I decided to keep my bottle brush trees out after Christmas, because I love them so much, and add some other natural looking elements:
a ball of string from the dollar store,
twigs in an urn,
a stack of books in the form of a loosely shaped tree (I found these books at the library for .10 each and ripped the covers off). If there wasn't a foot of snow right now covering the ground I would go on a little hunt for pinecones--I'll have to remember to do that next fall.
I love the look of the creams and whites on Jaqueline ...
wintry, yet warm.