Decorating for the Holidays

I was sitting on my couch after work, watching a stupid reality show about two families that traded moms for a week and one family loved to hunt and had a freezer full of meat they had killed themselves and the other family were vegans that protest for PETA and only eat raw food and well, you can guess how it went from there, when all of a sudden I got the urge to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond and buy a new table cloth. I love that store. Of course, when I got there the indecision took over and I became completely immobilized. After staring for a long time at the table cloth choices, I finally decided that I would try for a holiday look, so I bought a dark red table cloth, some candle trays (for red and green candles that I have at home), some tall white candles, and a big shimmery cream colored candle for a centerpiece.

When I got home, I draped my Christmas lights and garland (which it took 20 minutes to untangle) over the hearth and put my new table cloth on the table. But darn it, when I get things home they never look like I imagine when I'm standing in the store looking at all the options. The table cloth is more of a rusty red than a Christmasy red and the fabric is pretty casual looking, so it doesn't coordinate very well with our quasi-formal-looking dishes. And the black candle trays with colored Christmas candles on them don't really look that great. And the tall white candles I bought don't fit in my candle holders. Why do the home decorating gods hate me? I try. I really do.