So...Come on in!
At our front door, I had dreamed of having some pretty evergreen bushes in my planters with the good old white lights, but Kirk informed me that the outlet out there doesn't work, so....I guess maybe next year I'll get on that. For this year, I copied something I saw on Pinterest - I cut some of my Spruce boughs and placed in some red (non-breakable) ball ornaments. The wreath is nothing too fancy, but I had it and it was ready to go up right away. (Did I mention I was eager to decorate?)
This was the help I had on hand the day we decorated, everyone else was at the CSU football game (they lost). Shoulda stayed and helped Mommy:)
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| picture from dickblick.com |
Probably the handiest thing I had for decorating this year was jute twine. I think it definitely has a country feel to it. I used it in just about every aspect of my decorating, from our Advent calendar, hanging a Christmas curtain over the kitchen sink, and tying little bows on our banister. What a great, inexpensive helper!
I printed this cute, old-fashioned looking banner from At Second Street. You can check that out here. (This is the same place I found the Thanksgiving banner, too.) It's hanging near our entryway.
I printed this one from the same site, and hung it over our wood burning stove fireplace. The link for this banner is here. Hopefully next year I'll have a nice mantle here, too:)
This is one of our other fireplaces - Alas, no mantle here either - Kirk's got some work to do:)
This is our Advent Calendar. I posted this craft last month here. I was pretty excited with how it turned out.
This is a partial view of my fun pot rack in the the kitchen. We found an old rustic looking ladder by our garage when we moved in. I thought it looked pretty cool and figured I could probably come up with a use for it, at least with the help of the Internet. I honestly can't remember who to give credit too for this, since it's been awhile, but I love how it makes my kitchen feel. Country & cozy. What I didn't realize it how great it would be for decorating in different holidays. For Fall, I had some wheat and Indian corn hanging, and here are some of the things I've put on it for Christmas:
I may regret the Spruce boughs up there once the needles start falling, but for now it's SO festive!
Here is our table. This centerpiece kind of evolved. I saw a few things on Pinterest, thought about what I had on hand, and went with it. The tree in the background is our kids' tree. This may change to a bigger tree as they make more and more ornaments, but for now it looks so cute here with our toys and snowmen gathered around it.
This is probably my favorite part of the centerpiece. Many years ago I had found an old colander at my grandma's house. It's been a decoration in my kitchen, but it's perfect for Christmas because it has a star design all over it. I had fun scouring our yard for pine cones with the kids. The red ornaments are from the same package as the ones on my front porch. Again, I may regret all these pine needles soon, but for now it's a great kid deflector! (Ouch:)
I probably should put a bow or something on this, but it's kind of nice being simple. This is a mason jar with water and cranberries, with a pine scented, green candle that amazingly happens to fit perfectly in the top.
I had seen something on Pinterest similar to this. I used a hammer and nail, but I think a drill may have worked better. I'd like to add some more holes so you can actually tell this is a star:) I printed off the size of star I wanted from my clip art and taped it on the can to use as a template. But, again, I think a drill would be much easier!
This is still a work in progress, but this is my seasonal bulletin board I had posted a while back. You can check that out here.
Here is the "main" tree. Does anyone else have a bare bottom half of their tree? Believe me, it didn't start out that way, but as little hands explore, things keep moving up:) I realized night pictures are probably better for a Christmas tree, but you can get the idea. Don't you love my cute little stool I found at Goodwill a few weeks ago? Oh, and the mirror - I found that there for $6! This thing is solid wood framed (I made sure I put it into 2 studs). Most places sell good mirrors for over $100. I was stoked! Wait...is that one more tree in the background, there?
How many trees does a family of 9 need? Well, I guess one for every three people! This tree has a pretty funny story. I was garage sale hopping this summer, when I found 3 mirrored closet doors. The funny thing about this house is NONE of the kids' rooms upstairs have closet doors! I was serious about getting these doors, and he said I could have them for $10. After my day of shopping, I didn't quite have enough, so he took $8. He was so eager to get rid of those monstrously large (and heavy) doors, he said he'd throw in a Christmas tree. (Which I'm sure he was equally excited to get rid of.) At first, I thought, "Yeah, like I need another tree." But, he was persistent, telling me all of it's features, which I forgot until we pulled it out for Christmas. It came pre-lit - the lights actually worked! - AND it spins around! I've never seen anything like it. It kind of throws people off who are walking up to our front door. "Is that tree moving?!?" I haven't done anything to it at all, other than the beautiful handmade nativity tree skirt, made by one of our Chi Alphan's grandma.
Well, those are the highlights around here. I absolutely love this time of year. I love the music, the excessive use of our wood-burning stove, the Salvation Army bell-ringers, and the uncontainable excitement my kids express. What's even more amazing, as a woman who is "great with child," is the thought of Mary getting ready to give birth to Jesus. She didn't have the luxury of nesting, or getting everything "just right" for her first-born, but she took the time to ponder in her heart everything that was happening. I hope we all take the time to do the same.
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