Pretty Stuff! (Part I)

We’ve been so busy around here that I’ve hardly had time to take pictures and explore the new Christmas decorations & ornaments filling the store right now.  Yesterday I took the time to make a tour, and here are some of the things I’ve found inspiring, including our new crystal entrance, the tree in the nativity area, a couple of beautiful under-the-sea wreaths, and a few other highlights.

Are you shivering yet??

We’re showcasing a new style of LED light strand called “Angel Tear” lights.  These lights resemble tear drops or water drops on a strand, and are attached in a branch-like form that is shape-able – you can bend the strand and it will mold to the shape that you want without having to be secured.  They are so beautiful, lightweight and functional, you’ll find many different ways to incoporate them into your decor – maybe even year-round.

Angel Tear LED Lights

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the left, you can see how we’ve tightly entwined a strand with silver branches.  On the right, you can see the strand draped more loosely with the same silver branch.  I love it both ways!

We also have in the store a pre-lit, 3′ tree that is entirely white and fuzzy ~ and our decorators suspended four of them from the ceiling and iced them with sparkling birds and ornaments – what an interesting and beautiful result!

Check out this colorful, glittering wreath - a handsome turquoise reindeer and sparkling “Merry Christmas” sign, enhanced by iced pine branches and silvered leaves – breathtaking!

Just around the corner from what I’m calling our “crystal entrance” is the new undersea area, and though the tree hasn’t been decorated yet, here are a couple of wonderful & whimsical wreaths already on display.

I particularly like the seafoam effect from the white guaze used in this wreath.  These are each one-of-a-kind creations, so we don’t have the opportunity to feature them on our shopping site, but phone orders and shipping are available.  Just call Guest Services at 1-800-445-3396, press 2, and they’ll take care of you.

Tucked into a corner I found a small yet brilliant peacock tree – so very colorful!

Here are a few closeups of two of the peacocks on this silver, slim-line tree.

Okay, I’m kind of afraid to put more photos into one post, so I’ll do a Part II for the rest of my finds!

Have you started planning for Christmas 2011?  Tell us how it’s going – and remember to check out our Themes area on the shopping site – get some help from our designers, whose selections will show you how to creatively build a theme or a color plan for your most fun holidays yet!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

How to Move a 7-1/2′ Decorated Christmas Tree.

1.  It takes three people.  They don’t have to be bruisers.  They can be petite young women.

2.  Tip the tree towards Mover #1.  Mover #2 grabs the trunk in the middle.  Mover #3 grabs the base.

3.  Pick up tree.  Distribute movers for good balance.  Start moving (together) in the direction you want to go.

4.  Set tree down on base and tip into upright position.

5.  It helps to have someone following along behind, picking up the bits & bobs that fall off.  In our case, things are attached so securely to the tree that I only had to pick up four items…

Many of our visitors are going to see trees they’ve never seen before when they come this year, thanks to all the creative moving & shaking going on!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Do I say Happy New Year again?

I feel that, since it is the first post of the new year, I should start again with “Happy New Year!”  We had a lovely and chilly first day of 2009, followed by a gloomy and damp second day of the year ~ but we’re traveling in hope! 

We are taking our first poll on the blog today.  When does your Christmas tree come down??  I’ve known people who keep a tree up year round – some in pleasure, some out of sloth.  This year, although I purchased a selection of ornaments, and I really wanted to see the ice blue ones on display, I never got around to the part where you actually hang them on a, you know, Christmas tree.  Well, it makes the post-holiday cleanup a breeze, and I have enjoyed visiting other people’s Christmas trees instead.  I faithfully turned on my little ceramic tree every morning and evening, so I was not entirely without glow.

Wow – we have some fantastic pricing on Christmas trees right now – as I am writing about them, I just checked the shopping site, and it looks like they’ve all been marked down twice- I think they’re only this way online, not in the store. 

