Christmas decorating

I LOVE decorating for Christmas!!!!!!! I was in withdrawals - we had Thanksgiving at our house so I had to wait to start my decorating...it was killing me! Okay, not literally. But it did set me back a bit as it usually takes a good, solid week (or more) to get the decorating done. I decorate pretty much every square inch of my house, and it seems to be an ongoing process of changing, adding, moving, etc. It took me forever to get my mantel just right this year and I really love how it came out.

Kitchen - love having lights everywhere!

Other side of kitchen - had to crop out the dirty dishes. ;)

Dining room

I had an old frame that I painted red and distressed. Printed out the 1st and 3rd verses to my favorite Christmas Carol. The ribbon behind it is jute upholstery webbing, then topped with a sprig of fake pine and a pinecone. Love it!

Another thing that took forever, the coffee table. The candles are my Pottery Barn knockoffs - printed out sheet music, wrapped around battery-operated candles and used antiquing inks - love them! The nativity candleabra I've had forever but this year I did a dark paint wash on it and like it better than the light wood.

Living room shelving

Dining room - this is the "family" tree, all the ornaments given to us, or the kids made, or we picked out on a trip...the kids decorated this one entirely by themselves this year.

I was happy to find a new home for this sign - I used to put it on my kitchen cabinets but it wasn't doing it for me this year - I like it here. Please excuse the toilet in the background.

I wish I could put lights on the stairwell but there are no outlets anywhere nearby - maybe someday I'll get a lot of battery-operated strands and light 'er up.

I got this nativity years ago at Sams Club...only recently did I realize the "shepherd" looks more like the Pied Piper. Weird.

Entryway

This makes me want to collect more white pitchers. :)

A couple years ago, my grandmother gave me a big box of a lot of her ornaments that she's gathered over the years, many of them belonged to HER mother. I love these. I'm amazed that so many of them have survived packing/unpacking, decorating/undecorating, moving, earthquakes and grandchildren. Our main tree (always a real tree) is now entirely decorated with these ornaments and I love the look of it. I do have a few favorites:

Cute, isn't he? There are actually 2 of these

Quite of few of this type with the inset - amazing they are still in one piece as they are very fragile

Another favorite

"Look Daddy, teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets their wings!" Doesn't it look just like the one in the movie? And yes, it rings.

THIS is an example of one I do NOT like. Creepy, isn't it? I don't care for clowns anyway and this one has a freaky grin. There are 2 of these but one is broken. Too bad.

My angel tree - my grandmother always collected angels, so I decided to put them all together on one tree

Our tree! Love the simple, old-fashioned look - especially knowing all those ornaments have such a long history in my family

My kitchen tree - still need to make some salt dough ornaments for it as it just isn't "done" to me

The mantel - love how it turned out this year

A close-up of the mantel

I also do more trees upstairs - our playroom and the master bedroom...and the girls both have a small tree in their rooms. I'm just too lazy to take pictures. Plus I'm completely changing up that decor for next year - the playroom is going to be a snowman theme and I will move the snowflakes/crystals/silver decor into our bedroom since I plan to do a minor re-decor in there this year. (shhh, don't tell my hubby). I wish I could leave it all up year round, it makes me so happy!