All Decked Out

I *think* Christmas decorations are officially complete (at least inside) as of this evening. I was so inspired by the beautiful Poinsettias I was able to get for just $5 each today, that I finally got around to pulling out my last boxes of decorations, including my tree skirt from Great Grandma L. and the garland I picked up on clearance last year.

Hannah and I worked on the garland--she helped me unflatten it all and then we twisted on the red metal "berries" for a bit of color and decoration. Daddy helped us hang it after dinner.

We're also filling our post with Christmas cards. I love getting Christmas cards!! (And yes, we have ours and as soon as I can write our newsletter, they'll be in the mail. I've caught up on a myriad of other things in the last few days, including final Christmas shopping, so the newletter is just about next on the list.) :o)

And here's just a few of our favorite ornaments. We have a much larger tree this year, so it was nice to fill it with special memories from years past. This is one of the beautiful angel ornaments Chris' Grandma H. made for us before she went to Heaven two years ago. We love you, Grandma, and we miss you!

And one of my all-time favorite ornaments my mom bought for me in high school . . .

It was so special decorating with the kids this year! They loved putting all of my childhood ornaments on the tree. It's funny how an ornament for a four year old is just as appropriate in 2009 as it was in 1984. :o) In fact, my plan as of right now, is to give each of the kids a special ornament from "when Mommy was little" as a Christmas gift.

:::

So anyway, that's a little piece of our home . . . Merry Christmas!

:::

(P.S. - For those wondering about our village, we do have outlets above the cabinets as we did at our other house, but the boards aren't up yet, and due to yet impending projects, we're probably going to wait till next year to display it again. It's just not worth the risk of getting it damaged or the hassle of displaying it for just a few weeks before taking it down to do painting and such.)