It's kind of fun to do a post about decorating my house for Christmas because I haven't done a post about that in a few years. Usually there's an extra week before Christmas so the tree's not done or the decorations aren't all out by the time I stop blogging for the rest of the December, or I don't upload pictures from my camera until the end of the month, and who wants to post about their Christmas decorations in January? So I'm going to take advantage of the fact that the halls are decked and post about it today. Our decorations really aren't anything fancy, but they're fun and festive and special to us!
The Christmas Tree
So we start with the tree.
Then string up the lights--white lights this year. Yay!
Then put on the ornaments, of which we have many (too many!).
The kids stay interested in doing this for about five minutes.
Then Peter comes to "help" and not too much later it has devolved into the three of them horsing around and I'm the one putting up most of the ornaments. (And yes, John lost his pants at some point. Don't ask!)
But finally we're (I'm) finished, including the star at the top getting straightened out (the stepladder wasn't tall enough so I had to go and get the big ladder and do some creative cutting of the branches at the top to get that star to stand straight!), and it all looks very pretty.
And the lovely pine scent smells so nice. I wish we could have a real lit tree like this in the corner of the living room year-round! It fits there so well, and reading by the light of a fragrant Christmas tree is one of the great pleasures of life.
Decorations around the house
I'm going to start with my oldest and most humble decoration. I made this reindeer when I was six years old. I clearly remember feeling so frustrated and upset while I was making it because I kept messing up. As you can see I smudged the paint on one of Rudolph's eyes, and I glued the back part on wrong and it had to be torn off and glued on correctly, among other errors. I hated it, yet now with the seasoned (get it?) eye of experience and maturity I embrace it and all of its imperfections. It's become one of my favorite things to pull out each Christmas season.
This porcelain village is one that I grew up with in my house at Christmastime. My mom gave it to me a few years ago.
Someday I'd like to decorate the mantel elaborately like the ones on Pinterest, but for now, I like the simplicity of it. The stockings are indeed hung by the chimney with care!
This Thomas Kinkade Christmas tree is one of my favorite decorations. It was a gift from Peter's parents a few years ago.
I like to wrap the banisters with garland. The only downside is that they look really stark and bare for awhile after it gets taken down!
Our countdown activities! I get more excited about these than the kids do; what the heck!?
Nativity sets
I love this set by Willow Tree. My mom has been gifting me with pieces for it for the last few years. In fact, I just got some new pieces in the mail today!
I made this set of Nativity blocks a few years ago in Connecticut at a Relief Society activity.
Christmas owls
(this doesn't include the ones hanging on the tree!)
Peter got me this adorable little Swarovski crystal owl at the Swarovski store in Manhattan last year.
Scents and goodies
My all-time favorite Christmas candle is "Red Berries & Cedar" from Yankee Candle. I get a big jar of it every December.
We have other decorations here and there around the house but I think this little holiday house tour covers most of them. I hope you enjoyed it! (You better have--this post took me awhile to put together! LOL.)
(See?! If you don't know what I'm talking about with the "LOL," look at yesterday's post!)
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A beautiful tree by day and by night! |
