Christmas cards in the floating glass there for your hall bath. So creative and look so pretty. I’m saving that idea, if you don’t mind :). The nativity set is something special I see there and is beautiful as well.

Melinda and wanted to point out how creative you were by having the red envelope to the card positioned in the frame as well. Thank you for sharing those here.

Thank you here Gls on the Christmas cactus 💗 we shall see how well I can keep :).

Wow, Alice, you have a keen eye to notice the red envelope behind the card!

That was a brilliant move! Melindas1977. Don’t underestimate your creativity. It’s quite wonderful!!

Melinda…The framed cards is a great idea! You could even do a montage of a number of cards in a larger frame if you wanted to. I have a lovely watercolour card done by my grand niece and I’m definitely going to steal this idea! How lovely to inherit a nativity set. Your place is lovely don’t apologize for posting. I guarantee you nobody remembers what you did last year… lol my tree looks pretty much the same every year. Awww…thanks peeps, who are saving my handmade cards that I send out. If I keep doing it, you’ll be able to do a collection at some point!

Thank you, Lia! Your watercolor card by your grand niece sounds wonderful and would be lovely framed. So easy to do! Thank you for your kind words. You are probably right....even I have to take a pic of a seasonal vignette that I am happy with so I will remember it the following year. 🤔😄

Melinda, i think you win “Creative Idea of the Season!” Award!

Melinda, do I see kitty ears peeking over the couch or am I seeing things? 😀

You so kind, Flo! I have certainly been inspired by you and by all of the other posters here.

Sharp eye kcooz07!! Yep. I see them too. So cute!

Good eye KC, I had to go back and look. I see them now 💗 too cute Melinda.

You guys amazing! Yes, kitty ears that belong to Frankie, my orange tabby. He always manages to photo bomb all of my photos. 😻

Rofl… I had to go back and look at those EARS! 😻😻🎉 that’s a good set of eyes KC… how adorable is that? He definitely needs to be part of the Christmas decor.🥰

I just had to share the card that I am now inspired to frame… done by my niece, who is now studying at an art college in Italy!

Grand niece…🤪

That card is really pretty. She’s very talented like her Auntie :). Oh how exciting to be studying in Italy! Wow! The little bird is such a wonderful touch to an already beautiful piece 💗

That’s an amazing piece Lia! Lots of talent there!
I have been busy repurposing the flowers from the huge arrangement my hubby got me for Christmas. I was able to get an Asian inspired arrangement and a full regular arrangement from surviving flowers, greens and accent pine cones. There are 2 pictures of the Asian arrangement. I made it good from total 360 for nice loon from family room or while standing at the sink looking into the family room.

That’s amazingly well done… With very tricky combination of materials, Flo!

Thanks Lia. Sure nice compliments especially from an artist of all things as yourself! And yes, pretty tricky using what i had! Tropical flowers, amazing Christmas Red Velvet roses, a variety of berry branches and many different greens, pine cones and other flowers. I love doing arrangements! Glad you like!!

Flo those look really pretty. You did a great job and had quite a bit leftover, they look so full and with what you added in.

Thanks Alice. I only used materials from the original arrangement. It was huge! The hydrangeas didn’t hold up and they were so pretty. The florist actually soaked them in blue water to go with the decor! There was statice too and i saved a few stalks of that. Just an amazing amount of materials! A lot of JOY here.

What a beautiful card, Lia. Your grand niece is so talented. Flo, your flower arrangements are wonderful!

Put this collage together showing the original arrangement which was about 28” high! Then the other two arrangements i did after some flowers faded. So fun. It’s the gift that keeps giving!

Darn. They have changed cropping. Let me try again.

I can’t delete from my iPhone so sorry, just ignore the one with big black boarders!

Frankie, the manger cat, at his post.

Thank you for letting me share photos of my furry friend. 😊

Melinda he’s handsome and a goodly size 💗 most of the threads I participate in on houzz here are cat loving people. So we love to visit with everyone 😊 I imagine Frankie rules!! Lol

Love Frankie! 😻 Amazing he doesn't have the urge to bop around the figurines.

