Holiday Top Ten

The ever-adorable Miss Jenny posted her top ten holiday must-haves, and I thought I'd steal the idea and make it my own. In keeping with the theme of this blog, these are my top ten home-related holiday necessities:



1. Christmas Tree - Thought I'd start with the obvious. Nothing brings holiday cheer and warmth to a home than a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. Truth be told, if it were socially acceptable and practical, I'd keep it year-round.

2. Mosaic Tree - And for a different kind of tree, one of these festive little guys is adding a whole lot of fun and light to our entryway console table. It's my most recent holiday purchase and it will be one of those items I'm excited to pull out every season.

3. Inviting Outdoor Lighting - We're skipping the blinky holiday string lights and updating the basics. We just bought this outdoor light to replace the rusty old one by our front door. It screams, "Come on in, it's warm and cozy in here!"

4. Energy efficient window panels - These will soon be installed in front of the french doors to our deck. They'll provide tons of warmth, both literally and decoratively (is that a word? Whatev). They also make tons of cents when it comes to home heating! (See what a did there? har har)

5. Dunkin Donuts Hazelnut coffee - The holiday season drives me into a flavored coffee frenzy. But too much flavor is just... well, too much. So I add a few scoops of hazelnut to the DD regular blend, and it's just the right amount for my taste buds. It also makes the house smell amazing!

6. Oldies 103.3 - All holiday music, all the time. I put this on when I'm decorating, cleaning, cooking, baking. It really puts me in the mood... the holiday mood, that is. Get your mind outta the gutter, Tonez.

7. Area rugs - In the hopes of having our wood floors done in the near future, we purchased a couple of rugs of West Elm and Crate and Barrel. They're simple, durable, and functional, and they'll break up the big block of brown wood. Unfortunately, they're not going to be of much use to us for a while. Sigh. But we do have some lovely rugs in our entry way and by the french doors. They don't have Santa and his reindeer, but they're definitly seasonal and warm.

8. PAINT - If I never see another roller or paintbrush again, I'll be a happy lady. But I will say that there is no easier or more affordable way to make a difference in any room. We recently painted our front door RED (I have always wanted a red door) and we're working on painting all the trim we can get our hands on bright white. We're going for clean and fresh.

9. Hand-held Mixer - As soon as the air turns cool, all I want to do is bake. This mixer is one of the most frequently used items from our wedding registry. I'm hoping to pick up some new holiday dessert recipes for Christmas parties.

10. Holiday Bowls - We have a million of these. Hosting Christmas Eve with Tony's family has lent itself to accumulating tons of Christmas-themed entertainment ware. My personal favorite place to shop for such items is Homegoods.

This was fun. Feel free to put your spin on a holiday top ten list!