I hope your year is off to a splendid start!  We have exciting plans for 2009, and hope you’ll check in to see what’s happening both here and in the area, and get involved in some of our new adventures.

Life is good in 2009!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Christmas Tree Tops

Santa may have been up on the rooftop, but look at what we have up on the Christmas Tree Top!

A vine acorn filled with harvest lights, accompanied by a flock of brilliant orange birdies!

Blue birds and chickadees perched on pine boughs and wild flowers!

Giant peppermints and lollipops and colorful candies!

Brilliant cardinals perched on a lodge pole standing amid the snow-covered tree branches!

Three wooden crosses, one bearing a crown of thorns.

Fireworks and Sparklers!

Golden butterflies and poinsettias accented with pheasent feathers!

Sparkling green fern and calla lilies, white poinsettias, and lighted golden cones!

A fire hydrant surrounded by angelic dogs and cats!

A pony and a tin star!

A penguin, newly-arrived at the actual North Pole!

Can you find the rooster hidden in the top of the tree?

This giant snowman actually occupies the whole face of the tree!

Ah, the ever-popular Squirrel and Racoon, sittin in a tree!

A storybook and a gingerbread doll, surrounded by cookie cutters and the tools of the baking trade!

A Victorian doll house!

I hope these ideas from our designers will spark your own creativity this holiday.  Come in and view the rest of these and all our trees, we’d love to help you design your own unique theme!  These represent just a sampling of all that we have going on in the store right now.

Have a great weekend, and keep thinking beautiful Christmas thoughts! 

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Frustration!

::frustration:: … is that we have the most stunning trees, wreaths, garlands, and decorations around here … and I have so far found it impossible to take pictures that effectively show their beauty and class …  I’m going to make you look at these anyway, but just imagine them a bajillion times better in real life, rich colors, elegant designs, whimsical light strands and all.  The trees (some of which are still under construction – we are getting in container-loads of new design materials these days) are so loaded with ornamentation there is no way to capture the full effect digitally, so I went in close on a variety of items I found tucked amoung branches.

       

I hope you can tell from these snaps how we load our trees – and the best part is that we generally provide a full kit list for each decorated tree, so you can purchase the whole enchilada and recreate it in your own home or office!

Now, here’s a staggering picture of strands of garland laden with clusters of lighted grapes and filled with birds’ nests, pussywillows, berries, and greens, reaching up to a regal wreath suspended nine feet above.  See why I say photographs really cannot do justice to the work of our professional designers and decorators?

Here are a couple of close-ups that capture the details (and source of my frustration) a little better.

 

Ya gotta come in and see for yourself!

Happy Almost Monday,

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

coming next week…decorating the tree with weasels, ducks, frogs, pandas, flamingos, buffalos, and more ~ and it all works!

Unusual Christmas Trees

Just for fun, go here to see a whimsical collection of unusual Christmas trees!  A little heavy on the “frat house” collection, but cute nonetheless.

At the store, we use the first one, upside down trees.  No kidding, we’ve done this one up with wild animals, miniature hot air balloons, hula hoops, and slinkies.  Hey, think outside the ornament box ~ you can get creative with all sorts of stuff already lying about the house when it’s time to do up the tree this Christmas.

Best thing about the upside down tree?  So much more room for presents and taking photographs underneath.  (Hmm…you know, I don’t know where the star or the angel goes, though…)

What this photographer doesn’t have is a picture of my parents’ first Christmas tree ~ when they stripped the fabric from an old umbrella and decorated the frame.  By the time the sibs and I came along, we had moved up to a fantastic silver foil tree ~ with spinning color wheel, natch. What a thrill for us girls to see it go up each year!

Put your colanders on your heads and come up with something clever for your trees this year – we’ll be asking for your photos in our new forum by December.  (oh, come on, doesn’t everyone use a colander on his or her head for the heavy thinking?  you know you do.)

~Janet @ The Christmas Place