Tis the Season for Giving

As I considered the topic for this week’s blog, it occurred to me how fortunate I am to be able to have a career doing what I’m passionate about. With that in mind, I wanted to do something a little different with today’s blog. Instead of design, I’m going to be writing about what this season is really all about, giving. I’m a true believer that once you start to realize your goals, you have to turn around and help the next person in line. Sometimes that means mentorship or career counseling. And sometimes that means fulfilling a need in the community. Locally, and especially this year, we have many in need and here are some ways we can all help.

Open Door Mission

This one is located in West Omaha right in my own back yard. It’s a mission whose goal is to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. They have some urgent needs that are extremely easy to contribute to and certainly worth a few minutes of time. The first one is called Project Santa. If you go to their website at https://www.opendoormission.org/urgent-needs/project-santa you will find a link where you can easily shop for toys that go to needy boys and girls so that everyone will have gifts on Christmas morning. You don’t even need to leave the comfort of your own home. How easy is that? Additionally, they have a program called Christmas bells. This one is for the adults who need some love at this time of year. It provides gifts for hurting adults who are lonely and need to know someone cares. You can help by hosting a drive to collect these much-needed gifts. Hosting a drive has never been easier! https://www.opendoormission.org/urgent-needs/christmas-bells

The Lane Thomas Foundation

This one is near and dear to my heart. It was founded by close friends of mine. Imagine being a family with a child that must have an organ or multiple organs transplanted. The expense of caring for that child including travel, lodging, meals, etc. that are not covered by health insurance can be overwhelming. Often times, one spouse will have to quit their job to dedicate time to their child’s care, but the bills still must be paid. The foundation provides support in this area with contributions towards non-medical expenses. It’s a cause well worth contributing toward. https://www.lanethomas.org/donate

Realtor Ring Day

This past week, a few of the team members from the Priority Group pitched in and donated their time to the Salvation Army by ringing the ever so well know bell and filling those red pots with some cash. You can help out with monetary donations as well as donations of lightly used household items. What better time than when you have to dig out all the holiday decorations to clean out that storage space and get rid of some of those items that you haven’t used in a long time? The Salvation Army will sell your things at their thrift stores and the proceeds are used to fund their adult rehabilitation centers where those struggling with drugs and alcohol find help, hope, and a second chance at life. An excellent way to make an impact in our community. https://satruck.org

Habitat for Humanity of Omaha

In 2020, Habitat Omaha built or renovated more than 40 homes. Additionally, they completed up to 140 home repair or improvement projects, expanding their impact through critical repairs and services for veterans, people with disabilities and the elderly. One of the things that Habitat does is build homes for those in need. A homeowner needs to put in up to 350 hours of sweat equity before purchasing their home. I personally have volunteered my time in building one of the Habitat communities and the satisfaction of helping is tremendous. They will accept your time, money, and household items like gently used kitchen cabinets and appliances that you have left over from your home renovation. https://habitatomaha.org

For more information on the Priority Group, go to www.omahaprioritygroup.com

Christmas Mantles and More

Tis the season and today I’m going to show you how the merriest people deck the halls. It’s traditional for most folks to put up a Christmas tree but some go the extra mile with mantle decorations and others love to really jazz things up with a Christmas village. There are so many ways to mix it up with mantles and villages…garland, lights, moving parts, tiny people, not to mention colors, glitter, and artificial snow. Creating an indoor winter wonderland is something that some of us take very seriously. Myself included.

Go with What Works

I personally like a more traditional look with a little bit of holiday floral inside to make my mantle décor a real showstopper. I also use it as the center piece of my room, drawing the eye to it as soon as you walk in. Warm burgundies, gold and creams are the theme with just a little bit of greenery. I love the way it’s set with a higher level in the center as the thriller, some medium level items as the filler and still some lower level items to finish it off. It cascades down to the left and right of the thriller and fills up the mantle, but I finished it off with some family heirlooms on each end to help me remember my grandmother who gave them to me. That completes the emotion I wanted for my personal mantle.

Get Creative. No Offense Rudolf

Everyone loves something a little different. For a more interesting, and rustic, look this designer went with antlers. Yes, antlers! It’s hard to imagine but this design would go really well in a winter cabin up in the mountains someplace. Check out how the designer uses the antlers as the center piece and then throws in a pop of color with a red berry garland swag to contrast the cream-colored mantle. It’s pretty ingenious. The oversized pinecones and the pine boughs tie it all together with a little bit of bling brought in by the gold jingle bells scattered throughout. This one is a real creation that most people would not think to put together.

