Christmas Decorations

FINALLY!

I put our Christmas decorations out the week before Thanksgiving.  Please don't scream at your monitor.  We don't spend Thanksgiving at our house and it's nice to come back with it ready for Christmas.  We come home, unpack, and dive right into the Christmas spirit. 

Unfortunately, my house has been a disaster for the last month or so.  Each day I wake up and say I'll clean so that I can share my holiday joy with my readers.  Has that happened?  Nope. 

That, however, is about to change!

Please enjoy the tour of our home.

I found these adorable salt and pepper shakers at Target a few weeks ago for $2.99.  They are perched above the stove.  Will I ever actually put salt and pepper in them?  No way!  Do they make me happy when I look at them while I cook?  You betcha!

Here's an awful photo of our mantle.  Note the five stockings.  One for me, one for the Mr., and one for each of our evil monsters precious pooches.  I love the candles that I found.  I was considering going with solid red pillars until I saw these candy cane-striped beauties at Wal-Mart.  No, they are not scented.  Yes, I spent more than a minute trying to smell them at the store.  Moving on.  How about that Charlie Brown Christmas tree?  The Mr. doesn't understand.  Hello?  It has Linus' blanket as a tree skirt, it must stay on the mantle!

Here's the tv stand.  The Mr. insisted on mounting the television.  Please pretend those cables aren't there.  Thanks.

Here's a closeup of what's on our little media center.  The votive holders are leftover from our wedding (which is proof that not everything you buy for that blessed event is only good for one use).  The Santa Claus Christmas countdown was a steal at $7 at Hobby Lobby.  I bought it when there were still 19 or so days until Christmas.  When I turned it to five days, I nearly cried, as my shopping still was not finished.  Now I'm excited to turn the blocks.

This is obviously our stairway.  Can you see the tree?  No?  Well, do you see the gold star below the red bow on the right?  Yes, that star.  It's sitting on top of our tree.  Please don't make fun of our tree.  Here's the deal.  For the last several years, I have been using my grandparents' old tree (the kind where you insert each and every single branch individually).  Our first Christmas in Illinois was spent in a tiny apartment, so we bought a 2' tree and placed it on the coffee table.  At the time, we had a house full of barking locusts little puppies who enjoyed eating paper, so we thought it best to have the gifts off of the ground.

This year our tiny tree has nothing to do with the dogs or space.  It has to do with me and my being a tightwad more frugal this year.  I originally wanted to buy an artificial tree, but the 7' tree I loved was $300 and I refuse to pay that for a plastic tree.  So then I thought I'd get one on clearance after Christmas to use for next year.  In the meantime, I bought our 2' tree for $8 at Target.  I have since decided that next year I want a frasier fir. 

I find it amusing that the stack of gifts is taller than the tree itself.  Of course, I can't take the blame for this.  A lot of this is the Mr's fault.  Half of those gifts are for our nephews, Adrian and Mason.  The Mr. says that it's because they are only little once and that it is important to make it wonderful for them.  I think that next year we ought to limit it to three gifts.  After all, baby Jesus received three -- gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  We'll see what happens.

 

OH!  And last, but certainly not least, here is the front of the house.  Sorry to disappoint, but there are no lights out there this year.  We currently have zero outlets on the outside of our house and I refuse to have an extension cord running through my window.  Check back next year.

All right then.  I hope you enjoyed the photos of the house.

Merry Christmas!