The Christmas mantelpiece

 Hi again! Christmas has been and gone, and I thought I'd better share these pics of the Christmas mantelpiece before they become too redundant. I meant to do this a couple of weeks ago but the silly season got away on me, as it generally does! There is quite a lot going on here with the advent calendar in the background but I kept the colours soft and calming. I would have liked to finish it off with a big sign or star at the top of everything but I didn't come across anything exactly right, and as I said the time got away from me... I'll improve on it next year!

One thing I like a lot about this display is that I kept my plants in it! I also added fresh garden roses.

 There is a little light-up Christmas tree along with some glass baubles (and is that Santa I see peeking out of the door?)

 I finally got around to glittering some little houses to use in my village scene. 

 I really like this calendar! It's called the Silent Night Calendar and has such sweet illustrations. One of my favourite childhood Christmas memories is opening the doors on the advent calendar, excitedly waiting to discover what the little picture would be. We didn't have chocolate advent calendars and I didn't care. These days it's so hard to find a calendar that isn't licensed to Disney and full of chocolate crap, and I was super happy to find this one. It's been as thrilling as I remembered to open the little doors, and I intend to put it carefully away so I can bring it out every year.

 I made this retro ornament garland in soft colours to tone in with the calendar. The pattern came from the Persia Lou blog.

It's nearly time to take down the display in favour of something more summery, but I think I'll enjoy it for a few more days first. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday time! xx

PS I'm also going to count this as my last Styling the Seasons post for the year! Styling the Seasons is a monthly styling challenge hosted by Katy at Apartment Apothecary and Charlotte at Lotts and Lots. Find out more by searching the hashtag #stylingtheseasons on social media.