More Christmas Decorations

I have always loved this!  I saw it in a magazine and it was before the scrapbooking craze and so you couldn't just buy tags at Michael's.  I hand cut these "tags" and copied the script from the picture in the magazine.  I hang it over a fresh garland and tie little pieces of rosemary to some of the letters.  It always smells so good and just looks old fashioned to me.

One view of Lily's bedroom....complete with a pink, lighted Christmas Tree.  For Christmas their bedding is embellished with a Candyland Christmas Blanket.

These are the visions of sugarplums that dance in my kids' heads during the Christmas Season.  I made them out of a grapevine wreath, a white feather boa and some "sweet" ornaments.

Here is another view of the sugarplums

During the month of December we hang the stocking on their bedroom door, and if they are good, Jasper leaves a little treat for them to wake up to.

Madeleine's room with sugarplums and a Christmas Candy Blanket on the bed.

The Garland above the window in Lily's Room reads "The Children Were Nestled All Snug in Their Beds..."

The garland over Maddy's window is also decorated with candy ornaments and pastel and shimmering nutcrackers (her favorite)

Madeleine's Pink Christmas tree topped with a Leopard Print Bow!

From a sleepy girl's perspective on Christmas Eve night.

'Twas the Month Before Christmas

I LOVE LOVE LOVE decorating for Christmas and this year I waited until after Thanksgiving.  I told myself I was not going to set up the same vignettes that I always do and that was hard for me, the creature of habit.  Sometimes I think maybe I shouldn't be so selfish and decorate the way I do.  I'm not partial to crafty decor; there are no disney characters with Santa hats and no country collectible snowmen sit at my door urging guests to wipe their feet.  There is no penguin holding a sign that says "sleigh rides 10 cents" - mostly because you know how I feel about the penguin as a Christmas character.  I like all of those decorations and when I see them in the stores I stop and smile, but I can't afford to buy a whole new look and what I don't like is mixing looks.  People have said to me, "but Christmas is for the kids" and I completely disagree.  Christmas is for the kids....and for Jason....and for me!  I believe in the magic too and so I decorate in a way that I think makes Christmas feel magical. 

My kids love helping me and I have even learned to resist the urge to be rigid in deciding where every little thing should be placed.  

When we lugged those red and green bins in from the garage - the girls jumped up and down and screamed as if they were boxed full of Christmas toys and not just ornaments and glittered candles.  Lily threw opne the box and grabbed the first thing she saw...an oversized jingle bell-which she hung it on the front door.  My first instinct is to say "no, that doesn't go there."  But then I stopped myself, and let her help me.  The jingle bell is just perfect for the door because now every time we go in or out, we are reminded (quite loudly) that it is CHRISTMAS time!  When all the decorations were done, Madeleine looked around the room and said, "mommy this is just beautiful!"  I want them to be proud of their home and the way it looks and her reaction just reinforced that I'm not a bad mom because I don't have any Christmas Mickeys and the tree is not filled with handprint ornaments and popsicle stick reindeer.  I do keep their crafts and I do display them proudly....now what I need to learn is to be proud, not apologetic about the way I celebrate the season!

I hope you enjoy the pictures and I would love to see pictures of your decor because I'm always open to copying other people's good ideas :)

Giant glittered candy canes, twigs with hollyberries,

and spanish moss fill a bathroom vase

The Christmas Tree - we still do the real tree, messy pine needles and all.  You can't really see the ornaments in this photo but I like the perspective and how you see the big R on the shelf above.

This silver glittery sign hangs from a garland that surrounds the fireplace.  I found this sign at a booth while on my annual shopping trip at The Christmas Company with Candie and Pam.

Some of my favorite sayings of the season, are glittered and hanging from my tree.

This gift tag hangs from my mini tree.  I used scrapbook stickers of different fonts and styles to spell out words like "Believe" "winter" "Santa" "merry"  "snow".  They represent the gifts of the season.  I used to put this mini tree upstairs for the girls but this year it sits in an old urn and the girls each get a lighted pink tree for their rooms - so everybody wins!

Our elf Jasper watches

Jason LOVES this ornament and so do I.  He's a vintage '50s style Santa with crepe paper accordian legs and arms.  I bought him and my favorite decor store...Impromptu in San Marino.  One of the things I miss most about living in Pasadena is that store!

Okay this was my craft of the season.....

I made a wreath out of the pages of A Christmas Carol.  I saw a couple book wreaths on some other blogs and I thought I'd try my hand at my own.  There are a few things I would do different next time but overall I'm pleased with the outcome.  I love that it represents my favorite season and my love of both books and crafts.

The beloved gingerbread house!  The girls LOVE this decoration and so do I.  It doesn't really fit with a lot of my other decorations but I love it because they love it.  It's the only piece of a village I have and I would eventually like to get more.  I'm jealous of those of you who have the complete set up.

A view of my living room.

My metal egg basket filled with silver balls.

And of course some candles with glitter.  I rhinestoned the letters onto thecandles.  A bunch of cinnamon sticks tied with a glittery branch and some sugard hollyberries sit beneath the candles.

All Aboard the North Pole Express

So two years ago we started the tradition of taking the train to go see Santa Claus.  The last two years were in Fillmore but this year we tried the Irvine Park Railroad.  While the train itself was not as authentic the scenery was MUCH better!  We arrived in time to take some pictures in Christmas themed cutouts and hear a story from Mrs. Claus.  Then we got our tickets and boarded the Christmas Train to see Santa.  We traveled through a forest of colored Christmas lights and even went through a tiny snowstorm.  When we reached Santa we took pictures in his sleigh and got a chance to tell him what we want.  We assured him that we would leave cookies and he reminded us that chocolate chip was his favorite - good thing because I would have made sugar cookies.  We all wore pajamas just like in the Polar Express and in traditional Rupe fashion, we drove through Jack in the Box on our way home - because nothing says Christmas, Santa, and Magic like some curly fries and two tacos for 99 cents!

Fun on the Polar Express