Sneaking in the Christmas Decorations #MyCANVAS

It should come as no surprise that I’ve already got Christmas on my mind. Unfortunately there’s no way the hubs would let me start decorating the place just yet (1st of December countdown in ON!!) but surely that shouldn’t stop me from collecting a few items along the way- right? All in preparation for the BIG DAY! My excitement must be rubbing off on Little Monkey because she asked me if she can start singing Jingle Bells -hah! Toronto’s Santa Claus parade takes place next Sunday and many of the stores we shop at already have their holiday decor on display. Little Monkey and I walked into Canadian Tire yesterday looking to replenish our toilet paper…and we walked out with a bunch of new holiday decoration items! Ooops!

Disclosure: I am part of the #MyCANVAS Campaign with She’s Influential and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog, as always, are totally my own.

This year Canadian Tire is alive with colour thanks to their CANVAS Holiday Collection. Along with gold and silver we spotted bright reds and greens (of course) but also fuchsia, teal and multicoloured items. I’ve always dreamt of a white tree with fuchsia decorations but just haven’t had the balls to do it. This year may just be my chance! That said, it was the teal collection that really captured my eyes. Our dining room is already in the blue spectrum and I spotted so many amazing items that fit well into our current colour scheme, that I knew I could just tell the hubs that I merely grabbed a few “every day items”, easily tricking him into decorating our place well before the December 1st start date! I guess it’s totally my luck that this year Mrs. Claus will be riding in the Canadian Tire float and she too will be inspired by the Artic Teal CANVAS collection! I’m totally going to be on trend this year! This icy blue green hue will bring feelings of peace and tranquility to the busy holiday season and I’m loving the thought of mixing in some whites and silver with signature pieces in this line.

As I mentioned, we’re sneaking these items in to our home so Little Monkey and I went with small pieces that resonated with us. I was surprised when I saw the peacock patterns in a couple spots during our Canadian Tire shopping spree!! Being a Sri Lankan, Peacocks and Elephants are always dear to my heart and I finally found ways to bring these items into our dining room. We were totally excited to see what our place would look like and so we dressed our dining room up and my parents decided to surprise us with a visit! Which worked out very well because my mom loved the peacock and elephant decorations and she’s planning to grab a few trinkets herself.

We entertain at our place quite often and this year leading up to the Christmas holidays, we’re going to give each of our dinner guests a little ornament for their tree. I loved the CANVAS Arctic Teal Peacock ornament and CANVAS Brights Elephant ornament and decided to use them as our napkin holders. Each guest will have the chance to take theirs home with them, if they like it! They’re under $4 each so it really isn’t an expensive way to add a bit of flair to our dinner parties. For formal dinners we tend to use name cards ( just to fancy things up) and using CANVAS Starburst ornaments as name card holders works like a charm! Just slot your name card in and voila!

I’m not one for busy centre pieces…because let’s face it…food needs to be the focal point and given our tiny apartment and the lack of a hutch, I don’t have the time or space to clear a set dining table for when the food arrives. So I like to keep things simple. We grabbed this CANVAS Metallic Leaf  tray and then dropped a few baubles and a CANVAS Peakcock feather on it.

I also decided that this year I’m going to tier my food and using the large jars and vases as a centre piece and serving platter, seems like a smart idea. We grabbed a CANVAS Cylinder Vase and filled it with silver decorations and topped it off with an CANVAS Arctic Teal Peacock Ball ornament. The CANVAS side plates (I MAY have purchased new dinner  and wine glass sets!!) fit perfectly on the top and so you can place your plates of food on top! I envisioned profiteroles and fresh baked muffins but for dinner we had French Toast and so that’s how I served our meal and everyone grabbed what they wanted.

Canadian Tire has some stunning (and extremely well priced) holiday collections this year and if you’re looking for more design inspirations for your home, be sure to check out their CANVAS collection. There’s plenty of videos to give you a glimpse of what your place could look like in time for the festive season! I know it’s too early to start saying Ho!Ho!Ho!… but you know I’m already singing ” Santa Claus is coming to town…” in my head!