Deckin' the Halls

I love Christmas. I love everything about it. I especially like to decorate my house. So I thought I would document how we do Christmas in our house...

(Oh and Natalie, you may want to stop reading now. Your lack of festiveness this year might make you feel guilty after seeing the nonsense that we call decorating...)

First comes the toy box. This musical experience is courtesy of my mother in law. The girls love it and it's the first Christmas decoration we unpack.

Then come the trees...yes that is plural. Family tree, the girls tree and my tree.

We do the family tree first which consists of ornaments we have collected over the years that represent different milestones and experiences. Aric's parents had a tradition that the kids got a new ornament every year, so we have adopted that tradition in our family. I decided to highlight a few of them.

This bike is an ornament I stole from my friend Meghann at an ornament party.

Some milestones...our first Christmas, the year the Red Sox won the world series.

The year the girls fell in love with the musical "Wicked" and the year Maya went to Disneyland for the first time.

Crazy ornaments that bring back fun memories...like the swinging lion that Aric stole from Ryan at the last ornament party. He has a special place at the top of our tree.

The homemade ones that the girls make us.

And the ones that Aric has had since he was a baby. Some of them find themselves in the back of the tree....but they are still there!

Now my tree...No one touches this tree but me. It is a work in progress as I refuse to spend a ton of money on it. So after Christmas every year I go and look for things that I would like to add to it.

While I'm working on my tree, the girls are upstairs working on theirs...

Then we have Aric's figurines. He has a fondness for them, and as much as I dislike little things everywhere...I have given in.

This Peanuts thing has so many broken pieces it's not even funny.

This carousel horse display has a specific order...ask Aric.

Then we have the Christmas story figurines...

We actually have a real life leg lamp, yes a real one. It even came in a FRAGILE (frageelay) box.

What... you mean that's too far away?!!!

It's proudly displayed by Aric in his office...which also happens to be our closet.

Now back to some more wholesome decorations.

Like these cute ones over my porch...

And the ever so wholesome gingerbread houses...not homemade, I'm all about buying the kit.

And of course the stockings. I made Aric's, mine and Maya's the year Maya was born. Aric helped pick out the fabric. As the years have gone by I've really wanted different ones that are all matchy matchy and more modern. Aric insists on keeping these, they are part of our Christmas tradition. So I just finished Camden's stocking. It is as modern and cool as I'm gonna get.

I have my nativity of course, flanked by nutcrackers...weren't they part of the story?...the girls like to help me decorate so things are extra festive.

Here is my fun table runner and centerpiece...

Unfortunately my table is rarely clean enough to enjoy how cute it is.

And here are a few other fun decorations...

My friend Riann made me these cute magnents, I put them on my light fixture that hangs over my table...ignore the dust.

The advent calendar and our Christmas Cards...

I love our built ins because it gives me more room to decorate. Here are a couple of my favorite shelves....

And last but not least the banister....

So I know we are little drunk on Christmas but that's the way we roll. It only happens once a year so we make the most of it. Even though I like things a certain way, and I actually like things a little more simple, the girls love helping and Aric rarely gets a say in anything so he may as well get his way at Christmas. It's my gift to him.

I love being surrounded by the symbols of Christmas. I love being able to teach my children about them. So our decorations aren't just decorations...they also represent the true meaning of Christmas. They represent Christ and his teachings...okay so maybe not the lion ornament or the leg lamp...but pretty much everything else.

Feliz Navidad!