It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

We are only 20 days away from Christmas.  I have no idea how this happened.  I have about half my shopping done and I've managed to get a little bit of decorating done around here.  I've had requests from friends to post some pictures of my decorations and my little tree so here they are!  I didn't have a lot of money to spend on decorations, so I made a trip to my trusty dollar store to see what I could find.

A package of $2 glass balls and stars makes ordinary branches more festive!

Don't forget the $1 reindeer!

Confession: the ornaments in the next image came from Canadian Tire, not the dollar store.  I got a package of multi-sized and multi-shaped silver ornaments on sale.  What I didn't use for this coffee table tree I used on my actual Christmas tree.  This is made with a pipe cleaner down the centre, and the ornaments are strung onto the pipe cleaner.  It's a little lopsided, and my family may have laughed at it, but it's grown on me, and it's nice and shiny, so it stays :)

Here's my 4-foot tall Christmas tree!  This is it before it got the topper.

And here it is at night with his new topper (also from the dollar store!)  and a few extra shots just for fun :)

Then a few nights ago this happened...

The snow stayed on the ground for quite a while until it went up to 15 degrees yesterday... and I wore no socks...in December...I'm not complaining!

It's not a lot of decorating, and definitely not extravagant, but it's just enough to make the place feel
Christmas-y.  I still have one other decoration that I made with dollar store items, but it needs to be brought over to my house by two people.  It's too fragile to ride in the car alone!  Here's a hint: I call it my Christmas Cactus...

Summer is Officially Over

You know how I know summer is over?  I had to put my balcony furniture away.  I always associate the putting away of lawn chairs and outdoor items with the death of summer.  It's tragic really.  Bring on winter because I'm already counting down the months until flip flop season again!

But, I had some awesome patio furniture covers to use this year!  I won them this past summer in a giveaway from Modern Jane Design.  She's a fellow teacher and blogger and Canadian, from beautiful Prince Edward Island.  (If you haven't checked out her blog, you should!)  I won $75 worth of merchandise from Empire Patio Covers.  It was enough to let me get 3 chair covers and another cover for my table!  They are durable and will withstand the snow, and have ties to secure them to the furniture.  (Bonus: my flower pot fits under the table!)

Check them out!

I love them, and I'm super pumped I won them!  I never seem to win anything!  Or at least anything that I need and can use!  Can you believe it's already the middle of November?  Come find me when the snow melts, I'll be hibernating with my hot chocolate...