Sunday, December 21, 2014

Decorating for Christmas...

With the craft day out of the way, and all of the Thanksgiving decor down, I knew it was time. I love love love decorating for Christmas, and get really excited about it. It's a lot of work, so I usually take one whole day where I am going through tubs and boxes and trying to figure out where everything will fit this year. It's super fun to me. We did change one itty bitty teeny tiny thing this year. We got a fake tree!!! Can you believe that?!?! Something that Ben and I vowed we would never do. Ben was the one who first mentioned it to me. And I said no way, absolutely not. Well, little by little the idea grew on me, and I thought, well, let's give it a try. Ben, of course, found a great deal at Home Depot, and he is like a premier customer there, so he get's great discounts. So, we went for it. He put it up one night after work, and we just left it bare. Tucker and I both the next morning were just not feeling it. We were both like, nope, this was a nice try, but no way! It kind of made me sad rather than IN the Christmas spirit. But there it sat all day, and I was itching to get decorations up, so then we thought, well, let's see if the decorations help. So, that night when Ben got home, we decided to go for it, knowing that if we still hated it, we could change.
The kids had a great time, especially Jackson who was the anti-helper (as usual) and just wanted to throw everything everywhere...

Little by little we got the thing decorated...

I still did wish that it was more fluffy, it seemed to be missing some of the branches, not really, but it seemed like it needed more.
Once the decorating began, the kids didn't seem to mind the fakeness of the tree! :)
And by the end, it was definitely a hit. It wasn't the fullest tree we have ever had, but once decorated it was equally as beautiful, and I could begin to see the benefits of not having to water the freaking tree all season long. That was a wonderful benefit!!! I even went out and bought these little tree smelling ornaments that you can hang on your tree so at least your house smells like a fresh tree. That is what I really missed, the smell...
The mantle and all the hung stockings... (I'm dying to beef up my mantle one day...soon...hopefully!)

I found this cute little vintage side table that a lady had refinished and was selling on craigslist, for like $10. I was so excited. It was perfect for a little extra Christmas decor and some of the Christmas books.

My nativity from Bethlehem and Christus statue...

And Tucker couldn't let our friendly gargoyle on our front porch be left out of the Christmas decor...
And my table and window pane with our Christmas cards on it. This was at the beginning of the season, but by the end, that whole window pane was full of cards from friends and family! I loved it!!! 

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