Christmas time is here!!!



Christmas wreath we got as a wedding present....
isn't that a cute idea?

And the decorations are up!!!!  I seriously love the Christmas season.  <3 it.  Love the traditions, family, the food, the smells and decorating the tree.  Oh, and the snow (not that we get much down here).  Christmas decorating was pretty simple this year.  Working mostly with what we had. 

The only thing I wasn't willing to compromise on having was a Christmas tree...a real (and by real I mean real plastic), tall Christmas tree.  Here was our first ever tree.  Remember him from last year? 



Christmas 2010

 It was our little, Charlie brown tree.  But he was so good.  And so small and cute.  Like Luna.....but she's far more awkward.

Anyway... I still might put him in the den and decorate him with some gold bulbs I have...but I haven't had the energy. 

I started looking on Craigslist in early October for "real" trees because it's just before Christmas, but too soon to be high in demand, so the deals would be the best.  I found a posting for a 7.5 foot, artificial tree for $25.  A little old lady was selling it.  She was so cute.  And we bought it!  And here she is in all her glory.  Decorated and such.  Based on what the lady said, it was a well love tree, and still had some tinsel hidden in it's branches.  Now it's well loved here.  I ended up picking up some lights at Lowes for it, but it was worth it.  They were $15 for a box of 450, so in total I came in under budget at $35.

This was the first year where the tree was really personal to US as a couple.  Most of the ornaments were wedding, and shower gifts, or from graduation or ones we bought as a couple.  (Aside from a few childhood favorites).  Then there was the outside...

The mini trees are from Michaels. 

Wow, Kathryn.  I bet you got a deal on those, too (Is she always this crazy???).

Yeah I am and yest I did.  50% off plus a 25% off your entire purchase coupon.  Score. 

And our nativity scene on our built-ins.  The reason for the season :) ...

The mantle is looking okay... I'm still not 100% sold on it. Everything was hand me downs or things I already had (besides the greens I got at the Goodwill over the summer). 

Here are some of my inspirations for future mantles (from pinterest.com...only my favorite site ever)

I love the layers of this one...and I think it's a good idea to put a wreath on a mirror, especially because the dark brick we have on our fireplace swallows it up.

And in big news...physically big news...we came out pretty good on Black Friday.  See our new, ginorm 55 incher to the right?  Yeah, we're mounting that sucker.  The little TV will go in the bonus room.

Charlie was so excited....and HAD to take it out of the box the moment it arrived.  He was afraid to take it out without someone helping him (because he didn't want to crack the screen) so I'm pretty sure he sad with the box all day, stroking it.  Talking to it.  This was our Christmas gift to one another!