As the new year began, Christmas faded into the past, but some holiday greenery lingers at my home as Nordic-inspired Winter decor. Live spruce tree seedlings on the kitchen island were part of the kitchen Christmas decor, and are now sprouting new growth from the warmth in the house. 

Little by little, Christmas decorations in my home have been replaced with Winter decorations.  

French Country Christmas Living Room Tour

A tour of our French country Christmas living room includes views of a massive white stone fireplace and a two-story Palladian window. The tour starts with the Christmas color scheme in the living room which began with a jewel-tone Christmas stocking and coordinating throw pillow.

Jewel-tone needlepoint Christmas stockings and a matching throw pillow set this year's color for Christmas decor in our French country inspired living room. The stockings and pillow came from my sister's shop in Maine more than twenty years ago. 

When I bought a purple pillow cover from our new local Pottery Barn outlet this summer, I knew it would go with the needlepoint pillow and stockings. That's when I began planning this year's Christmas decor. 

French Country Christmas Mantel With Dark Blues

Styling a French country mantel with dark blue colors to go with jewel-tone colored needlepoint Christmas stockings took several makeovers. 

Arranging, re-arranging, adding to, taking away, repeatedly, over several days before this year's mantel came together and made my eyes clap their hands. 

The final design includes a custom-printed framed inspirational Christmas quote. A post is in the works to explain how to create the custom quote. 

Cardinal Christmas Table Setting

New placemats and napkins with rosy red cardinals and berried grapevine wreaths make a beautiful holiday table setting on our French country table in the kitchen sunspace. The berries on the linens inspired Christmas greenery on a wire mesh birdcage to go with the new table setting. 

Holly sprigs with red berries, feisty red cardinals, twiggy brown branches, and grapevine wreaths with red berries and greenery make cheerful holiday placemats and napkins. 

Blue O Holy Night Shelf Decor

A blue handmade O Holy Night wood sign is the center of a stone kitchen shelf decorated for Christmas. Christmas cards set the scene for the three wisemen following the guiding star. 

Christmas cards have beautiful scenes that tell the Christmas story and are an inexpensive way to create memorable Christmas decor.