6 Years of Christm-fying the TV Room

I noticed I usually do a Christmas village scene under the TV. Not sure what I'll do this year since I have a teeny tiny new TV piece. I think it's time to bring back the two toy soldiers. Perhaps I could do a solder and nutcracker scene? Nah... they are usually boring. Perhaps the two snowmen could flank either side and all the Annalee penguins could go on the table. I like that idea!



Here are the snowmen and the Annalees

Gnome Christmas Tree

The 2010 Gnome Christmas Tree here at Copeland Christmas was so cute. I think for 2011, I'll switch it back to a green tree. I really think white trees have a place in every Christmas house, but to me, white is just more elegant and really demands white lights and a metallic color scheme. I've seen some gorgeous white trees with aqua colors too.

Gnome Christmas Tree from Copeland Christmas 2010

Here are a few other themed Christmas trees from the 2010 season. We did two gold trees with silver glass ornaments and white/gold Annalee angels. I really love the new LED ribbon that has become popular.



Here's another white tree with gold glass ornaments and gold accents. White and gold are so classy.

2011 Themed Christmas Trees

I'm wishing I had purchased more of these $24 Christmas trees from Walmart last year. I got two 7.5 ft Kennedy trees and a 9 ft slim tree. I really can't stand wasting time to bring  Christmas tree lights back to life.

After Christmas Sales: Part 3

A couple weeks ago, I received the lighted LED beaded garland and tinsel bows that I ordered Dec 26th. The garland is really bright, so I'm excited to try it out next year. For now, it's packed away in the same box it was shipped in.

A Sad Garbage Day

We had to let go of a bunch of outdoor yard decor this past week. These are the kinds of items I'd normally hunt out a garage sales, but these day, I'm over refurbishing old broekn items. So sad, but I just gained 3 weekends of boat days by not having to be in the garage with these items this summer...score.

2011 Copeland Christmas Planning

For the 2011 Copeland Christmas display, I think we will use lawn lights. These are regular incandescent mini lights which have 10 ft of empty wire in between lights. They come with little light stakes that hold the lights up above the grass or snow and they look great! Their downside is that they are pricey.

Christmas Display at Helping People Succeed

Last year, I wrote about how I visited the Stuart Helping People Succeed. Their Christmas display is phenominal!!! Since they are open until a few days after Christmas, I swung by today to see how they changed up this year's display. Each office/cubicle has a Christmas scene. I saw a candyland, peppermint, polar bears, Santas, tropical, and gold/teal.

From Copeland Christmas Blog

I just might go back tomorrow to take a few more photos. We have had several people stop by the house telling us about this office and how one lady does most of the styrofoam carvings. I must say, the carving work is really nice.

From Copeland Christmas Blog

I don't really know anything about their organization...just what I found on their website. See below for a brief blurb about their efforts.
Helping People Succeed, Inc. is considered a national model for agencies serving individuals who need special training, education, employment and living arrangements.

TSO Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 - SuperStar Christmas Light Display - A...

If I had a million dollars, here's what I'd do.


Ok, so it's only $3000...I still can't do it. :)

2011 Copeland Christmas Display Ideas

This afternoon I spent some time experimenting with a few display mock-ups in Photoshop. Here is one mockup that I really like, but it's infeasable to execute the way we would want to do it.


John loves leaping arches (along the street). I love them also, but each arch takes 8 channels. For us, that would be about 14 x 8 = 112 channels...which is more than our whole house uses now. We could make every second arch the same, but it would look too cookie cutter. I need to think more about the arches.

Next, the large star is something that Richard Holdman did a few years back. Many people have replicated the star...and it turns out awesome every time, so I think it's a winner.

We still have our candle sticks...which I think is still unique to Copeland Christmas. And we still love them, so they will stay.

The icicles are an idea I had several years ago, but didn't have time to execute. I think they could be feasible for 2011. I would make them from polystyrene, just like I make the village bases and how I made the workbench icicles a few years ago. Here's a little candy shop from this year's display that has cute rounded ice. Perhaps this variation would be better.


Last year, I used a spare piece of styrofoam to see how sturdy the icicles would be...it worked pretty good.

Copeland Christmas Voted Number 1

This is so funny...I checked the mail today and found this homemade award that someone put in the mailbox. It is from the Smith family and it declares that we are a "2010 Favorite"!!!!!

Thank you to the Smith family for choosing our house as your 2010 favorite! Check us out on facebook or Youtube...drop us a line and let us know who you are and why we were chosen this year. And of couse, we want to say "thank you."