C'est la C

New spin on the Willow Tree Nativity Mantel

This year, I knew I wanted to use the same idea for our Christmas mantel, but I’d seen someone put the Holy Family in a crate on Pinterest, so I wanted to add that feature.

It came together something like this:

• Pier 1 mantel scarf was hanging nicely in the closet, so out it came. Didn’t even need to iron it this year – Amen.
• The rustic board background (provided by husband nailing together random assortment we found in some woods nearby) was still up from the fall mantel, so with the addition of the Target (battery operated) Noel sign and JoAnn’s gold glitter star, that was done and gave me the height I wanted. Even still had the nails in the right spots from 2014.
• We’d picked up a set of three wine crates at a garage sale, so I snagged one of those that was supposed to hold garden stuff and thought Mary & Joseph looked quite satisfied. But I wanted lights underneath them, so out came a wire basket from an Austin Nuts gift basket, flipped upside down.
• As always, the Luminara flameless pillars are perfect because they’re remote controlled and I can put them inside lanterns (shown on right) or on a high candlestick (left) and easily switch on and off each day.
• The mirrored stand that the shepherd is on is a ‘vintage’ 70s plant stand that my Mom let me have when I moved into my first apartment back in 1992. LOVE IT for this stuff-especially since it reflects our Christmas tree lights.
• The Wise Men are walking through a string of battery operated lights from Home Goods.
• And the newest addition was the extra long string of copper bendable lights (had to be plugged in – not optimal but I think I hid the plug decently behind the candlestick – I did a better job on that AFTER I took this pic) which I got on sale on Amazon. They are pretty perfect since you can wedge them into any spot you need to, cluster, etc.

There you have it-a slightly different take on what I’d done in the past. Not sure I’ll use the crate again, but it was fun trying out a new manger this year!