Holiday Decorating Tips

I'm no Martha Stewart but I do enjoy decorating for the holidays (maybe a little too much), so I thought I'd share a few of my tips:

Cranberries and Tea Lights Fill a pretty glass bowl with a bag of cranberries. Add water and place little tea lights on top. The cranberries and candles will float. This makes a unique, pretty centerpiece or nice countertop decoration.

Decorative Ribbons I go to the Dollar Store and buy rolls and rolls of pretty ribbon with wire edges (so it's bendable). I get red, green, gold, silver, and pretty designs. Then, I tie bows on candlesticks, topiaries, mirrors and most of the Christmas packages (it's much prettier than a stick-on bow). I also decorate the Christmas trees with pieces of long winding ribbons.

Large Flocked and Glittery Poinsettias A great way to fill in holes on Christmas trees is to take long-stemmed flowers (white, red, gold or whatever you prefer) and simply stick them into the tree (the long stem will be hidden and no wire is needed). It's beautiful to use several of them and much faster than hanging ornaments. (I use ornaments, too.)

Winter Potpourri I fill large glass hurricane candle holders with potpourri. Sometimes I'll separate a bag and use a portion of it as a base around the candle. Right now, our winter potpourri mix is so strong that it has some unattractive plastic wrap on top because we were getting headaches!

Care to share any of your decorating tips? Do you enjoy decorating for the holidays or remember traditions from when you were a kid?

Thanksgiving Traditions

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, please share your favorite traditions. I'll go first.

We cook like fiends and make all the traditional trimmings--turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole (you must have several casseroles in the Midwest--it's the law). We also have Monica rolls (named after my young niece who inhales these tasty yeast rolls), mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberries. Dessert includes pumpkin pie and pecan pie. I'm gaining weight just looking at this menu.

We always give thanks for our brave military, their families, and for our own friends, family and bounty of food. We wish for everyone's health, happiness and safety. This year will be particularly hard due to the tragic loss of my niece but we must go on for her little sister and other family members. I know I keep talking about this but it's foremost in my mind.

As far as shopping, I avoid Black Friday like the plague. Two different years, I made the mistake of shopping the day after Thanksgiving, and it got me out of a festive mood quicker than anything. First of all, I am not going to get up at 5 a.m. to hit a store and save $25. Secondly, I'm not going to get in a snarl of traffic, wait in long lines, and fight over the last most popular gift in the store. Instead, I usually decorate that Friday and shop via the Internet or magazines.

How about you? What are your Thanksgiving traditions and what's on your menu? Please share.