Matching Cat, No Extra Charge

Since we had to hold our tree together with duct tape last year, I decided to buy a new one after the holidays when everything was on clearance.   I also decided then to pick up some new ornaments and decorations, because I was kind of tired of the whole mess I had going on.

I've always been all about Christmas being traditional, and we do this or that because we've always done this or that.  We put the cute Hallmark cat ornaments on the tree because somebody gave them to me and I have to.  And we put the snow men and Santa stuff out because various students gave them to me over the years, blah blah.

Well, I decided I wanted to go more artistic and pretty this year, and less traditional.  And I got a lot of the stuff half price or less at the end of last year.  So I figure I'm not out a whole lot if I go back to the traditional stuff later.  Anyway, this is what I came up with for the tree:

I love love LOVE it.  It's all in purple and silver.  My living room was purple when we bought the house, and it's one of the few rooms I haven't re-painted, because I just love it.

The mantel (not mantle) is something else I wanted to do differently this year.  Partly because I had to, since we re-did the mantel and I wasn't going to pound nails into my pretty new one.  Partly because what I had going on there was this country crafty mess, and I was tired of it.

So, this is what we have going on there now:

And I don't love it.  It's okay.  It's pretty in and of itself, and it's certainly different, which is what I was going for.  I got the ornament garland on clearance last year, and the rest of it all came from those colors.

I think the big issue is, the purple/silver tree looks perfect in the room where it is.  This fuchsia/teal/lime green/red thing going on with the fireplace doesn't really match the rest of the room.  See, my family room is actually decorated in mostly reds and greens anyway.  So, much as I hated what I had, the traditional Christmas stuff actually went in the room better.  Ugh.

But I still didn't like it.  So, maybe I need more modern stuff that's still the traditional colors? Or something.

Anyway, I lost Beavis for a while today.  The dogs were outside, so I knew he was out and about.  But I couldn't find him in any of his typical hang outs.  Finally I found him here:

Looks like someone else loves the new tree too!