I love decorating the house for Christmas!! Wait, back up a minute. I love the final outcome of decorating the house for Christmas. The actual decorating part isn't so fun. I think it's time for new decorations, but that isn't in the budget this year so we'll make due with what we have. Let's a take a little stroll through the house and see what we did, shall we?
Let's start with the entertainment center in the family room. I have a love hate relationship with the built in shelves in this room. I loved them when we first built the house, but now, not so much. There isn't really anyway to do anything differently in this room because we can't move the shelves. My favorite part here is the garland that goes all across the top. The rest of the decorations are pretty much the "left overs" from the sitting room.
Ignore the dirty t.v. It didn't look that dirty before I took the pictures. I'm thinking the shelves are too busy. I didn't take a lot of the every day decor down before I added the holiday stuff. Maybe if I get time I can fix it...who am I kidding?! It'll look like that until I take down the holiday decorations.
The only decorations in the dining room/kitchen area is the table center piece.
Festive, I know.
Until Christmas Eve, the stockings hang above the fireplace. I like the way it looks...except the stocking on the right...it's way too high..I need to fix that too..
These two little fellows are the newest additions to our family this year.
Meet Winston and Chippy. They are our "Elves on a Shelf" that have come to spend this holiday season with us.
(Luckily we didn't get the original Elf on a Shelf. I think he looks like a creeper.)
They have been getting into mischief every night since they have come.
Little Stinkers!!
I don't dare put real Christmas presents under the tree until closer to Christmas. If my little ones are anything like I was, they would be peeking all the time. So for now we will use these cute boxes I got from Roberts a few years ago.
I love cinnamon pine cones!!
This is our Nativity set we have had since I think the year we got married. It sits on top of our piano. About half of the pieces have had to be super glued at least once. But we like it. The little ones like to play with it....hence the super glue.
Top of the piano in the sitting room. Not really digging the candles.
I like the look of the sitting room around the holidays.
It's just clean and cheery...when I can keep the kids out of the room anyway.
I found this cute Christmas subway art from Today's Creative Blog on Facebook as her free gift. Love it!
Our black Santa has also become a family favorite.
Then there is our tree...Oh, our poor tree. I'm dying for the day where we can have two trees; one tree for the kids to help decorate with all the ornaments we get them each year and the cute ones they make and bring home, and one tree that I can decorate just for show that has some pattern and not so many "flavors" I guess is a nice way to describe it.
I love the look of this room when everything is put up. It seems so Christmasy and welcoming.
These last two pictures are of the table right inside the front door.
I just made the sleigh this year and didn't really have anywhere to put it.
For now, it'll stay where it is.
It feels good to have the house decorated and ready for the holidays. One less thing to worry about. I have our Christmas cards ready to be addressed and most of the shopping done. My biggest stessor right now is trying to figure out what to do for neighbor gifts. I've done the over the top goodie plate that everybody loves, but is way too much work. I want it to be nice, but I also don't want to spend forever in the kitchen making it. It also can't be too good...I have stopped eating sugar and if I make something yummy, I will eat too much of it before it goes out the door.
I like that most of the stressful parts of the holidays are finished. I can sit back and enjoy the holidays and spend time with my family. Hope you can do the same as well.
