Haul out the Holly! . . .

. . . and the magnolia wreaths, and the glittery floral picks, and the boxes and boxes of sparkling ornaments, and the army of Santas, and the yards and yards of ribbon, and the forest of trees, and the breath-taking table-top accents, oh—and did I mention the silver tinsel tree sporting miniature pink sparkly shoes, feathered birds, and polka-dotted balls? Whew! It makes me tired just thinking of it—oh, wait a minute—I am tired!

Thanks to my handpicked Christmas Set-up Dream Team (and our combined total of roughly 150 man-hours since Monday morning) the store’s holiday transformation has begun! I knew it would be a bit more of a project this year with a larger store to bedeck; I didn’t quite realize what a difference the addition of nearly 9,000 square feet would mean to my aching feet. When I see everything start to come together, however, I quickly forget about my sore extremities as the excitement of season and the anticipation of sharing all of the beauty with my customers keeps me going.

While there there hasn't been much time f0r blogging, I did want to share a bit of what we've been working on this week. So here's my pictorial review of the progress thus far, but trust me--you have to see it to believe it!

It all begins in the stockroom. The crowded, glittery, and magical stockroom.

Then the piles—oh, the piles! Merchandise is stacked everywhere throughout the store, making it difficult to walk anywhere.

After the unpacking and sorting, the creative work can begin! With six trees to decorate, we've got our work cut out for us.

Whoever said you can't have shoes that are both cute and comfortable?

Then there are mantles and table tops to adorn. One room at a time, girls. One room at a time.

All of the furniture has been moved to create new inspiration for holiday style.

Back in what we've dubbed the Williamsburg room a beautiful magnolia garlands graces the mantle.

Here's a closeup of the aforementioned girlie tinsel tree!

And here is the elegant mantle that will be featured on the cover of Suburban Life

By Wednesday evening our shoes were off as we continued to work into the night.

We were wishing we had life-sized versions of these cute slippers on the champagne and red tree!

We have to chuckle when we see this common sight throughout the store—a half-empty bottle of Diet Coke sitting among the decor.

We've still got a busy few days ahead, and the store is still in a bit of a mess, but things are starting to come together. Come and see the holiday magic!