Alice’s Tinsel Touch

12/29/2025

Christmas 2025: My Other Church!

Central Baptist Church in Livingston is another very special place to me. As a teenager I attended youth group there with friends, and have the best bunch of Bible Study friends there that I’ve studied with for the past 7 years or so. They have a gorgeous worship center with a massive sanctuary, huge foyer, and it’s a perfect palette for Christmas decor!

The foyer holds two big trees, long swags on the credenzas, garland on the banisters all the way up both stairways, and is polished off with a great big wreath and swags at the top.

The sanctuary also holds garlands on two long banisters and the choir loft, but the Baptistry is the focal point with a large wreath and garland and two simple pencil trees to frame it in.

It’s truly a blessing and privilege to adorn this wonderful church for this most special time of year!

12/26/2025

Christmas 2025: MY CHURCH!

This post has a bonus as family and friends are included in a lot of the pictures- from my cute little girls to antics in the choir loft to talking with my hands too much, these photos show the decor and our crazy life.

All of my childhood memories of Christmas revolve around my church- as a fourth generation member of First Methodist Church of Livingston, it means so much to me to worship and carry on traditions that have spanned generations. And now, I get to help make a beautiful space with a beautiful purpose look appropriately festive for Advent, the season of hope!

I’ll add more pictures later, but these are snippets of what we have done this year:

We have a very fun tree and some bright wreaths livening up our fellowship hall, and it all served as a great backdrop for packaging and wrapping gifts with Samaritan’s Purse for “Operation Christmas Child” - one of the things I appreciate most about this church is the hard work and hospitality of so many volunteers and staff members.

In our youth and contemporary worship space, we have made some changes to update and modernize things this year, so the Christmas decor followed suit! We hung some large lighted wreaths and decorated them and the tree with extra sparkles, huge berry garlands, and metallic touches to make it all stand out.

The beautiful sanctuary has all new garlands, wreaths, swags, Advent wreath, and more. A huge and stunning space, the sanctuary holds two worship services every Sunday, and numerous concerts, events, and music performances, especially during the Advent season. The Chrismon Tree holds special meaning as all of the white and gold ornaments and tree skirt, which were handmade by church members over the years, are symbolic and tell the story of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

I hope you enjoy the snippets of these spaces that are very near and dear to my heart!

12/23/2025

Christmas 2025: When Susan and Jimmy Simmons invited me to decorate their home this year, I got very excited! This beautiful home on the lake (a source of some sweet childhood memories for me) was an easy canvas with such gorgeous rustic finishes. Again, pictures do it no justice, but the gigantic stone fireplace received a new custom mantle recently, and that called for a new custom mantle garland and wreath. We also went all out with garlands along the banisters that hold 11 stockings for their grandchildren, complimented by a tree at the top of the stairs that can be enjoyed from living spaces both up and downstairs. They also allowed me to add some Christmas decor to the mantle in their bedroom, and the when the dining room came together and the wreath was hung on the front door, the whole place looked spectacular! As an added bonus, I had great company to visit with while I worked, and Christmas music by Jimmy playing in the background.

12/22/2025

Christmas 2025: I love decorating Lucy’s house every year-I’ve known her my whole life and consider her a friend first and client second. She entertains a ton all year, but especially during the holiday season. She is a master at her craft of needlepoint, and has created some beautiful and intricate work over the years, including several sets of ornaments shaped like bells (she’s also an expert handbell ringer), some angels, and a Santa Claus or two. She has also created a 6-piece Christmas trolly, which is featured on her mantel along with some stocking masterpieces. The design of her Christmas decor revolves entirely around showcasing her beautiful work and incredible collection of all kinds of antiques, and I just love it. Zoom in on these photos to see the intricate details!

I wish pictures could do it justice. (A photography class before next Christmas is on my to-do list to remedy that ☺️)

12/22/2025

I haven’t posted pictures of any of my work this year because I wanted to wait until I had time to share something about each project instead of just doing a big photo dump. Every single one is very custom, and also very personal. I’m so thankful to each of my clients for allowing me the opportunity to come into their homes and take part in the heart of their Christmas. Get ready for some sweet stories and pictures over the next few days!

10/12/2025

10/12/2025