'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.