Easy (and cheap) Decorations for Christmas Mantel

I have to admit, I broke a few days before Thanksgiving and decorated our house for Christmas.  To be fair though, I waited until the day after Christmas to start playing the music and watching holiday movies.

My husband and I are always visiting our families over Christmas so we usually don't buy a real tree.  Hopefully we'll get to have family coming to visit us for holidays soon, but for now, I do minimal decorating.  Most of it involves our little mantel in our living room.

With this year's mantel I embraced the Yesteryear (ha!) theme.  We have tons of old hardcover books and other antique store finds, like the super eight camera in the photo. 

I'm feeling very nostalgic this year and wanted to reflect those feelings in our decorations.  I bought those yummy cinnamon scented pinecones from the grocery store for $3.99 and strung them together with thin rope I had in my tool chest.  Then I arranged and stacked some of our old books, adding candles and meaningful trinkets to the display, trying not to go too overboard.  The little tree was a $12.99 find at Target and made me think of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, another memory from my childhood.  So there you have it, quick, easy and cheap decorating that brings a smile to my face every time I look at it.

I would love to see your crafty decorations!