December 13 What’s the best change you made to the place you live?

I’ve been trying to get into the holiday spirit this year, and figured that decorating the apartment would help.  So I bought some Christmas lights and strung them around the windows, which certainly added a bit of festivity.  Still, there was something missing.  We definitely do not have enough room for a tree, so that was out of the question, but I thought I might try my hand at an Advent wreath.

While not totally unheard of in the U.S., Advent wreaths or candles are not necessarily an essential holiday decoration back home, but they certainly are here — which I guess makes sense since the tradition of lighting one candle each week leading up to Christmas seems to have begun with the German Lutherans.  So, I was a little at a loss, not only on how to make one, but also on what I wanted it to look like.  At first I thought I’d go traditional, like the photo above, but wasn’t really inspired while I was shopping.  Plus, I was worried that a full-on wreath would take up a little too much room on our coffee table (which also doubles as our dining table).

In the end, I decided not to get too hung up on what I thought it should look like, and created my own version of Advent — simply four antique candle holders, surrounded by a few antique ornaments that I found.  While not distinctly Christmas-y, I love how sparkly and festive it looks  and find myself looking forward to lighting a new candle each week!  Definitely a pleasant change to our living space for the holidays, don’t you think?

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This post is part of Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 challenge.