Gearing Up!

Hey yall! I don't know about you, but with it being November 8th and all I'm starting to think about Christmas and how quickly it is approaching....and quite honestly, it's starting to give me heart palpitations and constipation. 😓 I'm not going to sugar coat it yall, I come from a family of Christmas Fanatics. I fit right in with the craziest of them, but my favorite time of year has a tendency to overwhelm the poo out of me....or, it makes me so uptight that it doesn't🙅. With the realization of all of the work that has to be done after November 23rd I decided that I would peruse some old photographs to gear up for my favorite time of year and come up with a game plan.

When I say that I decorate for Christmas, I mean I DECORATE for Christmas. Every room tends to get a splash of Christmas. I LOVE it, even if it is a ton of work. Enjoy looking through, but please forgive my TERRIBLE lighting and photography skills. 

 I love decorating this shelf that is in my kitchen breakfast nook. It displays some of my cute Christmas dishes while keeping them within close reach for serving during the holidays. 

You have to have a manger display! Because if you didn't know..... we don't celebrate Christmas for Santa Clause, but instead for the birth of Christ Jesus. Remind me in January that improving my  photography skills is on the list of New Year Goals! Sorry yall!

 This mantle picture is from several years ago. Fairly simple. I have loved our Pottery Barn stockings ever since I purchased mine and Ty's 9 years ago and have since added each boys' stocking as they've come along. They are probably one of my most treasured Christmas decorations. 

This was last year's mantle. I really liked it. I used these cool little tinsel collapsible trees (these are similar) that I found at Target on sale the year before, some ice-looking garland, lights, and you can't see them because the picture is dark, but there are some little faux cedar trees up there too, and of course, my Pottery Barn stockings. I really liked how it turned out. 

 I always love decorating the dining room during Christmas. We don't use our dining room that often throughout the year, but we use it alot during the holiday season. 

 

 I even switch out my dishes for Christmas. I have a dish obsession! I used this beautiful red set here, but this year I am going to use my gold, Greek-key china. My dining room looks nothing like this now....I'll show you later so come back!

This was last year's Christmas as I was setting up Sloan's nursery. Even though he wasn't here yet, his room still got a few Christmas touches. 

Here is what my bedding looked like last year. I still love the red buffalo check and I'm already planning on using it again this year. 

 Forgive my wires, but I found this little tree at a garage sale for $1. After getting it home, I quickly realized the reason that it was only a dollar. It was one of those old-type-trees that you hook each branch into a center pole....even though it was only a 4 foot tree, it was sent straight from Satan! I had cuts all over my arms and hands and puncture holes in my fingers from this dang tree! I put it in the tall planter and stabilized it with an old sheet and then put some pretty fabric around the top to conceal the sheet. It was really cute in real life, but after Christmas was over I put that $1-Devil-tree straight in the trash!

This is our "Sentimental Tree." All of our special ornaments from through the years and inherited ornaments from my husband's grandmother don the branches. We always put this tree up in our office window. This picture was taken our first Christmas in our house. It will look quite a bit different this year. 

 My house today looks way different than it does in this picture. We don't have those barstools anymore, but some of my favorite things are shown here. I always buy or make our family an ornament that represents our year and display it on the ornament hanger. The picture on the right is a Pinterest inspired project that I did with Ryder's little feet that year. We made a tree out of them his first Christmas. I am excited to do something similar this year with Sloan. That Santa Clause picture still makes me smile. I always hang it here. Its rather large, but it fits in this space perfectly.

This is our entry way. It looks totally different now, too. We had pretty snow the year I took these pictures. Maybe we will have a white Christmas this year too! I always put this little black tree here because it fits there perfectly. I found the tree at Hobby Lobby several years ago. They still have these, I believe. 

I love to decorate in traditional reds and greens. I've tried to BRANCH out, but I have a hard time. BRANCH out! Get it?!?!? 😂

 This is the big tree in our living room. As I said, I am a traditionalist whenever it comes to decorating for Christmas. I tend to stick with reds and greens. I have a new tree this year that I'm excited to get out. The lights went out on this tree, (you can see some of the burnt out bulbs in the picture) 😂 so I got one on clearance last year after Christmas. I hope all the lights work!!! 😐

Well, I am trying not to have increasing anxiety as I look at these pictures from Christmases past. There is much to do and I've already started doing a few things to get my house Christmas ready. I plan on showing you a few of these simple tips in a few days that will hopefully help you to prepare for the fast approaching decorating madness.

~Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. If you like what you see, feel free to share on Facebook and Pinterest.~


                                                                              XOXO,
                                                                             Danielle