Christmas in the living room 2020

It's Christmas in the living room! Our tree has been up in here for the last month, but the mantel has been looking very bare and sad. I was finally able to tackle it this week and now we are officially ready for Christmas.

I kept the mantel pretty similar to the way it was last year, but added some greenery and blue bows. The blue bows/ribbon are everywhere in our house (front room and the kitchen) so of course I wanted to continue that element in here. I thrifted that brass pot (the one with the handles on the right side of the photo) over the weekend at Goodwill, $15 and it was coming home with me! I had every intention of putting a white poinsettia in it, but the only store I've been to lately was Wal-Mart and all of their white poinsettias were yellow so I'm going to see if I can hunt a white one down when I grab groceries today.

I changed out the art on our Frame TV for something a bit more Christmassy! It's always fun to change out that art to fit the season and know that it's temporary and not a huge commitment.

Our shelf next to the fireplace essentially stayed the same (you can see how it normally looks here) I just added our letters to Santa box (last year from Hearth and Hand), a few village houses, and called it a day.

That letters to Santa box may just be my very favorite Christmas decoration that I own. This year we did the Elf on the Shelf letters to Santa kit, the kids write their letters on special paper (basically a shrinky dink), and then you bake the letter, it shrinks down small enough for your elf to be able to carry it to fly to the north pole and deliver it to Santa.

The best part is, once Santa has read the letter and "documented" it, Elfie brings the letter back and you can hang it on your tree. I know it's all a total marketing scam, but those elf people are a genius, it really is a great idea and the perfect way to memorialize each year's letter to Santa.

The whole room is feeling pretty cozy right now. It's come a long way since I shared the original living room photos- we bought some new recliners (these powered ones from Pottery Barn, leather color is statesville pebble). My mom loves a recliner so we searched for a long time to find something with nice clean lines, not overstuffed, yet still super comfortable. These still aren't my favorite looking chairs, but considering they fully recline and are very comfortable- they absolutely fit the bill.

Our white Pottery Barn outlet sofa is still going strong, we just had it professionally cleaned last month and we usually keep a blanket tucked over the bottom cushions to protect it from the kids, who do spend a lot of time in here. White sofas definitely aren't for everyone, they are pretty high maintenance- but we have two and I'm either brave or an idiot. I love how they look though- so pristine and white. I can also spot clean and take a fabric razor to it whenever I need to to freshen it up...

Last year I got a little dressed up for these photos, but I figured what better way to encapsulate 2020 than wearing a sweatshirt and slippers. I probably should have stayed in my pajama pants...but you're welcome- I put on pants.

Merry Christmas guys- one week out from the big day! Have you finished shopping? I'm completely done and now just crossing my fingers all the packages arrive in time, I've been hearing that this is the first year where there have been more packages than letters. If you know a delivery person please give them a big hug for me- they are working so incredibly hard this month and need some appreciation- which reminds me, I think I'm going to put some water bottles and snacks out on the porch for them!

Sources: Rug | White Sofa | Recliners, in statesville pebble leather | Coffee Table | garland (similar) | dashing shirt | gold side table | letters to santa box | Frame TV |