Happy Christmas Eve 2011!

As is our family tradition, we will be having some friends and relatives over for Chinese food after the tonight’s church service.  Is it a little odd to eat Chinese take-out off of china plates?  Probably, but was one of Peter’s family traditions growing up that has been fun to adopt for our own little band.

So now the food is ordered, the table is set, and I am happy to announce that I have gotten pictures of all my dining room decor to share with you, including the mysterious coffee filter project, so without further ado, here are my Christmas Dining Room Decor 2011 pictures:

The top of the bookcases:

The sideboard:

Do you see the coffee filters?

How ’bout now?

My grandmother says it looks like a dust catcher.  She’s probably right, but I still love my coffee filter wreath!

And to stick to my self-imposed challenge to reuse and reinvent items I already had on hand, I used this Christmas card we received a few years ago from one of my aunts to complete the sideboard transformation. So glad I kept it around.

No Christmas dining room would be complete without a festive table.  Here’s my attempt:

I used some snowflake ornaments for placecard holders:

And grabbed some things I already had on hand to complete my centerpiece, including my glitter bird from Michaels, and my homemade sheet music stars, and some glittery snowflakes that were on clearance at Target last year in the gift wrap section.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with how everything came together, especially considering that my entire Christmas decor budget this year (not including the fresh-cut tree) came in under $25 and that includes the adorable snowflake hand towels I got for the half-bath.

Sticking to my challenge was truly a challenge.  It definitely made me dig around and say, “What do I have that I could use here?”  But in the end, I think it’s the best our house has ever looked at Christmas.  My favorite part?  Definitely the wreath, so one last pic… okay?

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!