Happy Thanksgiving and Let the Decorating Truly Begin!

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving. I started decorating a teeny bit last week and thought I would share a little bit of my mess with you...so far I've finished one Gingerbread Display in the dining room....The most time consuming task I typically have is putting my village up. I took temporary leave of my senses and decided to set it up on the hearth in the den this year. If you'll notice in the photos below my hearth is wider than most and in a semi-circular shape; and not that high off the floor..I have a vision so trust me; in the end it will look okay but right now it basically looks like Christmas threw up in several rooms of my house. I'm the type that works on several things at the same time so I'll work on the village a bit, put in a load of laundry...paint some on my salvaged Goodwill elf...go back to the Village, etc...I thought you might enjoy seeing the Village and other things I'll be doing in the various stages..so pleased understand this is NOT the final product...

Is this not the most hideous thing you've ever seen?????? someone (should be shot in my opinion) painted this sweet elf PINK and BLUE!!!! who does that? I'm trying to rescue the poor thing by painting in traditional red/green...Keep coming back and you will see him later nestled amongst my Christmas books on the built-in book case in the den. I have decorated those shelves for the holidays in every manner you can think of and was really stumped for something different this year...and  my friend Barbara suggested doing an elf/book thing. PERFECT I thought and recalled this sad little guy languishing on the shelf in my basement.

Here's a shot of the hearth....here's where the fun begins and I use all kinds of lifts/props to achieve a truly 3D effect. If you're just setting your villages out in a straight line formation; I would encourage you to use some varying heights...it will make an amazing difference.

Here's some of the buildings I'll be using in my Village...I must tell you I use a variety of sizes/brands/etc and not so concerned with using just Dept 56 pieces...I have pieces from Goodwill and the dollar store in addition to the pricier Dept 56

Now this Dept 56 piece was bought strictly for the name of the boarding house owner...Miss Mae! and the person with that middle name knows who they are (I won't spill the beans) so this one's for you!

Here's a few shots of my dining room table...did I say DINING? a good thing we're eating with Mama today because this is EXACTLY what my dining room table looks like on Thanksgiving Day...can you imagine such a mess?