it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

being the part-time working woman that i am, and having had to work over thanksgiving break (the nature of working in a pediatric dental office...you work hardest when the kids are out of school!), seriously put a kink in my decorating style this year.

reading last year's post about decorating for christmas reminded me that i took on that challenge nice and slowly, enjoying every second.  this year was a little different.  i had one day to do it all.  and i always have these grandiose ideas of everyone getting involved and savoring every little decorating detail, knowing that precious memories are being made.  you think i would learn soon enough that this does not exactly happen when you live in a house full of boys.

i am thankful that john and the boys worked on our outside decorations earlier in the week while i was away at work.  i'll have to take pictures of our outside decorations and post those so you can appreciate their handiwork.  but the inside decorating took place on friday, while everyone else in the world shopped till they dropped.

while the actual decorating forced me to exercise the fruits of the spirit (namely patience, love, joy, peace, and self control!), i am quite pleased with the outcome.

here are a few of the things we did:

here's our little christmas tree.  the picture is a little dark because i had to turn off my flash to show the lights.  we decided to do flashing lights this year, something we've not done before and the boys love it.  we have a bazillion hallmark ornaments thanks to john's grandparents and a few vintage ornaments that were my grandparents'.  we have the musical plush characters that hallmark does every year underneath the tree until i get some presents bought and wrapped.  i haven't put batteries in those guys yet though *wink, wink.*

this is a lovely framed nativity print my mom bought for me last christmas.  it hangs next to our tree, and i just love it.  it helps me to keep my focus on Christ and not on the presents underneath the tree.

i put my little santa collection on our bookcase this year.  you can't see them very well in this picture but they include my 12 santas from around the world and the handmade santas that i've had as long as i can remember on the right.

this is my little red retro snoopy themed tree.  i love any and all things charlie brown and christmas, and i would like to add to this tree with new ornaments every year. 

this is the china cabinet in our dining room.  i like to collect unusual nativities and they are displayed on top.  the wall hanging on the left is vintage, and i picked it up at an antique mall after christmas this past year.  i thought it would be perfect to hold our christmas cards (the 3 little brown rectangles are pockets to slip the cards in).  one of our traditions is to pray at dinner for those families represented by the cards we received in the mail that day.  send us a card and we'll pray for you! :)  on the left is a ceramic lighted christmas tree i picked up at a garage sale this summer for $2.  i love it because it has NO missing lights and most of the lights are little birdies.  the only problem was that it needed a new lightbulb, and the previous owner had glued the base to the tree, making it impossible to access the lightbulb!  after some nail polish remover, a tiny paring knife and a lot of patience, i managed to dissolve the glue and get the two pieces apart.  hooray!  it is quite beautiful all lit!

this is our mantle.  it is tiny and makes me wish for a house with a more impressive mantle that i can really do up....but in the meantime, this is my peruvian nativity.  we really love it and picked it up at a craft fair a few years back.  the people selling it had gone to peru to visit family and brought back a few of these to sell.  the nativity is flanked by two little christmas trees that john and i bought at a garage sale before our first christmas together as a married couple.  they've been with us for 8 years now.

and one day i would like to have a christmas tree this size!  this is at the galleria and we've made it a yearly tradition to get a picture in front of this impressive tree!

after all that decorating, i was exhausted and needed a little treat!

i would love to see how you decorate for christmas!