Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Yes, it's 2 in the morning on Christmas, and I'm up watching Super Nanny, listening to clothes dry and Braeya purr. I had a pretty lazy Christmas Eve - until the end of it! I went to our church's candlelight service and then watched Elf with one of my friends. And now - it's Christmas!

This is a longer than normal post for me, but I wanted to give you a little (big) tour of Christmas at my house...enjoy!

This is part of a beautiful long poinsettia and greenery piece that I got for a steal a few years ago at a Homemaker's Idea party. I bought a Christmas package of random stuff, and this was one of my treasures. Since I don't have a mantle, it sits on the top of the entertainment center.

And if you sent me a Christmas card this year...it went right in this little holder. I love looking through them...and counting them to see if I'm winning against Dad.

The stockings can't be hung by the chimney with care, since there is no chimney, but Kaegan and Braeya do have stuffed stockings - despite their lack of mouse-catching.

This is the main tree. I bought it last year - very skinny, I know, but my living room is small, so it fits it nicely. It has 600 lights and all the Victorian looking ornaments on it. This year's addition were the little cranberry and gold colored berry sprays at the top by the angel.

Went to a friend's house earlier this month and made two of these ornaments - and now I want to make dozens more. The other one I made is more of a rose color. Gorgeous.

Another Homemaker's Idea purchase - these little gold flowers that snap over a light. I keep some up year round in a couple of rooms.

I have several little gold instrument ornaments on the main tree. Breaks up the monotony of all the round ornaments.

Love these rose ornaments. I figure if I ever get married, I'll have to exchange the pretty flower tree for a sports tree, so I enjoy it while I can. :)

A few years ago, my sister gave me a set of these old fashioned looking ornaments - and they fit right in with the theme.

They're not quite brown paper packages tied up with strings, but here is the paper that goes with my "Favorite Things" Christmas theme for this year.

My stocking. Yep, it's empty. This is my original stocking - made for me when I was a baby. Even though there's no one to fill it up, I like having it out for the memories.

I had to do some tree swapping this year. In years past, this tree has been decorated in an Americana theme, but this year it became the home to my S'more ornament collection. Several years ago, I found my first S'more and decided I loved it. One of my friends surprised me that Christmas by bringing me a tiny tree with the start of my collection. Over the years, other friends/family/yours truly have added to it until it is too much for the original tiny tree. So this year the S'more collection moved into the dining room on this slightly bigger tree.

I got this S'more from my friend Amber - and she lives in Hong Kong now. :( I miss her but think of her every time I see it!

And this one (appropriately) from my best friend - who now lives in Virginia Beach. I love it that almost every S'more has a story with it - such great memories attached!

The original S'more tree found new life in the office as the tree for the hodge-podge ornaments. This collection includes ornaments that survived my childhood and a few random additions from more recent years.

Two ceramic Santas - I painted the one on top, and Mom painted the one below. (As if you couldn't tell.) For several years, when I was in elementary school, Mom painted ceramics and would sometimes take me with her. I made several gifts in those years! In fact, this Santa that I painted was a gift for my grandparents. After their deaths, it was given back to me, and now I can enjoy remembering them when I see it!

Throughout high school and college, I babysat for a living. This ornament was a gift from one of the families I sat for regularly.

And of course - baby's first Christmas!

This had been the tree for the hodge-podge ornaments, and that's why it had the colored lights. (They remind me of the trees of my childhood.) This year it took on new life in the kitchen with some fake retro ornaments. This tree needs some work. Hopefully I can hit some after-Christmas sales to spice it right up.

See? Fake retro ornament. I got a whole box of them on an after-Christmas sale a couple of years ago and hadn't had a place to use them until now.

This is a new tree this year and it's pathetically Charlie Brownish. I need to add to it. This is the bathroom tree. I wanted it to be white and silver, because most of the decor in the bathroom is in the blue/purple/cool colors feel.

Also in the bathroom - this super cute candle ring I found for next to nothing at the Hobby Lobby earlier this year.

Love this snowman my friend Kari gave me for Christmas last year. He is in the bathroom too and just completes the look.

This is up in my bedroom and is one of my favorites. The nativity is another of Mom's ceramic creations, and the Bible was my grandparents' Bible.

I always keep it open to Luke 2 during the Christmas season.

The bedroom tree - which I have LOVED waking up to each morning. My bedroom, as you can see, is purple, so this has a blue/purple/gold theme. This year i added the purple sparklies at the top and they look so beautiful with the light reflecting...

Did I mention the purple sparklies???

Love the big gold ornaments. I found those for a super good price at a tent sale down at the Gaither store a few years back.

This is a candle holder that I fill with tiny ornaments

My other bathroom is very tiny - so this tree doesn't even have lights. It needs work too. Until this year it had red bows on it, but I wanted to go with a snow theme. I need more snow.

The guest room tree. Mom made this too - it used to be my great grandma's tree in her nursing home room. I like it because it works for a night light - and the decorations in the guest room are mostly things I inherited.

Some angels I've acquired over the years...

Another thing I inherited from Grandma - some little skating figurines...

An ornament I still have from fifth grade. My teacher, Mrs. Bryan, had an ornament for every student, and until Christmas break, they dangled from the ceiling tiles. On the last day of school, she took them down and gave them to us and I still display mine every year.

The quilt rack int he guest room - the "earthy" look. :)

Hope you have a merry Christmas!