Christmas

jumbled into one big loooong post!  Know it's after the fact but did want to share some of the many pictures I took.  We are blessed with a lot of family, and these are just from this weekend, not including the previous weekends' Christmas's we had.


The Hubs & I Christmas Eve before heading to the in-laws for dinner and church.

The girls' ready for church.

My favorite part of Christmas Eve service, lighting the candle's and singing Silent Night.

At my parents house for our celebration.

Baby Girl showing off her new snow suit and boots.

The tree with all of the presents underneath.  Do you like our "fireplace"?  If only it were real - some day in our next house! 

The Hubs bringing the girls' down Christmas morning - I love that Avalynn is pointing at me and so excited.

Opening stockings.

She LOVES Toy Story!!! 

The in-laws have arrived for our Christmas with them.

Avalynn loves her new pony! 

This girls' excitement is pretty awesome to see! 

Love these two more than life itself! 

The Hubs explaining the craftmanship of the drawers to Emma. 

Passed out on the drive over to the Hubs grandparents, last Christmas of the day! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend with their families and loved ones!

Merry Christmas

It's officially Christmas Eve and I think we finally are done wrapping the last item!  (I kept finding things I forgot about.)

We will be celebrating the next 3 days with our families and am so looking forward to Emma's excitement and taking in Avalynn's 1st Christmas.

Wish you all a safe and hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones!!!

Decked out for the Holidays

And so begins the tour of my home.  When we bought our home there was this random box, that actually has some pipes in it, so is used to disguise them.  The Hubs, the handy man he is built me these shelves for on top.  Honestly, the completely stump me every season/holiday.  Just went simple this year without overloading them and I'm in love with the girls' monogrammed stockings I got this year at Target. .  On the door is a raffia and button wreath, actually have two of them, on opposites sides of the room, my mom and aunt made them.  On top of our linen cabinet is a ball tree my mom made and a small jingle bell wreath.  

Here's another shot of our tree and a very old Santa made by my mom with a clorox bottle - which has been around since I was a little kid! 

Small shelving unit on the other side of the tree.  This is Avalynn proof - at least the bottom 2 shelves anyways.  The girls' new little people nativity set that they both love to play with!  Top shelf has some yo-yo trees my mom made and in the glass jars are some modge-podged glittered and tissue papered balls that my sister-in-law made for me.

Here's the top of the shelving unit.  I made these JOY plaques last year.  The copper button tree was made by my aunt.  

Just a simple stuffed stocking pillow in my "Mom" corner - they are so soft and comfy! 

This poor reindeer was saved this year.  I confiscated it from my parents who picked it up for a couple bucks over the summer and it was this hideous peeling silver color.  She looks SO MUCH better with a couple coats of glossy black paint.  Next year she'll look even better with a beautiful poinsettia.

Close-up of some other handmade items that are on the shelving in the living room. 

Now we're entering the dining room - love this little corner, ladder done by mom one year and the little reindeer was made by my mother-in-law.  

Built-in corner cabinet in the dining room.  Some hand painted items from my Nanny and a few things that Emma has made over the last couple of years. 

This nativity set was made by my father-in-law.  For 3 years we got 3 pieces to the set and 6 of them are holding glass candlesticks and globes that you can pour some oil in and light them.  We haven't lit them ever - perhaps some day.  Don't let the size of them deceive you in this picture, they are well over 12 inches tall. 

Simple set-up on the buffet, still trying to figure decorating this area.  The ornament tree is filled with hand painted balls from the Hubs Gramma that we get every year, it's so exciting what she decides to paint each year.  In the middle is a cloche I made from a cheese dome and candle base.  On the end is a piece from PartyLite I got several years ago.  Everything got a coat of glossy black paint - love it! 

Closer look of the ornament tree and a close up of a couple of the balls. 

Close-up of the cloche, filled with glittery garland that I tore apart. 

On our table is a pair of mercury glass and a cream ceramic candle base with some red pillars.  It's simple and easy to clear off for meals.  

Thanks for looking through my home.  I'm joining The Nester in her Christmas Tour of Home 2010.   You should hop on over and check out some of the other lovely homes that are linked up!

Garland & More Garlands

I have to be honest, I never truly appreciated a nicely done garland until I entered bloggy-land and started seeing everything everyone does!  I have 2 ragamuffin garlands that I made for our one archway and our porch door.  For more on the ragamuffin garland go to this post.  And the banister garland is all stuff that I had bought after christmas on clearance 2 years ago and put it together last year.  Plan on going out to the craft stores this year to pick up some more goodies to make it more full for next year.  

Our Christmas Tree

Here is the final product of our tree this year, and I honestly couldn't be more pleased!  I must confess - I did the tree twice this year.  We had it decorated and done, then last week it was really bugging me so I completely undecorated it.  I know I'm nuts sometimes.  It's pre lit with white christmas lights, so I headed to Michael's and picked up a few strands of colored lights to add for some variety.  And 3 spools of green ribbon to wrap around the tree and add some froofiness under the star of the tree.  And then I re-hung every last ornament, making sure to keep all of the breakables on the upper half of the tree, away from tiny little baby hands that are curious and love to pull things off and in their mouth.  End result = more in love with our tree!!! 

Love our personalized family of 4 ornament that was added to our collection this year! 

I've come to realize after looking at many trees throughout blogland that our tree is jammed packed.  I try to squeeze on as many as possible, majority of them are homemade ornaments from our families, childhood ones from the Hubs and I, handpainted balls from the Hubs Gramma, and all of Emma's creations (what proud Mama wouldn't hang them all?!), and very few store bought ones.

What do you like to have on your tree?  Do you decorate with a theme in mind or enjoy the mish mash of ornaments?  Tinsel or a no-no?

I'm joining in over at Thrifty Decor Chick's Tree Party, come join the fun!!!