Indeed he does, Alice, indeed he does. KC, he is actually quite gentle with the figurines. He has been known to go after the star I hang from the ceiling over the manger, though. Several years ago, I started to have to hang it higher, out of paw's reach. 😸

That’s so amazing!! You are brave! I might consider using some sticky stuff and placing them on a tray. That would prevent accidental kitty damage! Lol.

I did a fun hanging garland in my main hallway leading into my house. The large ornaments light up at night.

here is some of the rest of my decor for this year.

the other garland from the other side

I did a fun hanging garland in my main hallway leading into my house. The large ornaments light up at night.

here is some of the rest of my decor for this year.

the other garland from the other side

Love it. I am planning on decorating an archway next year. How did you attach the garland and other elements? Love the pencil tree in the corner. Perfect! Nice to see you here cubby! How is the commuting going? Happy New Year.

Flo, the garland etc are all attached to a shower curtain rod using zip ties. It worked very well. I tucked the battery packs for the lighted ornaments up into the garland and zip tied them also. Commuting is going okay. It makes things busy but we are making it work.

Happy New Year to you all also.

Wow. That’s genius!! Thanks. I will give it a try next year!!

cubby, your decorations are always so nice! Love the new garlands this year.

Love the shower curtain rod idea! As Flo said, "Genius!"

I love this idea too. Do you have to get on a stepstool or ladder to turn the ornament lights on and off?

Really pretty holiday decorations cubby! And yes, the shower curtain rod is genius!

Flo, I reorganized our large flower arrangement this evening. We kept the 2 hydrangeas and some of the fuller. The other flowers expired.😀

That’s a genius concept, cubby… I’ll be stealing it.🥰

Cubby that is a brilliant idea with the curtain rod. I have a wide entry way from our LR into the DR and will be saving that idea myself as well. Thank you for sharing here. All of your decor looks so pretty. Would love to see that garland with the hanging lights lit up :).

@Aphaea the ornaments have a remote and timer function so no getting up on something to turn on or off luckily.

The idea was one I had seen online and the ornaments I purchased as a set at Interior Delights. We have really enjoyed the extra fun of this .

Cubby, love all your trees! So cool!

Happy New Year Houzz friends! 🥳 Time to eat the lebkuchen 😉

DD, that sounds like more fun than putting away the holiday decorations. But I am not doing that either. Because I only have a few tabletop flocked trees (though a new three-foot white one--on sale, reduced to $12 from $50--is coming today) and vignettes I am feeling like leaving them up well into January. They are pretty. And I don't have the itch this year to get them packed away immediately after the new year.

Even though all the autumn decorations have been stored away since Thanksgiving weekend, I have my four live pumpkins still out including the never-seen-before-this-year gorgeous yellow one. They are still fresh and hard and I am going to keep them out as well until I feel the first hint of softness, then they will go to the local Sulcata Tortoise rescue we have here. Those giant tortoises love them.

Well, another year for the record books. All our family made it to their single digit temperature homes last night! But we had lovely weather for our annual Christmas celebration here in Texas. So they had a great break from their nasty weather! Thanks to all for posting your amazing homes and wonderful ideas. Great year. May you all have a very healthy and prosperous 2026!!!

I wish the best for all of you in 2026.

I just put my Christmas decorations away yesterday, MLK day here. I have no particular time I do this, just whenever it feels right. Sometimes it's before New Year's, other times later in January. I actually thought I might keep them around until the end of January but yesterday "felt" right.

I have decided a go a bit bigger for Christmas in 2026. I bought a three-foot icy white tree for the den and will buy, when it becomes available again, this champagne-colored tree later in the year. (The reason I didn't get it this year is that the shortest version is 7.5 feet and I wanted one around six or six-and-a-half feet. But what the heck. I'll splurge.

The white tree will have silver mercury ball ornaments as I have those already. The gold tree will have nothing but its lights. I'm already saving for it and very excited.

Flo, thank you for this discussion. Such fun! Your decorations are an inspiration even if I don't personally aspire to that intense level of decoration.

Aphea. I love your “thinking ahead!” I love all “styles”. It’s a time when everyone can express their own unique personalities. I just received some garland i plan to use next year! So you have a great plan. I look forward to seeing your “vision” come alive. Sounds great!