A Christmas Tablescape

I love having a dining room in the center of my house. Most dining rooms get little to no use, but since mine is essentially the hallway in my house it gets used a lot. Whether it's where people congregate at parties or I'm using it as a faux office, this table gets a lot of use. For the holidays I wanted to add a little Christmas flavor to my table without spending anything. 

It's not much but it gives just a little Christmas spirit to the table and the best part is that it only cost me $1.50! The boldest statement is, of course, the fabric which I got in the IKEA clearance section last January for $.50. Seriously guys, if you go to IKEA you have to go on Wednesday mornings. The clearance section is 50% off! It's crazytown then but it's worth it to get some super cheap stuff. This piece of fabric was sewn together for some display so it isn't a perfectly tailored table runner, in fact it is too short, but I like it anyway. The other thing I bought is the red laser cut Christmas tree which was $1. I had those two things out at first and I was thinking.... this isn't enough for a centerpiece. So I walked around my house and gathered some things that would work well with the colors. I grabbed the gold leaf tray I DIYed here, a fabric ball from my friend's wedding, a lantern from my friend in Germany, and a few color appropriate books. Then I just kind of mashed them all together and voila! I think I spent a totally of 5 minutes doing this and I am happy enough with how it looks.

Do you have the whole Christmas decorating thing down? Or are you, like me, just doing what you can with what you've got?