Keep It Simply Silly

For those of you who are city people, there’s a style for you as well. This design took a black fireplace and turned it into a sheik Christmas display. What really accentuates the entire thing is the circular mirror topped off with a hat of greenery which matches the greenery on the mantle itself. Accents of brass candle holders and reindeer really give it a quiet elegance while at the same time giving it a little shine. The gold and cream-colored beaded garland draped down and across soften the entire design and give it some added class. The forest green plaid and fur stockings blend in with the dark paint while still adding color. And finally, white twinkle lights give the entire thing some sparkle. Nicely done!

Let’s Put a Little Bling in this Thing

You’ve got to check this beautiful spectacle out. As much as I like the ever so popular buffalo plaid, there’s something to be said about an overstuffed mantle with big, bold splashes color. If you’ve been hanging on to those multicolored lights and decorations waiting for them to come back into style, you’ve arrived. This is a multifaceted color and sparkle mix with mesh ribbon to give it a full look and a little greenery thrown in for good measure. I personally love how playful it is. It gives me that feeling of when I was a kid and rainbows were all the rage. Unlike the matched and color coordinated look, with this mantle, you can add almost any color and texture you want to the rest of the room and they will blend nicely. A coordinating Christmas tree would be just darling. Don’t be afraid to go for it when you’re doing up your mantle. Color is your friend.

It’s a Wonderful Life

Anyone who knows the movie will understand it when I say that a friend told me my Christmas village looks like Bedford Falls. And that’s exactly what I was going for. That hometown, I wish I lived there, feeling. Village people, as I call us, are just grown ups longing to play with toys again. Collections are not usually my thing, but someone bought me my first little white church as a gift and from there on in, I was hooked. Since then, I’ve added tiny homes, businesses and people. This year’s addition, compliments of my wonderful mother-in-law, is a skating pond with people that actually skate. Sound silly? Maybe but it has brought me and the folks that follow me on Facebook, loads of joy. Adding fake snow made everything feel more real believe it or not. And it helped me cover up the wires that bring power to the lights inside the buildings. I topped off the entire thing with multicolored twinkle lights just to bring some pop to it all. Hopefully, you love my little town as much as I do.

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Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Anyone who’s taken time to reflect on 2020 has probably given the pandemic some thought and how it’s impacted this year. We’ve had some struggles, to say the least. That must be why everyone has been decorating extra early for the holiday. I’ve seen lights on houses before Thanksgiving and some starting as early as Halloween. I for one think it’s pretty fantastic. Dress up the remainder of 2020 and call it good. The design/decoration we’re talking about today, is Christmas trees. There have been so many creative trends this year, I can’t fit them all into one blog article. Instead, I picked out a few from our own Priority Group team. Oh, and let’s not forget the most famous tree of all. The Rockefeller Center tree just to satisfy those of us who would like to know the stats for that beauty.

Classic and Simple

This tree was created by our Assistant Designer Taylor who chose her first ever live tree. As you can see, it’s simply done and has mat, shiny and glitter covered silver balls on it and a few whites ones as well. What I like about it is that the tree skirt is a beautiful piece of red and black plaid fabric that contrasts the decorations. The tree itself is not too big, not too small but just the right size for the space. Taylor’s house is well put together and tasteful just like her new tree. Well done to her for putting together a little piece of heaven without going to extremes. Now let’s put some presents under this one.

Did you say Ombre? Yes you did.

I must say that I’ve never seen an ombre Christmas tree before but this one is, as the younger generation likes to say, the bomb. Another one of our talented Design Assistants, Amanda is responsible for this work of art. Not only is it unique but it’s so nicely color coordinated with the light to dark theme. You can find this tree at At Home the home decor store. It’s definitely one in a million and I love it. It’s interesting how the fade from white to grey to black and dark green blend with festive red, white and green decorations. Way to go Amanda!

A More Traditional Look

This one is my tree. It’s referred to as a pencil style artificial tree made for more narrow spaces. I chose to decorate it with burgundy and gold including a gold and white lame skirt. It has a floral garland on it in a soft cream color accented with gold and burgundy balls. To top it all off there is a beautiful, large bow at top with long pieces of ribbon hanging horizontally from it. I think it makes the tree look like a beautiful Christmas gift. The entire thing blends with the decorating style I chose for my home which is a warm, soft, eclectic feel that blends a lot of different styles and earth toned colors. I felt the tree really completed the room.

