hang the stockings, trim the tree

True to my Christmas countdown calendar seen here and here, last Friday was spent decorating the house with all the trimmings.

Every year though, I find myself stumped as to what to do with our stockings. You see, our house has no fireplace, and no stairwell banisters. We have a long floating shelf in our living room that I have hung stockings from before, but there's just something strange about how that looks. It always seemed messy looking to me, and our floating shelf isn't the most sturdy thing in the entire world, so I don't want to have any worries about it crashing down with all the goodies my hubby is going to put in my stocking ;). Last year I tried hanging them from the windowsills, but that was just too low and out of sight.  So I walked around my house (seriously, I think I just wandered around my house for 30+ minutes trying to think of how I would make this work.) What can I say, I am dedicated to the Christmas spirit!!

Finally, after some leftover mousse torte from Thanksgiving, inspiration struck, and here's how I did it.....

First I grabbed a branch from the backyard. We had some pretty sizeable ones due to some fairly rough winds recently, so finding a keeper was easy as pumpkin pie.

I had some leftover shiny silver spray paint from who knows what project, and decided to go to town on my branch.

Now it was time to hang. In the inspiration photo above, they used some pretty wide ribbon. I had some blue and silver colored ribbon in my crafty stash, and debated whether I would use that or clear fishing line.
(Obviously you can't see the fishing lure line in the photo above because it's invisible. duh.) And yes, I added sparkles to the photo. SPAAARKLES!

Ok, so I've got fishing lure in hand, along with my shiny branch, some scissors, and a nail and hammer. Here's my blank slate:
Usually I have a small photo collage on this wall, but I took it down to allow my super amazing Christmas stocking holder idea to come to pass. My plan was to string the branch between the curtain rod on the left and the doorway molding on the right. And that's where the hammer and nail come in;
At the top of the door molding, I hammered in a little nail so I would have something to attach the invisible string to on that side. This works out so much better than putting holes in the ceiling or wall using hooks. I can remove this nail, and I don't even have to fill it because no one is going to see it. Next year, just stick the nail back in and put up the branch again! Handy.

So, once all was said and done....VOILA!
Part of the photo collage made it back up since it just didn't seem like Christmas without my great grandma and grandpa's photos up. Oh, and here's a secret...no, the Marshmallow does not get two stockings...we have two dogs. They couldn't be more opposite though...while the Marshmallow greets the camera with open paws, the other one goes into hiding, so I let her live quietly and in peace. Of course, they both get a stocking at Christmas! Also, you can barely even see the nail! I promise I didn't photoshop it out.


Here's to a very merry kickoff to the Christmas season! Where do you hang your stockings?

♥ Mark 11:23-24 ♥
♥ "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. " ♥