decking the halls (& kimono cards giveaway)

My favorite thing about Thanksgiving weekend is not the food, though I have to admit, the food is really good.  But nothing tops the day after Thanksgiving, when box upon box of Christmas decorations comes down from the attic.  We listen to Christmas music and feast on leftovers while decorate the tree, put up lights, and fill our house with holiday cheer.

I don't venture out of the house for Black Friday, but I always hit the day-after-Christmas sales for clearance decorations.  Then I pack them away for the following year and forget about them.  It makes unpacking the boxes each year a lot of fun!

Pretty, isn't it?  

I found the snowman mugs on 90% clearance at Williams-Sonoma about 5 years ago.  Husband brought home the gingerbread house cookie jar from a garage sale a few years back.  He paid $1.

I got the garland on clearance at Target last year.  It seemed a little blah by itself so I cut up some fake poinsettias I found in our stash of Christmas gear to add a little color.

I found the berry candleholder on clearance at Bealls several years ago & scored 3 of those awesome "wood" candles on clearance last year at Target.

Princess got to help decorate the tree this year.  If you look closely, you'll notice the absence of ornaments at Trouble-level and the unnaturally concentrated ratio of ornaments at Princess-level.  

Our first Christmas together, Husband started a tradition of giving each other a blown glass ornament.  (This was the one I gave him last year, in honor of our cross-country motorhome adventure.)  We also pick one out for each daughter each year, usually related to whatever they are "in to" that year.  When the girls grow up they will each have a set of ornaments to decorate their own tree.

I bought this wooden Advent calendar last year.  Each door holds a nativity magnet and has enough room to add a little treat.  I love that we can re-use it every year & it is a fun way to teach the girls the true meaning of Christmas.

Only one special item was truly a new addition this year.  I found this gorgeous handmade silk pomander on Etsy.com, from a shop called Kimono Cards, and I had to have it.  It is made from vintage kimono silk, and the minute I saw it I knew it was the perfect pop of color for the oval mirror in my newly-created entryway.

There are a lot of cool things about buying things on Etsy, but one is that every handmade item is unique and has a story behind it.  Mona Soyak, the creator of Kimono Cards, fell in love with the beauty of vintage kimono silk after while living in Japan for more than 10 years.  She started by making quilts with the fabrics, then eventually began making stunningly beautiful greeting cards.  Each design is drawn & cut by hand, and no two cards are exactly alike

As part of 30 days of Holiday Cheer, Mona has generously offered to give one lucky reader a 4 card assortment of her beautiful cards.

Here is how to enter:

Mandatory Entry:

-Visit Kimono Cards' Etsy Shop and tell me which item you like best and who you would buy it for. (1 entry)

Optional Bonus Entries:

-Become a follower of Living Well, Spending Less via Google Friend Connect, Networked Blogs, or RSS feed.  Leave a separate comment below to tell me how you are following. (1 entry)

-"Like" Living Well, Spending Less on Facebook.  Leave a separate comment below. (1 entry)

-Follow me on Twitter.  Leave a separate comment below. (1 entry)

-Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter or post it on your Facebook wall.  Leave 3 separate comments below. (3 entries)

-Post a link on your blog to this giveaway.  Leave 3 separate comments below.   (3 entries)

Entries for this giveaway will be accepted through Sunday, December 12th, and I will draw a winner at random using Random.Org on Monday, December 13th.