Holiday ready with rustic decor & memories| Gully Creek Cottage

Hi guys! Can you believe that it’s holiday time? We’ve been attempting to start decorating for Christmas by taking trips to the storage units to gather decorations and rummaging through box after box of holiday stuff to make do with what we have to make our temporary rental feel cozy and homey and holiday ready!

Today was to be the day of decorating as much as possible (minus the tree), but I woke up feeling less than 50% so in order to make myself feel better, I started by baking a batch of cranberry orange scones to surprise my daughter! (My theory: It usually helps me feel better when I think of someone else instead of how crappy I feel!) It didn’t work! lol. But the scones were delicious!

While her daddy went over to the school to drop them off, I started pulling out some of my favorite Christmas pieces.

Then we move on to incorporating my pieces into a new look while using rustic elements. (Cause I love rustic!). Like our old Dr. Pepper wood crate and antique ice skates for the dining room table centerpiece.

Metal tin, screens, and frames for the mantle.

I’m still trying to decide what else I’ll weave into it to complete the look! Then moved on to grab a concept for the porch and placing touches on the front door and walkway.

Holiday ready, Discovery #1…

when we decided to move, we donated our brand new 9 foot tree to Goodwill and so after finding all the decorations, and sifting through boxes…I have no lights! The tree was pre-lit one. 😟 Meaning that Saturday, when the family travels to the tree farm to chop our Christmas tree, we’ll have to stop and buy some lights – lots of ’em!!! That’s how I like it!

Holiday ready, Discovery #2…

Stressful, yet fun! I love decorating! And I especially love decorating for the holidays but when you’ve moved and everything is in boxes it’s quite the challenge. Then you add not feeling up to par to the mix and it’s draining. I was more than happy to have snacks available so we could keep going with the decorating.

(“we received a free product in exchange for our honest review.”)

The snack was a Hormel Gatherings Party Tray! Have you tried them?

They have meats, cheeses, and crackers, for a filling snack or party appetizer. We were having our own party–a holiday decorating party at Casa GCC today!!! So delicious, filling, convenient, and perfect to give us the “umph” we needed to keep hanging, placing, and setting our holiday decor.

So with a second trip to refill my snack dish…

It was just what I needed to keep going and finish up for the day! (While I I really hope my landlady won’t mind me using her garage finds for our mantle scene!)

Get your own Gathering appetizer Tray! (see below)

We will have the tree up over the weekend and there will be more pictures and stories. But while YOU are getting holiday ready, share your funniest holiday memory in the comment section!

The winner will receive a $15 value HORMEL GATHERINGS TRAY from Gully Creek Cottage!

I’ve come to the conclusion that while this holiday will be very different for numerous reasons, it’s the gathering of family and friends, the memories, the nostalgia of it all, that truly makes this time of year spectacular. (Delicious food is just a bonus!) 😉