{"id":3936,"date":"2014-12-18T15:33:46","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T22:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/?p=3936"},"modified":"2025-05-23T14:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T21:43:09","slug":"christmas-pared-down-just-a-little-bit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/christmas-pared-down-just-a-little-bit","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Pared Down Just a Little Bit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every year I try to have some fun with the Christmas d\u00e9cor. Make a few little changes, tweaks, and sometimes something entirely different. This year we\u2019re going for the latter. Usually, about a week before Christmas we go down to the basement and bring up the tree and all the decorations and pretty well put up every single piece of d\u00e9cor we\u2019ve got, somewhere.&nbsp; And we do have a lot of decor.&nbsp; As I&#8217;ve written before about our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/more-thoughts-on-a-green-and-abundant-christmas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Abundant Christmases<\/a>, you can collect a lot if everything is secondhand!&nbsp; This year we decided to pare it down just a little bit.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/xmasbirdcagewm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3942 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/xmasbirdcagewm.jpg\" alt=\"Christmas Bird Cage\" width=\"533\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/xmasbirdcagewm.jpg 533w, https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/xmasbirdcagewm-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This year I happened to have a tall bamboo birdcage out in the corner of the living room. When the season rolled around enough people had suggested we decorate it that we decided, why not?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/cage-detailwm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3938 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/cage-detailwm.jpg\" alt=\"cage-detailwm\" width=\"533\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/cage-detailwm.jpg 533w, https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/cage-detailwm-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We dropped some lights inside it and decorated with lots of tiny and mid size vintage glass balls. With some birds on top and a bit of mistletoe for greenery it looks quite festive.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/cage-closerwm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3937 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/cage-closerwm.jpg\" alt=\"cage-closerwm\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/cage-closerwm.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/cage-closerwm-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/cage-closerwm-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And of course, this year I did put out my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/my-santa-collection-revisited-or-should-i-say-recycled\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Santa collection<\/a>, but that too ended up just a bit pared down. Couldn\u2019t leave out the Grumpy Santas<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/grumpieswm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3940 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/grumpieswm.jpg\" alt=\"grumpieswm\" width=\"533\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/grumpieswm.jpg 533w, https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/grumpieswm-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><\/a>Or the Gumby ones and a few other odd but happy ones.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/santa-groupwm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3941 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/santa-groupwm.jpg\" alt=\"santa-groupwm\" width=\"800\" height=\"423\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/santa-groupwm.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/santa-groupwm-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/santa-groupwm-500x264.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So there it is. Almost all the decorating is done. Ok, the mistletoe may be replaced with some other greenery on top of the new \u201ctree\u201d. It will probably be put in the doorway, still needing some greenery, in order to catch a quick kiss from those coming in the door.<\/p>\n<p>Now to do Baking! But even there, for once, I think I\u2019ll cut back too. The mince tarts for sure and maybe some cookies, but all in all maybe I\u2019ll spend more time in my studio than the kitchen this year.<\/p>\n<p>And the ChrisMoose, a hand made gift many years ago from Will&#8217;s mum, will always be up for Christmas, just to remember her by.<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center\">&nbsp;<span style=\"color: #ff0000\">We hope everyone has the Best Christmas Ever!!<\/span><\/h1>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center\"><\/h1>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/chrismoosewm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3939 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/chrismoosewm.jpg\" alt=\"chrismoosewm\" width=\"614\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/chrismoosewm.jpg 614w, https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/chrismoosewm-230x300.jpg 230w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 614px) 100vw, 614px\" \/><\/a><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"border-radius: 2px;text-indent: 20px;width: auto;padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px;text-align: center;font: bold 11px\/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;color: #ffffff;background: #bd081c  no-repeat scroll 3px 50% \/ 14px 14px;position: absolute;opacity: 1;z-index: 8675309;cursor: pointer;top: 206px;left: 119px\">Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every year I try to have some fun with the Christmas d\u00e9cor. Make a few little changes, tweaks, and sometimes something entirely different. This year we\u2019re going for the latter. Usually, about a week before Christmas we go down to the basement and bring up the tree and all the decorations and pretty well put <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/christmas-pared-down-just-a-little-bit\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[430,1193,652,1],"tags":[951,949,952,950,466],"class_list":["post-3936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-christmas-decor","category-collections","category-musings","tag-alternative-christmas-tree","tag-bamboo-bird-cage-christmas-tree","tag-bird-cage-as-christmas-tree","tag-chris-moose-wreath","tag-santa-collection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3936"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7019,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3936\/revisions\/7019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhouseart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}