Decking the Halls

Decorating our tree was so much more fun this year now that Ellie is so excited about Christmas. I don't know which she enjoyed more- unwrapping the tissue paper to reveal each ornament, in which she exclaimed, "wow! pretty!," or decorating the tree. Only one ornament fell and broke, but I will try to glue it back together since it was one of her "first Christmas" ornaments. We have a ton of ornaments and she still wanted more when we were finished. Afterwards she said, "thank you, daddy. Thank you, Mommy. Thank you for helping me decorate!" I love that she said we helped her decorate. I've always loved decorating the tree and it makes me so happy that she enjoys it as much as I do. My parents have given us (my siblings and I) ornaments every Christmas for at least the past ten years plus the ones I've given Ellie the past two years. I also bought straw ornaments and shiny red ones at Ikea a few years ago when we moved into our house. I love a tree that tells a story. Ornaments are great gifts. You can see our previous trees here, here, and here. 

Ornaments: Ellie's hand print at 8 months, a hand carved snowflake (Etsy), snowman (gift from my parents), straw ornament (Ikea) and 'S' from friends this year, Moravian star (one of my favorites!)- gift from my parents (Ten Thousand Villages)

As I previously posted, here is my boxwood wreath with my leopard bow still going strong on our side door (hung on the inside). I have been spraying it with a water bottle to keep it as fresh as possible.

I bought Summer a similar stocking to Ellie's at Target and had it monogrammed in the same font and color as ours. It's a little off center and doesn't match the rest of ours so I may have to replace next year. I picked up this chalkboard Christmas Countdown at Target in the dollar section. Isn't it cute?!

I made a festive tissue tassel garland for our gas fireplace and kept the mantel simple using silver and blues to match the rest of the decor in this room. I added our new monogrammed chalkboard print in the center (via Very Jane).

I added greens to our staircase and on top of the bar and decorated it with vases filled with silver ornaments, white and glass trees, silver pine cones and fake snow (both Pottery Barn), a Christmas printable, a large star ornament, and red berries. I also added a book, "Christmas Wishes," my Dad gave to me my senior year of High School. He wrote a note on the inside of the book. I love sentimental gifts like this one.

In previous years I also hung our cards along our staircase. This year I used two small command hooks and twine to create a card display. I used tiny clothespins to attach each card.

I have really loved doing Holiday crafts with Ellie this year. These are my favorite decorations! I hung the paper snowflakes Ellie and I made during the first snowfall. We also made pom pom art and painted ornaments:

Christmas, 2013