Our Halls Are Decked! (Again...)

I was so proud of myself this year because all of my Christmas decorating was done before the first of December rolled around! I used to say that I wouldn't put Christmas decorations up until we were finished celebrating Julian's birthday (December 2), but his party was not until December 10th this year. No way could I hold out in spreading the Christmas cheer in my home until after then! The reason for the word "Again" in this post title is because I took all the Christmas decor down (except for the tree) last weekend for Julian's birthday party. But everything's back up and running in the Christmas decoration department of our home:)

If you've known me in Christmases past, you know that my tree accent color of choice has been hot pink. Yes, my hot pink ornaments served me well for four wonderful years, but last year I decided that since I had a little boy, it was time to switch gears to the traditional red. So I bought a box of red ornaments on clearance after Christmas last year, and only cried a little bit this year when I didn't hang my pink ornaments. (Win.)
My mom came down and helped me decorate, which was really fun. She always got us HUGE trees...like big, fat 12-footers, especially when my parents were married, and decorated them so beautifully. She is so good at this kind of stuff. After we decorated the tree, she made this lovely wreath to match it:

After seeing the wreath & upon entering the front door, your eyes either go straight ahead and see this display: (one day we shall refinish this table...)

Or to the right where you see some fun & festive-ey things to look at:

PS: I cleaned this mirror today. Promise. I wouldn't call my style "modern"...at all...when it comes to decorating. So why would these Subway art prints have appealed to me when I saw them on Pinterest? I don't know. But they did! (Funny how they are placed next to some more classic, traditional looking tiles I made. lol. Sometimes we gotta mix things up...adds spice to life!) I think they are beautiful. And I love incorporating the true meaning of Christmas into decorating for it. These are sweet simple reminders for why there's any hubbub going on this time of year, at all.

Sandwiched in between these two beauts is the cutest little Santa I think I ever sawed (for the price I paid for it, at least-- a TJ Maxx find)...I decided that I can buy one Christmas decoration a year that I can't make myself (at least, until we have an actual income); this year, he is it:

I definitely could not have made this little tin man. After feasting your eyes on my silly little Santa, perhaps then you will see the Christmas tree! My mom made the bow. She's a profesh. Also, it was so funny because she was SO meticulous in the placing of every. single. ornament. Imagine "move it over to the right a couple inches Kim" for every. single. ornament. Then Hurricane Julian woke up the next morning and it was all for naught! Oh well:)

Grandmommy & Pop Pop gave Julian the Little People Nativity set last year for Christmas. He has sure been loving it this year!

Julian also got this Christmas dog last year who sings "Jingle Bells". Julian LOVED him last year and loves him again this year! He really gets a kick out of this crazy little pup!

I found some ideas online for starting new traditions for the kiddos this year, and I was so excited to implement them! One of them was this cute little advent calendar. I will post a pic once Santa has all 25 puff balls on his beard. :) I also hope to laminate it after Christmas so it will hold up for future use. So what I'm doing is hot gluing the puff balls onto little pieces of white paper, then Scotch taping them to Santa. The tape peels off really easily without causing damage to the paper.

Another idea I found that I loved was another advent: a Christmas book advent!
I went to the library and collected some Christmas books, then he had some from last year that I'd stashed away, and Grandmommy gave him more this year. I decided today though, that this little boy is becoming desensitized to presents and I'm not going to wrap them any more for the rest of the month. He got a couple presents on his actual birthday, then so many presents at his birthday party, then a book present a day, then he'll get presents this Sunday with my dad for Christmas, then more presents on Christmas day. So. Instead of opening a book a day, tomorrow morning he will wake up to lots of Christmas books under the tree, and we will enjoy them together...like we would any other books. I want him to be excited about the presents he gets on Christmas! (He was so excited at his birthday party as he opened each present...it was presh:)...I'd like to keep that alive:)

He loves Christmas songs. He knows all the words to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", "Jingle Bells," and "Here Comes Santa Clause". I'm hoping to get it on video soon! This weekend we are going to make a gingerbread house and candy cane reindeer. I'm so excited! Christmas is so fun with little ones!