Domus Home ~ Emerald Monster ~ Pink Christmas

So now that Im back in my "home and native land" and "The Uber Apartment" is no more I am feeling a bit uprooted and out of sorts. My lovely entertainment unit is in my mother's kitchen. My Mansfield Chair is squished in a corner and definitely not showing it's best side. The last time I saw my couch it was being moved into the basement of my mother's house. I assume it's still there but I wouldnt know since the basement is buried in boxes. Being home is great for many reasons--I couldnt be more thrilled that Im missing the second Bush term--and Im grateful that my mom has taken me in, but oh, what I wouldnt give to be in my own house for Christmas. Alas, that's not going to happen this year.

I have to admit my mother has been very sympathetic--heck, we're in the same overloaded boat here--so when I insisted we needed to get into the Christmas spirit this year she was right there with me, if nothing else than to distract us from the boxes and clutter all around the house. And what's more distracting than pink feather boas? Not a whole lot, let me tell you.

In what's probably a record for our family, the tree was up and decorated while the calendar still read November, and no, not because we forgot to change the page, although that could have easily been the case. We actually got so into the theme of "pink" that we used up all of our Michaels coupons for three consecutive weeks. And it didnt stop with the tree! We now have twiggy reindeer sparkling and bobbing their heads in the front yard, we have a gorgeous centerpiece, a new door wreath and LED lights. I havent put the lights up yet but when I do the whole neighbourhood will know that these two chicks have Christmas down!

The acquiring of all new pink decorations (believe it or not this is our first pink tree) was surprisingly easy, which leads me to believe that Im not the only one with this crazy scheme. However, I couldnt make it too easy. We had to do some hand-crafting to make the tree complete. Right down to the crafting of the beads themselves. Some were made of sculpey some were made of actual clay that I made at my pottery class. (Oh, about that sculpey stuff. This was my first sculpey experience and I accidentally burned the first batch of beads in the oven. That leads me to my first tip: pink spray paint is a perfect fix for burned sculpey and adds some dimension to the beads as it's glossier than the bare clay. And that leads me to my next tip: if youre going to spray paint in the bathtub, dont tell your mother. She wont understand.)

Possibly my favourite decoration (after the pink peacock topper which is undeniably brilliant) is the pretty pink and green ribbon. I cant tie a bow to save my life, but darn it, the ribbon looks fabulous. It also made a terrific addition to our centerpiece. AND! It's suitable for year round wrapping...come to think of it, so are those feather boas...

My mom spotted the inexpensive butterflies at Michaels and they clip to the tree like hair clips. Theyre easy to work with and they add lots of sparkle. 

So it's still almost a month till Christmas and our tree is ready. Frankly, so am I. Doing this little activity has made my home feel like my home again. My mother and I have had a blast and our pink tree makes us smile. If we were to enter a tree decorating contest our little masterpiece would certainly be a contender, if not for 'best in show' at least for 'best in pink'. 

Happy Holidays!

Matching Christmas Centerpiece