Christmas Decorating

Is everyone asking if you're ready for Christmas? They're asking me and the honest answer is, the house is almost ready... and that's all I've focused on so far. The wreaths have been tricky.

Last year most of the windows wouldn't open and we discovered the latches needed to be adjusted on all of them. I was relieved because hanging wreaths sounded overwhelming so I had an excuse to forget it that year.

This year I had done my Pinterest research, so I was ready. Cheap, but lit (battery-powered) wreaths from Michael's. Ourdoor pre-made bows, also from Michael's. Lots of outdoor ribbon (that I'd already purchased last year.) And command strips made especially for windows.

Before Thanksgiving I hung three of the command strips on the windows to see if they worked and also figured out my plan of hanging upstairs wreaths from the inside of the top double-hung window. (Just close the window on the ribbon and wha-la, it's hung. Easy-peasy.)

The Command Strips on the glass didn't hold. But the one on the center rail of the 1st level window did. Courtney came home (before Thanksgiving) and was excited to see the wreaths being hung. No. I'm just practicing.

My solution for the casement windows!
Ribbon through the openings.
Wire hang the wreath from the ribbon outside.

After Thanksgiving I started hanging. I discovered that two of the double-hung windows were broken again. (Just the latches.) And one of the downstairs Command strips simply wouldn't stay. But the other three would. And then Thursday, the longest-lasting Command strip (the one I'd practiced with before Thanksgiving), gave out. Ugh. I had two wreaths upstairs and two downstairs.

Dan's partner walks by our house each morning with his wife and told Dan at work, "I can't figure out what's going on with your wreaths." Right. Us either.

The kid came to fix the upstairs windows on Friday (and taught me how to fix them in the future... I hope I remember!). And I figured out a solution that doesn't rely on Command Strips for the downstairs. And now our wreaths are hung, and we are ready for the Christmas season!