Christmas season is rushing up at us

Hello, everyone.

Since we came back from the Camino, we've been trying to simplify. There's just too much stuff! You have, no doubt, noticed that I'm trying to use up stash. And we've got a pile of things that need to go to charity, or a garage sale, whichever comes first. (It's a lot easier to drive over to the Salvation Army place!)

We realized Christmas, and Christmas decorating, was come upon us and looked at one another and said, hey, those natural Christmas trees are doggoned expensive. How is that simplifying things if we have to drive all over every year looking for one, and then drive all over getting rid of the dried out tree after the holiday? Especially since on "black Friday" this year we encountered a fake tree that costs less than we typically spend over two years of natural trees. If this thing looks good for three years, we win.

You see that there is a bow instead of a more normal star or angel on the top. We have a lovely Moravian star, but it's too heavy for the tree. We also have a smaller, flatter shell star and it's too heavy too. The top of the tree just folds over! So I looked on the web and watched some Youtube videos and got out some of my stash of ribbons and tied a bow. A delicate, small bow, not one of those monstrosities that is almost as wide as the base of the tree and with gewgaws stuck into it besides. (Really?)
And, instead of putting it into the dining room on the buffet, which is full of centerpieces for the Altar Society potluck pretty soon, I put the Nativity on the floor under the tree. We won't need room to water it, after all.

We even have a trumpeting angel on top of the shed! As long as he perches, that is. Often no matter what I do with him, he tips over.
Speaking of those centerpieces:

The underpinnings: a slice of foam that has been spray-painted silver so it won't show too badly through the tinsel.

One of the finished centerpieces. 

Dollar store supplies for the win! 3-packs of candles for $3, silver colored trays for $1 apiece, box ornaments 8/$1 and round ornaments from our stash. Also bought silver tinsel, and used up a package of gold tinsel we had on hand. Bows were in the stash, too, and bits of floral goodies. I don't reckon in the batteries that we need to put into the candles, but the centerpieces are coming in at around $3 each. Add batteries and it's still way under $5. Because the point of Christmas decorating is not to see how much money we can spend, but to give a visual "Merry Christmas!" to all who see it.