At the start of October I got out the bins full of orange things. While it may be impressive that I have two full bins (plus a bit) of orange things to decorate during Halloween and Thanksgiving, it’s nothing on what I have stored for Christmas. This isn’t even half of those bins:

A few years ago when my husband and I moved into the house we’d been building forever (or 17 years, anyway – and I was only around for the final 7 mind you… but that is a whole different story) I got to start decorating in a much larger and more open space.

A space with 7 square windows across the front of the house that cried out for wreaths during Christmas.

So I went shopping and got 10 (because there were three other windows that also wanted wreaths) artificial pre-lit green wreaths. They were a little dull, so I asked my mother to bring over her bowdabra and make bows for them all, which she did. Of course, that wasn’t going to be enough either. I also bought various picks and glitter covered things and scavenged picks that my mother and sister had put into bows in past years (this is why I don’t even try to compete on package wrapping; it’s a lost cause for me) and started decorating all the wreaths.

The bows are underneath and face out the window; the glittery sides face inside.

The question arose as to how to hang them all. We ended up with tension curtain rods in every window (none of these windows have treatments on them because I can’t bear to damage the beautiful wood). Those and fishing line around the wreath created a perfect solution.

I have outlets near each window so I own more timers and short extension cords than most people would find in a hardware store. One of the wreaths got a bit more of the decorations because it’s the one that graces the large dining room window. And this should explain why I find glitter in my home year round.