Christmas Decorations

Growing up, it was always such fun decorating for Christmas.  It was such a ritual, going down to the basement with my sister to unearth the decorations.  (I do have an older brother, too, but since he's eight years older, he was always doing his own thing.  My sis and I were the ones into the decorating.)

We always had a lot of decorations, mainly because we had two rooms to decorate... the rec room and the living room, and of course, the dining room had a few decorations, too.  (My house didn't seem that big growing up, but it does to me, now!)

Nowadays, I keep it pretty simple.  We have this one main area to decorate, and if you've been at our house, you know our kitchen, dining area, and living room is one big room.  (Which is very helpful, by the way, when keeping tabs on my toddler.)

Here's what we've got going on:

This is my knick-knack shelf, where I put odds and ends that were either given to me as gifts, or are items I purchased myself.  You can't see it well, but in the very center is a vase I filled with Christmas balls.  (It looks better in person.  I am not a wonderful photographer, nor is my camera the best camera out there.)

This picture was taken at an angle because the coffee table was in the way, but you get the idea.  I absolutely love having the nativity above the fireplace, where it is the focal point, as well as the fact that the cat and the toddler would knock it over if it were anywhere else.  (Believe me, the cat would be the problem more than Caleb.  I am starting to have visions of strangling him in my sleep... that is how much trouble he gets into.)

This snowman always brings such a smile to my face.  Isn't he so cute?  I bought him for about $5 at the Christmas Tree Shoppes, when I was home for that long week I told you about in the previous post, when I was home for my dad's surgery two months after Brian and I were married.  I hope he sticks around a long time.  (Both my dad and the snowman!)

This Christmas bear is one of the few things allowed on the coffee table (though in this pic, he's on the couch).  Brian's parents brought him up for Caleb last Christmas, and while he's not into stuffed animals at all (much to my great disappointment), he does perk up when the bear's foot is pressed and he begins reciting the biblical Christmas story.

It brings my heart such joy to see three stockings up, for the second year in a row.  I'm still getting used to the "Mom" stocking.  (Caleb still doesn't say any words, so I don't actually answer to that name yet.)  These lovely stocking holders were purchased by Brian's sister, and they were so much better than the ugly, plain holders that I had originally bought- which I promptly returned.

We had a little helper with the tree this year.  We gave him a few soft ornaments, and he would drop them on a branch.  It was so cute to watch!  Of course, I hung them up properly later.  It was so fun to see all the "Caleb" ornaments that our boy had received last year!

And finally, here's our tree, cut down by Brian himself.  It's a lot of work, but so worth it in the end.