Friday was Grandparents day at school and we were home before lunchtime. Dave's taking a few days off work and the "littles" were still at Miss Lisa's for the day so I decided to knock out Christmas decorating. Plus it was really cold and nasty outside so it was perfection!
Luke was soooooooooooo excited and we drank hot chocolate and he helped me pull everything out of the boxes.
He was ALL about getting up on the step ladder to hang ornaments "really high" :)
Saturday morning I took pictures while the light was a little bit better and the boys were at the Perot Museum.
Standing at my front door...
Family room:
I'm pretty sure this is the one and only time the Nativity scene will be complete all season thanks to Mason who has taken a liking to hiding baby Jesus :)
Last year I left all of the lights and deco mesh attached to my garlands and put the entire thing in a labeled trash bag. I also pulled out all the "picks" and ornaments and other things I had in each garland and put them in labeled ziplock bags. It made the decorating go way faster than it has in years past.
This garland has the picks of glass beads (these were part of decorations I had at my wedding that I took apart... I have lots of them that I use all over in decorating for Christmas), the sparkly grapevine balls I picked up at Home Goods and the snowflakes are cheapy ones from Target (I picked up DOZENS of them one year at the after Christmas sale... pretty sure I got 4/$0.25.
Front hall table...
This garland has some GORGEOUS mercury glass ornaments from World Market...
Kitchen...
Dave and got married on December 3rd and we had a Christmas tree (actually it's the tree we have now!) decorated with really pretty glass ornaments that people took as their favor as they left. We had bunches left over and I love to use them to decorate. I think it'll be fun to have to have as our kids get big and one day they could even hang on their trees!
Buffet table:
Gold sparkley ornaments are from Target and they're mixed in with the same gold snowflakes and pieces of the glass bead garland...
Wedding ornaments mixed with some matte and sparkly gold ones from Target:
This chair is where we like to snuggle up and read Christmas books after dinner. And yes... we have the world's biggest stockings. :) They're from Pottery Barn kids and I didn't bother to measure when I ordered them. hahaha. Now I can't imagine NOT having giant stockings. The HOPE sign I picked up at Home Goods in October/November to use in our Christmas card pictures. We got to the photo shoot location and I realized I had forgotten the sign at home. I did manage to remember all the kids though so I was proud of myself for that. :) It was too cute to return and I decided to keep it and try to find a place for it during Christmas...
I had the stockings embroidered by a GREAT local business rather than having it done by Pottery Barn. Pottery Barn's embroidery would have looked teeny tiny on these and I love being able to pick out the fonts.
LOTS of the beaded garland on the mantle...
I decorate the little kitchen tree with some jeweled fruit picks...
The kids table is a recent addition to our kitchen (August maybe??? I can't remember). And it's been fun to decorate. The envelope chair backers I picked up at Pottery Bark kids for next to nothing (they were part of their Lunar New Year collection - but I thought they'd still for for Christmas and Valentines). I had the initials put on my the same lady who did my stockings because, again, I wanted a BIG monogram.
The table runner is super fancy... it's a piece of fabric from the boys pirate party folded in half. :) The Celebrate with Joy part is a dish towel.
Behind my sink...
More fruit and more glass bead picks...
In past years I've had this nativity out in my family room... but this year (with Mason being a teeny bit mischievous - hahaha) I decided it was better to keep it here. I actually really like it here because I see it all the time. It was a wedding gift (what an awesome idea, right?!?!) and I look forward to getting it out every year.
Fruit mixed with glitter ornaments and wedding ornaments fill my apothecary jars.
Again with the "re-purposing"... these hurricane vases were on tables at my wedding as well (they had giant pillar candles in them) and I gave them to my aunts, friends, etc. and kept about 6. I use them all the time and love them (8 years later). 
Speaking of decking things out.. Griffin has been sporting some super cute Christmas outfits. :) The boys never had Christmas-specific clothes and I am getting a huge kick out of her seasonal attire.
Anyway - I hope you enjoyed my decorations! I'll show you the kids rooms (yes... there are more trees) in a post later this week. I love getting my decor up early because now I just get to enjoy it and focus on doing fun things with my family this month instead of getting everything decorated. I can't wait to check out everyone else's decor all over "blog land" throughout the month :) Merry Christmas!!!
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