Christmas in Shafferland

The year Ryan and I were married, all of our pre-wedding time was consumed with wedding details, and we had no time to even think about decorating for Christmas. When we came home from our honeymoon, we had something like 17 days to decorate, shop, and send cards. No pressure, right?

That year, we did a highly scaled back version of my normal Christmas extravaganza, but it was so sweet, and I still remember it with great joy. I remember one picture specifically. Ryan texted it to me in the wee hours one morning, just a couple of days before Christmas. He had gotten up early to wrap my gifts and put them under the tree, telling me to stay in bed a little longer. (No problem!) This picture felt like the first piece of absolute serenity that I'd seen in several weeks! 

It seems appropriate that this tenth anniversary year feels much like that wedding year! We have a little bit of chaos everywhere. The last few weeks have been packed full of visiting different churches for Love INC, taking on our first solo run with a major annual Love INC project, preparing for my upcoming start with my new job, traveling to Ohio for training, prepping for Lexi's first birthday, prepping for our 10th anniversary...it has been a whirlwind that has filled all of our days, every single day, leaving little time for luxuries.

Decorating?

HOW?

WHEN?

But I did manage to do it! I spent this past Saturday and Sunday putting up our decorations, and even though it's a different sort of version from what I normally do, it's cozy and pretty, and we love it.

Just like we did last year at WillowBridge, our living room holds two smaller flocked trees with white lights, and on those trees are all our sentimental ornaments. Ryan and I put them on the tree together. I read the stories of the ornaments while he placed them. Lexi and Braeya listened from their respective spots.

Here's the nighttime, football version:

I haven't hung the stockings because I don't have enough holders! The set I've owned for probably 15 years only had three holders, so I gave it away last year after Christmas. We need four now! I actually don't plan on hanging them this year because I'm afraid Lexi will pull them down and hurt herself with the holder. (I marked a freestanding stocking holder on my wish list to try to avoid this in the future.) So far, she seems to leave the trees and ornaments alone. Let's hope that continues!

Our kitchen isn't set up to hold a full sized tree, so I just put up some countertop decorations in there. (Our space between our cabinets and the ceiling is much lower than it was at any of our previous houses, so I didn't do any decorating up there.)

I love this little gingerbread-themed spot in the corner!

We have frames from every year of our marriage, and they hold a picture of us on Christmas Day for each of the years. I have them scattered around the house. A tour of my hair colors! 

I do love this little foyer table. Thought it turned out pretty sweet. 

My grandparents' family Bible...

The Holy Family my mom painted back in her ceramics days...

Also like I did at WillowBridge, I put our Christmas tree farm on our headboard. Here are the day and evening versions of that. :) I put some fairy lights on the trees for subtle coziness.

Our dining room doesn't really have room for a tree either. I probably could have forced one to fit if I had tried, but I ran out of time to do one more big tree. So I did a couple of smaller ones and added gingerbread ornaments. It's a quick job, but it works! (Seriously do not judge my decorating based on this corner. It's the worst one!)

I put a few little things in Lexi's room, just because:

And here are a few close-ups of random decor:

Each piece makes me smile because they all tell stories and hold important memories. 

It may not be a normal year, but it's still a good year, and I'm so glad to be sitting by the cozy lights already!