Candy Cane Design

The next one on my list is a nine-foot artificial, white flocked tree that belongs to our team Transaction Assistant Lisa. I call this one a candy cane design because of the wide white ribbon spooling at an angle vertically from top to bottom. It reminds me of a candy cane with the blue stripe through it. The ribbon is gathered and tucked all the way from top to bottom which gives the tree a full and overstuffed looked. Added to that is a blue theme with light and royal blue balls and a few white feathers thrown in there for good measure. The clear Lucite oversized snowflakes scattered throughout the tree gives it a little sparkle when they reflect the lights behind them which matched the sparkle in the silver balls that are thrown in. And lastly, the white velvet tree skirt with a sparkle silver crisscross pattern on it ties all that glitter together between the balls, the snowflakes, and the lights. This overstuffed design has been popular for the last several years and doesn’t seem to be going out of style.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a proper salute to the nation’s most famous tree standing in the heart of New York City. The Rockefeller Christmas tree is just gorgeous. This beauty draws some attention to the tune of 750,000 visitors a day while it stands during the holiday season. It is a 75 foot 11 inch Norway Spruce. There are 50,000 lights on the tree once it’s all done and the topper is made from 25,000 Swarovski crystals. It weighs 900 pounds and costs about $1.5 million dollars. And let’s not talk about how much electricity it takes to power all of those lights. Good thing it’s power comes primarily from solar panels installed at Rockefeller Center. To add some excitement to this one, this year there was a stow away in the tree. A tiny and very adorable Northern saw-whet owl was found inside after the tree had been transported. Luckily, the little guy is ok and back in the wild.

The Priority Group wishes you a very Merry Christmas and good luck with your own tree creations. For more information about us go to www.omahaprioritygroup.com.

Tis the Season for Christmas Tree Farms

It’s the day after Thanksgiving and while the fridge is still packed with leftover turkey dinner, all I can think about is decorating for Christmas. For me it’s the adult equivalent of opening presents on Christmas morning. I’ll have to pack away my fall decorations and pluck all of the bins with my decorating goodies out of the storage room but after I’ve done that, it’s time to deck the halls. Now I have a fake tree, or as my good friend calls it, a faux tree with flocking but lots of people enjoy the process of getting a real tree. It makes the house smell like pine and they love the hunt. Especially if there are children involved. That brings us to today’s festive topic, Christmas tree farms. Nebraska is loaded with them. We thought you might like to find out about some of the most popular ones in the area. Whether you go real or go faux, these farms are a blast to check out.

Santa’s Woods

Just a short trip to Blair, Nebraska and you can help yourself to a beautiful, new tree without the hassle of manual labor. This place is a 2nd-generation, family-run, choose-and-cut, Christmas tree farm. They are a full-service facility that will cut, haul, shake, bale and load your tree for you. It’s the glamping of Christmas tree experiences. Bring the kids with you and let them pick it out then all that you have to do is get it home and put it up. There’s even a rumor that some of Santa’s elves have created “Amazing Technicolor Trees” and wreaths for their farm. And if that’s not enough, you can go on a fun hay rack ride with the whole family. What more could you ask for? Oh…you want the web site. Well here it is. https://www.santaswoods.com

Frosty’s Pine

This gem is located north of Omaha off highway 75. Just about 20 to 30 minutes from most of the metro area. It’s a bit more activity for the family because it’s a choose and cut farm where you do the cutting. Less like glamping and a little more Paul Bunyan style which gives you that sense of accomplishment and lets you tell your party guests that you chopped it down yourself. There are rows and rows of Scotch Pines, but they also carry some Concolor Firs, Blue Spruce, and White Pine. And their Facebook page says that all the trees are $40 regardless of size. That’s a bargain! They recommend tagging your tree early. You can check it out for yourself by going to https://www.facebook.com/frostyspines

Country Conifers

This is a lovely 5-acre farm located just south of Blair, Nebraska that’s been in business since 1990. They too are a full-service business that will cut down and load your tree. They charge $10 per foot which seems about par for the course and they have Concolor, Canaan, Douglas and Fraser firs. They also have a pretty little, red barn trimmed in white on the property that’s neat to take pictures in front of if you want to capture the moment. Their web site politely asks that you wear a mask but that shouldn’t stop you from smelling the fragrant pine needles. These folks are only open on weekends so check out their hours at https://countryconifers.com/hours

If you’re more adventurous and would like to make a day of it to explore on your own, you can find some more tree farms at the Nebraska Department of Agriculture web site https://nda.nebraska.gov/publications/promotion/christmas_trees/trees.html They have a cool interactive map listed by county that shows registered tree farms. Best of luck to you on your Christmas tree journey this year. Big or small, I hope you find the perfect one that speaks to you and looks amazing in your home.

For more information on the Priority Group or to read more of our blogs go to www.omahaprioritygroup.com