Christmas Mantel

We posted this CHRISTmas mantel with The Girl Creative's readers last week but wanted to share it with you too!

When we think of creating Christmas, we can't help but think of the reason for the season... this year, for Kristi, it's all about CHRISTmas:


I love love love Christmas- the familiar music, yummy desserts, gift giving, green & red decor, etc. etc. etc., but this year I had a blank mantel at my week-old house to work with and wanted to decorate with what was on hand since most of my decor is still packed or at Kelli's ;)

To create my CHRISTmas mantel, I hung a large pic of Christ by Greg Olsen and set up my Willow Tree nativity, hung a lit garland and strung a pretty ornament bunch from Target on top....

 but to me, after we lit a fire and were watching National Lampoon Christmas Vacation I kept looking at the mantel and knew it was still missing something.

Last month Kelli & I hosted an Elmers party with our friend Kristyn and made cute Christmas banners.  Since we hosted, I didn't make one {it always works out that way, huh!} and decided to add my own in a different color scheme and phrase:

Perfect!

{Click HERE for the tute}

I love that when I peek at my mantel, it reminds me of why we celebrate this Christmas season and motivates me to be more charitable this time of year.