Anyways...as you can tell...I love Christmas! I knew long before we got married that Christmas decorating wasn't Rob's thing. He is convinced all it does is bring out everyone's stressful side. Plus, he doesn't like having to carry up all the Christmas decoration boxes, only to carry them back down a month later. Clearly, he had never decorated with me. :) Not only do I carry up all the boxes (except last year, when our boxes were stored in a creepy, cellar basement...no thanks!), but I am like a happy elf when it comes to decorating. Every time I open a box of Christmas decorations I yell to him something along the lines of.... "I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THIS SANTA FACE....I LOVE THIS SANTA FACE!!!" then we move on the next box "ROBBY...DID YOU REMEMBER THAT WE HAD THESE ADORABLE CHRISTMAS TEA TOWELS?! I DIDN'T!!! I LOOOOOOOVEEE THESE TEA TOWELS!!!!" and so on and so forth. It is like Christmas in the middle of November. Yes, I decorate before Thanksgiving. Go ahead, judge me. :) I just really like to soak up all the decorations for as long as possible! :)
Since we had a new house this year, it was extra fun to figure out where everything was going to go and how I was going to decorate the outside. Here are a few snapshots of how everything ended up!
The outside of the house...I thought it turned out great. I was so excited about the first dusting of snow, that I didn't even realize the lights had slipped off of the larger bush until a few days later. Oh well....you get the idea.
I love our front porch and really wanted to show it off with some pretty garland and the red bows.
I knew I wanted a wreath for the front door, but after looking around they all seemed so expensive. I made this one myself and total it only cost me $7! And since I didn't make it Christmas specific...I plan on leaving it up through February. :)
Our front windows our located in our dining room, so instead of moving around the table to put the tree there, I decided to position it so that when our front door was open, you could see it perfectly! I don't know if we'll do that again next year, since by next year we will have a fireplace and that will switch up our furniture placement, but it worked great this year.
Our first married Christmas together was less than a month after our wedding. We had a some colored ball ornaments, but I ended up needing those for a tree-decorating contest at school. So that year, we were left with about eight colored ornaments, two or three other ornaments, and then I put all of our Christmas cards on our tree to fill in the gaps. Now that we are on our third Christmas together, we have started to collect more ornaments of our own. It is so fun to hang them up and reflect on each one!
This was one we got two summers ago when Robby coached in the Cape Cod League...
And my grandparents gave us this one for our 2nd anniversary this past November....
As a Christmas present this year from my Aunt Tierney and Uncle Timm we got a "First Year in our New Home" ornament! I can't wait to hang that one up for years to come, too!
I had big plans to lay out all of my Christmas china (a wedding gift from my Aunt Mo and Aunt Tam Tam!), but the china is being safely stored at my parents house and I never got around to getting it. I'm going to have to pick it up soon to make sure I have it for next year. As a result...my "Christmas Table" was left looking a little bare. I laid out the red chargers and put some spice scented pine cones in a bowl, but didn't make it much further than that. Next year I would like to have my table set weeks in advance (really set for no reason other than to look pretty...we do Christmas in Hutch), and hang some garland and ornaments from our light fixture. I think Christmas decorating will always be a work in progress at my house. :)
Just now I realized I don't have a picture of the aforementioned Santa Face. It is probably my favorite Christmas decoration. My folks and grandparents also have Santa Face's hanging in their homes....therefore every time I look at it it brings back happy memories...it makes it REALLY feel like Christmas. :)Please excuse the less than stellar cell phone picture, but going downstairs to get my camera, taking the pictures, uploading them, etc. etc....it just seems like a lot of work. So this will have to do. Next year when we have our fireplace, I'm planning on having the Santa Face much more prominently displayed. I mean it looks great between the two lamps, but next year...it is going to look AMAZING! :)
In addition to all the decorations, I also love Christmas candles! I'm a big candle person anyways, but come Christmas time...I'm literally burning them in every room. I have my tree on a timer so anytime I'm in the house , it is on. I love getting home at 4:30 after a long day at school, and walking in to see my Christmas tree all lit up. Love. It. I also love walking in to a house that smells like a mix of fir tree, cinnamon, Christmas cookie, and more! I keep a lighter out on the counter and just walk around lighting them up before I even take my coat off. I read in a book that my friend Amber gave me (The Perfectly Imperfect Home) that it is important to be aware of the distinct scent you are giving your home. Everything you use from candles, to perfumes, to cleaning supplies all contributes to this scent. People start to connect that scent to you and your home...and you want it to be a good one. So I use lemon-y cleaners (except for this lavender all-purpose cleaner I found at a little store in downtown Newton....smells so good!), burn candles, wash my clothes with downy, and bake lots of yummy things. In the mean time, I hope my furniture and walls are soaking up these smells! I wouldn't hate it if somebody came into my house in July and said, "Wow, it smells like Christmas in here." In fact, I would love that. :)
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