It’s my favorite time of year! After months of planning for our homes holiday decor, everything begins to come together the day after Thanksgiving. Instead of Black Friday shopping, we spend the day eating leftovers and getting the house Christmas ready.
This year’s theme emerged from two coordinating paintings Maurice and I created at a painting event. The paintings depicted a wintery scene. I decided to carry out the theme in our holiday decorations.
This year we purchased our natural Christmas tree at Stew Leonard’s. Aside from buying the ribbon for the Christmas tree and a couple of embellishments all the other ornaments and decorations I already had in storage.
At Micheals, I picked up a beautiful ribbon that tied in with the colors on the paintings. Last season during an after Christmas sale I purchased clear shatterproof plastic ornament balls. I wanted to keep them simple so I just filled them with fake snow. I added beautiful little white owls I had from a few years ago. I covered pine cones, that I used in last years decorations, with some fake snow. On the bottom of our tree, I noticed a bare area missing some braches. I decide to add a little surprise and make it into a nest that represented our family.
Our Christmas village expands by one new addition each year. My husband loves the St. Nicholas Square collection from Kohl’s. Part of the village took center stage on the buffet to tie it together to the painting that was on the wall above.
My boys always need a special place that they can get to decorate. I bought them a small fake tree and they were able to put all their special ornaments. I found a Melissa & Doug nativity set for them to play with as they learn the real story of Christmas. I added a basket of holiday books so they can sit and read with their holiday teddy bears.
My favorite part of our house this year is the hot cocoa and cookie bar in my kitchen. Having hot cocoa and cookies readily available is a must because every day during the month of December we are celebrating. I bake almost every other day to keep the cookie jar stocked. My boys are loving it, but they only get to eat this much sugar during this time of year. January first everything will be cleared out and I will be hitting the gym.
The Christmas season is much more than all the decorations, it’s about spending time with family and reflecting on the birth of Jesus. My boys love to help with all the baking. It gets messy but it is all worth it. We got snowed in on a Saturday and took the time to build and decorate miniature gingerbread houses. Every Friday night we watch a Christmas movie together. Because the boys are young most of the movies are new to them. Their favorite so far is the “Polar Express.” My favorite time together is at bedtime, Maurice reads a bible story. We follow an advent plan that goes together with The Jesus Story Book Bible.
I would love to hear about your Christmas decorations? Please share in the comments section.