So, if I’m being honest, this is really a strange Christmas season for me. 
My husband has taken a new position that will eventually move us back to South Carolina but for now leaves our life up in the air a bit/a ton. We knew we would spend Christmas with my family in Virginia but we didn’t know that we would spend the month prior in separate states and sometimes separate countries or that our house would be on the market. Add to all of that crazy the fact that this is our babe’s first Christmas and I was feeling both guilty for not doing enough to decorate our house for the holidays, sad that our lives were so crazy and nostalgic (is: whiny) to be “home” for the holidays.
Instead of wallowing, I decided to rally at the last minute. 
So what if our house is on the market and we’re traveling? 
We can have holiday decor, damnit!  
I decided not to attempt a tree on my own – and that moving furniture around to accommodate a tree really wasn’t the best thing for showing our home – so I needed something else. Something high impact that I would see all of the time so my efforts would be worth it….and something with twinkle lights because it is d.a.r.k. in Maine this time of year.
As it turns out, the mantle in our living room was screaming out for some holiday love and one I noticed just how seasonally boring our living room was I just couldn’t resist attacking the mantle with holiday love.
I decided to go with a rustic chic theme that would be reflective of Maine but also of my personal style – and would hopefully force potential buyers fall in love with our home. 
Sarah from Birchlanding Home was sweet enough to send me her gorgeous hand etched birch snowflake garland – and once I saw it, I knew it had to be the jumping off point for my design.

  I decided that silver would be a perfect compliment to the rustic twine and pale wood and set to work collecting silver pieces from around our house to re-purpose as mantle decor. Some of the pieces were wedding gifts and some are incredibly inexpensive items from Home Goods (one even holds our tooth bushes when it isn’t serving as a mantle piece!) 
 I added a pre-lit garland from Target and burlap from Hobby Lobby and voila! 
Holiday magic. 
(if I do say so myself)
 I photographed the mantle at night because I just love how warm and elegent it looks but I’ll toss in some day time shots because I’m a good blogger like that!

 
Be sure to check out Birchlanding Home – their hand etched maple ornament was recently featured in Martha Stewart Magazine!

And if you see something that you love, use the code North10 to take 10% off of your order!

 

Check back tomorrow for the world’s most unimpressed baby meeting Santa for the first time. 
Spoiler Alert: he was unimpressed.