Decking Our Halls!!

I'm afraid I'm going to get so busy telling you about our anniversary that I'm going to forget to tell you about decking our halls this year!

Confession: wasn't feeling it this year, and here's why. I have backed off telling you guys about our house drama, because I think some of you might have been a little sick of hearing about it. Trust me: not half as sick as we are of talking about it! Recap: We signed an offer on Ryan's Greentown house on JULY 22 and it has STILL not closed. The lenders and underwriters are still taking their sweet time, which is anything but sweet to the rest of us. We got a call from our realtor earlier this week saying we could still close by Friday, but at this point the loan STILL isn't approved. Maddening doesn't even begin to cover it. If you prayer warriors out there want to step it up with us and beg God to remove whatever obstacle has been in the path for almost five months, we welcome you to join us.

Praying about that house and holding our breath and waiting every single day for good news has literally sapped all the life out of us. We are becoming old before our very eyes. And I was too exhausted to even think about taking stuff out of the attic and decorating the house.

And this is where teamwork rocks. Ryan had to work the day after Thanksgiving, so while I was home moping about the house drama and my lack of desire to decorate, he was busy bringing home the bacon. And when he came home, bacon in hand, my knight in shining Christmas hat marched himself into the attic and retrieved all the tubs...and suddenly, my Christmas spirit returned! With his help, we were able to knock out the decorating!

Of course...Braeya helped.

And then she was done.

A little tree in the dining room - with some gingerbread ornaments on it...

Of course, the mistletoe:

And some teamwork:

All that, plus a whole lot more, led to some of these sights that just make my heart happy:

In a rare moment of outside the box thinking {or is this technically INSIDE the box thinking???} I repurposed my recently acquired Barnwood Tray into a stable for my little nativity. This may have been my favorite new thing this year. 

And I still love seeing this name on a stocking in the house I live in. In the background, the tiny wooden tree Ryan's mom gave us shortly after we were married. It stays out year round.

 Ryan gave me a cloche jar for Easter...and I decided to fill it with round ornaments this year. Love it!

 Some more clearance gingerbread items I found on a 90% off sale after Christmas last year. Love them!

 Living room tree is back to blue and gold this year: the colors that were prominent at our wedding.

 My goal: to have a picture frame for every Christmas with our "official" Christmas photo in it. This was a gift from my friend Amy last year. She sparked a tradition!!

 The lights don't stay on this tree very well, so I put them UNDER the tree.

 Another favorite this year: our first two Christmas cards, framed, the rose Ryan gave me when he proposed, the "S" he gave me for Valentine's Day this year, and the Kesot family Bible; I inherited it from my grandparents. It's open to Luke 2. {It's also the Bible in the photo on the front of my Advent book.}

 Ryan's Colts tree - in his bathroom!

There you have it! Shafferland is ready to go for Christmas 2014!!!!