Christmas Decorations

I love decorating for Christmas. 

No.... I REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE decorating for Christmas. 

You can just call me Mrs.Clause! 

I typically start decorating around the first of NOVEMBER! 

I know that may sound crazy but I don't see the point and putting up so many decoration just to enjoy them for only a few weeks. 

We do save the outdoor decorations for after Thanksgiving though. 

I thought I would share some of the decorations that I put out this year. 

Tim brought this adorable advent calendar back from Germany. Each door has a piece of chocolate behind it   and I wrapped each chocolate with a piece of paper that has what our activity for the next night (we open them on the night before so we don't have the kids eating chocolate in the morning) on it. 

Of course the German chocolate isn't safe for Rascal and his nut allergy so we give him and Baby A a Hershey kiss every night. 

This is the cute little smoker man that Tim brought me back from Germany. This is a very common decoration there from what he was told. 

His top half comes off and you light an incense cone, then set the top back on it and the smoke comes out his mouth. He had a solid white beard when I got him but it is stained from the smoke now :) 

Yesterday you saw our real tree all decorated in our dining room. 

This is the second tree (fake) we have up. 

It's new and I LOVE IT!!! It's much smaller than my previous tree but it is so simple to put together. 

Last year I used the decor mesh on our tree but this year it covered up too much of the new tree. I didn't  really like it very much. I thought about changing it all up and going with a rustic themed tree but in the end just used what I had. 

Here's my mantle. It's probably my least favorite for many reasons. One.....I need some new garland. The stuff I have up there is thin and on it's last leg. Two..... I HATE my TV above my fireplace. That leaves me little to no space to decorate and like I said before I LOVE to decorate. Mantels can be the most fun to decorate but not this one. The past few years I have snagged up some 99 cent poinsettias at the hardware store on Black Friday. I can manage to keep them alive and they add just a little color here and there in my house. 

I have my Willow Tree nativity set up on the entryway table. I usually just set it out on the table but this time I decided to add some burlap underneath. I am so glad I did that. I think it adds so much. 

I also added one of the poinsettias this year and I like it a lot! 

This table used to be in Baby A's nursery. Since she has her big girl furniture now I put this table in my entryway. This "vase" is actually an old empty dishwasher tab container. I hot glued some twine around it added a simple red ribbon and then filled it with some sticks and berries I had around the house. 

The grapevine reindeer went perfect with it. This greets everyone as they come into our house. 

Well maybe I should say that this greets everyone as they come into our house! I had so much decor mesh since I wasn't using it on the tree. I thought about using it outside but changed my mind and added it to my staircase instead. I know it's a big impact as you walk in my front door but I absolutely love it. 

Here is a up close of the decorations I stuck in the decor mesh. It may seem like a small addition but it helped add the finishing touches to it. 

My front door is pretty plain. 

I may change that up next year but ran out of time and energy this year. 

This decor mesh wreath is HUGE! I made it last year and the only place I can really put it is on the wall in the entry way. It's up high so that makes it look a little smaller I think. 

So that is about it. Of course there are nick knacks here and there all over the house but these are the main decorations.

We have spent a lot of time watching Santa feed the reindeer on the reindeer cam. If you haven't gone and checked it out YOU MUST! It is so neat and even though my kids don' t believe in Santa and know he is fake they still love watching the reindeer. 

Here is the LINK (<<<<<<<CLICK THERE)