Post contains affiliate links; thanks for supporting Boxy Colonial!

Our den is my very favorite room to decorate for Christmas (and, indeed, it might be my very favorite room, period). The dark colors are made for winter, the mantel looks much happier with stockings, and nothing says Christmas quite like an enormous green shelf begging to be filled with manger scenes and ornaments and other assorted mainstays of Christmas cheer. 

This is my fourth (or fifth?!) year taking part in Carrie from Lovely, Etc.’s Very Merry Christmas Tour; welcome to everyone who’s coming over from Bigger Than the Three of Us! Most years I’ve had pretty much my whole house decorated in time for the blog hop, but this is not that kind of year. I was out of town the first half of Thanksgiving week, doing college tours with my oldest son, Ari, and then when I got back we dove right into fun with the grandparents–not to mention that I have a half-painted dining room right now–I don’t even have a tree up yet! (I’m actually kind of freaking out trying to figure out when we’ll have time to go get a tree in the foreseeable future). But I did get the den all done before I went out of town, and I had a great time doing it. After you’re finished here, make sure to spend some time looking around at the other blogs in the blog hop for virtually endless Christmas decorating inspiration!

My decorating method here was to drag up all the boxes of Christmas stuff from the basement and basically throw stuff on the shelves and mantel to see what would stick. More or less. I haven’t bought anything new for Christmas this year, and I’m not sure if I will. It’s a keep it simple kind of Christmas around here!

This little trailer from Target was a new addition last year, when I put it under the travel themed tree we put up in our sunroom. I felt like it kind of got lost there, though, so I gave it more of a starring role this year.

My mantel is pretty similar to last year’s, but I did switch things up a bit:

We’ve had those stockings since Ari was a baby (I somehow had the foresight to buy four), and I still love them and have never been tempted to change them (similar here). The kids argue every year over who gets which one. I made those cone trees last year out of wrapping paper from Target (my Christmas decor seems to be very Target heavy; the little white houses are also from there (similar here). The cone trees will probably show up all over the house by the time I’m finished. I made a lot of them. I finished up the mantel with my little brass sleight and reindeer and then clippings from our Leyland Cypress trees outside.

Incidentally, when I was clipping the branches from the trees, I noticed that some of them have a bunch of brown branches on the inside. Google tells me this is fairly common and maybe happens because people planted them too close together back when they were super trendy awhile back….we didn’t plant them, so it’s not our fault! Anyway, I hope it’s not the last year for Leyland Cypress clippings!

 

And moving over to the corner shelf (DH built it especially for this space a couple of years ago):

Last year I had little things tucked here and there on all the shelf levels, but this year I focused on just the top so that I could go over the top with it. If you will. More cone trees! TWO manger scenes! Copious amounts of brass, including a deer, three mice, and some candle holders that spell JOY! And more Leyland Cypress! (it will be interesting to see if the clipping stay fresh looking this year, given how early I put them out. But there’s more right outside if I need it).

The violin case filled with ornaments is here for the third year in a row, because I love it.

I have all these little Christmas village pieces, and I’m never sure where to put them, so I’ve taken to making TINY Christmas villages in a few places instead of trying to keep them all together….like on the little Target cake stand behind the brass deer:

This isn’t really a Christmas thing, but my friend Tracy brought me this apostle guy from Ireland last year, and he’s never been on the blog before, and I love him:

The second manger scene has always given me trouble. I bought it on ebay a few years ago because I wanted a vintage set like this….but I’ve never had a stable for it. I keep thinking one will turn up at the thrift store, but I’ve never had any luck. This year I thought maybe I could make one, but all the DIY ideas I could find/think of either looked way too advanced or way too much like a kindergarten project. But then! I was down in the basement pulling out Christmas stuff when I spotted this perfectly scaled….cigar box:

 

I’m ridiculously excited about my cigar box stable. You can’t do much better than a cigar box for humble beginnings, right?

I did a little with the tray on the ottoman, too, but it proved difficult to get a good photo of. Best attempt:

And there you have it: our Christmas den! I should be back with more Christmas posts as the season goes on. We’re hard at work on the dining room right now, and I’m hoping to get it at least mostly pulled together before Christmas, largely because my mom gave me a set of Christmas dishes awhile back and I need to set a pretty table with them.

But for now, go check out The Navage Patch’s tour and then click around on the links below to check out some other fabulous blogs!

All Things With Purpose * Lovely Etc. * Love and Renovations * Thrifty & Chic * Up to Date Interiors * Casa Watkins Living

Green With Decor * Boxy Colonial * Bigger Than The Three of Us * Our House Now a Home * The Navage Patch

Chatfield Court * Lehman Lane * Redhead Can Decorate * Designing Vibes * A Brick Home

House by Hoff * Create and Find * Making it in the Mountains * Twelve on Main * What Meegan Makes

Amber Tysl * The Striped House * Houseful of Handmade * Little House of Four * Avenue Laurel

 

end html

maybe you would like to pin this?