Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.---Robert Frost

When I was putting my mantel together I kept thinking of

Robert Frost's well-known poem Fire and Ice.

Ironically, there is no fire in my fireplace,

just an empty space!

But I filled it with a tin Santa and a basket of mercury balls.

But the "ice".....I have plenty of that!

Since this was the first time decorating the mantel for Christmas,
I was not quite sure how I would do it.
We had a fireplace in Kansas
and I got out the garland, lights and ribbon 
we had used there.
(And not used at all for the last three years!) 

Even my husband, who rarely says anything at all 
about my decorating
told me the fireplace was about the skimpiest thing
he had ever seen. 

I got back into my buckets of goodies and took out

two more lengths of greenery and

two more strands of lights.

I ended up with three strands of greenery and 300 lights

on the mantel.

I had to center my plaid ribbon as I had no more of it..
I also included a strand of "iced" cherries I had in my stash.
 

I was determined to use what I had and not buy 

anything new.

That was my only plan.

My fireplace mantel is 7 feet long.

It is topped with a gianormous mirror.

Although I am not a fan of the monstrous mirror,

with all the glitter and lights

the reflection from the mirror is very pretty at Christmas.

I bought the silver trees and mesh reindeer at Dollar General years ago.

I bough the galvanized reindeer at Target after Christmas years ago.

The giant red balls are from K-Mart.

The iced cherries are from Hobby Lobby warehouse/discount store in OKC.

As you can tell there is nothing expensive on the mantel.

Displayed together though, it tends to look a little better!

To photograph the entire fireplace I have to go clear across the room.

Then because of the mirror I have to worry about my own giant head showing up!

Then of course, I am trying to take the photographs after work and it is already (almost) dark!

Grin and bear it as you look through the pictures....



I like this one where you can (kind of) see the reflection of our Christmas tree.

The mesh reindeer were almost impossible to photograph. Hmmmm.

I have the brass horse on the fireplace all the time.

For Christmas I put a small green wreath around his neck.

It makes him a little tipsy! My sons think I need to take it off for 

Christmas, but I left it on there and thanked them for their   advice.

All of a sudden all of the males in my household 

have become expert decorators!

We open our big wooden front door so all our 

trolley-tour-people

can see our fireplace as they drive by.

The fireplace is centered on the wall opposite the 

front door

so it works out perfectly.

Despite my poor photography skills I hope you enjoyed

my Fire and Ice mantel.

(And yes, Robert Frost, I agree...fire and ice CAN be strikingly similar!)

I have linked this with Wow Us Wednesday's and Southern Hospitality's and 
Farmhouse Friday. mantle tour. Go by and enjoy all the Christmas beauty.