Deck the Halls

It's time!  Black Friday has become our day to prep the house for Advent.  My youngest was up at the crack of dawn ready and eager to begin the decorating.  I wasn't really ready to start at 7 a.m. like he was, it's not Christmas Day after all, just our day to decorate. Not sure if we fall into the Christmas junkie's category or not.  We don't have a thousand lawn ornaments, just one actually, or singing Santa's anywhere.  But we do have boxes in the attic that hold some of the beauty of the season.  SO we decked the halls and at one point I realized there were at least 3 different songs playing throughout the house...all different, because of the giddiness of everyone.  I love that my kids love to make the house festive, it helps me to motivate unpacking the boxes!  It's a sneezy job truly!

The more lights, the happier he is.  Plugs, no problem, he knows where to find em and plug em in.

Thought I would share some of the pretty's...feel free to mimic anything you see that you like.

 

Try to keep 'like-things' together.  If you have some items that are red group them together, likewise keep burgundies together.  Because my living room is light and creamy I group soft colors together.

We tell our clients to take pictures of where things go so that next year they know exactly where to put things.

The Christmas pup.

I love this nativity.  We keep baby Jesus tucked away till Christmas morning to anticipate his birth. 

We have lots of traditions, which I will share in my next post.  The stocking on the top right is Jesus' stocking.  Every year we write letters, or draw pictures, of what we want to give Christ for Christmas.  Whether it is something we need to turn over to him or just praise him for, we write it in a letter and tuck it into his stocking.

This was my first nativity I bought when I lived on my own in college.  All the pieces are intact and my kids love to play with it and rearrange the scene over and over.

The wondrous ribbon lady showed up and began sprucing up some tired decorations and breathed some new life on them.  It's good to have another set of eyes to look at something besides your own!  Thanks Mama for comin' over!

 The gingerbread house is one of my favorite decorations.  I like to put it on my kitchen island but the little white candy beads are way too tempting for little fingers, so up it goes!

Ah, I love this kid!  He embraces the season with such sweet childlike faith and excitement.  He wants to put lights on everything that does not move, in or out of the house.  I think we are close to running out of lights...

Got an old pair of skates?  This is a creative way to get some more life out of them!

 

My brother surprised me one year with this creche and I was overwhelmed with the simply beauty of it.  He made it himself out of wood.  Hubby put a spotlight on it and that is our focal point in our front yard.

 

We had some extra help this year when Keller the Elf showed up to decorate the tree...on your mark, get set, go!

 

We snuggled up by the fire with some popcorn and movie at the end of a fun day.

 

Blessings,

E.W.