Welcome Christmas!! Welcome Christmas!!

I've got the "Who-ville" song in my head because we just watched the classic Grinch movie. I'm still trying to figure out why the girls aren't all so impressed like I am with it. *sigh*

It's all up and sparkling like it should. Christmas is all over the house and the girls are all wide-eyed in amazement. They've never seen brightness like this before and I'll admit, it's not even that much decoration. But still...

Take a peak at our mantel. I was really excited to have a real mantel this year to decorate. Our first Christmas, I pretty much had a little shelf I bought at a yard sale for fifty cents...and it's actually up in our house now. You'll see it in a bit.

The bear stockings were mine and my brothers when we were little. My Moma passed them on to me and now they are my girls. I love tradition.

I've heard the phrase, "Less is more," a lot these days and it can be applied to pretty much anything you want to apply it to. So, when I started looking at my box of decorations, I was saying that over and over and also realizing that we really don't have an enormous collection of decorations yet. This was pretty easy for me to work with. I started wondering what I could pull from other areas of the house to use in holiday fashion. That's when my "ah-HAH!" idea hit me.  I had these bottles below sitting on the shelf above our computer desk. They were originally empty and boring...

I loved the height of them and knew that I wanted them on the  mantel...but they were still boring. My "ah-HAH!" moment #2 -  fill them with colored water!!!

Don't they look pretty?

My husband asked me why only two of them were filled...my answer to him was,

"What other color do you propose I fill the third bottle with dear?"

Anyhoo...

Here are some other areas of the house that caught the seasonal bug.

"Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree!!

Oh how I loved your pricing!!"

I adore classically decorated trees...a hodgepodge of old and new ornaments make for an interesting site.

Ah hem hem....sorry. Our tree is real really looking like a real tree. *smile* It would be nice to be able to fork out fifty to eighty dollars on a gorgeous tree that would only die in 2-3 weeks, but let's be sensible. I've got LOTS of diapers to buy and those trees aren't growing money. So Mike did his research on trees. Read reviews on different styles and models that were out this year and we hit the road running...to the store that is. Home Depot here we come!!!

BUT...no luck there! It's times like this I'm actually thankful that we have two home improvement stores right across the street from each other. I used to hate that. So....LOWES here we come!!! Can you believe that we found a 7 foot tree that was on clearance for $78? Me either!! And to top that, we got 10% off because Mike's Active Duty. AWE-some!!! That's a lot better than $100-120.

Moving on...

Here is that shelf I was telling you about. It hangs in my dining room . I definitely followed the "less is more" thing with the is area. Just a bit of flair..that's enough.

I added a little bit to this dresser that we have in the living room. It was moved under the window when we rearranged the living room to accommodate our fireplace use. Nothing fancy. My homemade treat jar (sadly with no treats because I'll eat them all ), a snow globe from Mike's collection, a snowman candle and snowman plush toy from my cheerleader days (I feel the age creeping up on me).

Here is my Christmas card holder. I made it last week and I am totally LOVING it!! It took me only 2 hours 15 minutes to make...the girls helped *wink wink* It has more cards on it now though...it looks sad and lonely with only one.

And finally, our table. I added some ornaments in with the pinecones I collected and placed them in the hurricane glass. Along with the mirror from my dresser and some little votive candles, I think it looks quite festive. The white piece under the glass was made by my Nana when Mike and I got married and the green piece is part of the curtain accents I was working on. 

That is it. Our Christmas.

And...with all of this Christmas cheer up all over the house...fall seems to still linger in one area. The one area I forgot to look at. The pumpkin frame. It's still hanging up and everyday when Mike comes home, he reminds me that its up. "I cant reach it," is my excuse. *smile* We'll see how long it stays up there.

What does your house look like this Christmas?

Liked to Homemade Christmas, Weekend Wrap UP Party,  The 2010 Christmas Tour, Show Us Your Life Christmas Tour and at The Pleated Poppy