Christmas Home Tour

I really wanted to get this post up before Christmas, but it just didn't happen this year! However, I tend to leave my decorations up at least until after New Years, so it still counts, right?

This year, we kept our Christmas decorations really simple. And oddly enough, I think it's been my favorite year yet! 

One of my favorite "decorations" was this tray that is on our coffee table. I picked up the sparkly pinecones last year at an after-Christmas sale, and the milk-glass is from a thrift store. The mercury glass votives were my one "extravagant" purchase this year (they were $1.50 each at Target!). 

This year, we used both silver and gold ornaments on our tree. I love how it turned out! I have done silver only and gold only in the past, but together they are even more marvelous. 

Our tree this year was fake, but I loved not having to untangle lights (pre-lit!) and vacuum up pine needles all through the holidays. 

Here's the tree in natural light (don't we all look better in natural light?). Ain't she purdy? 

My green glass trees are sitting atop the record player, with some festive berries snuggled underneath. 

Our dining room table was kept simple with some fresh pine boughs, a big candle and some pinecones. 

I love this handmade "Noel" sign that we inherited from Josh's parents. It adds just the right amount of kitschy-ness I think! 

 

And here it is, the one and only project that I undertook this year for Christmas decor. It's a bottle brush tree in a Ball jar! Tutorial to come... (just kidding). 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We sure did, even with a cranky, teething baby. Evie's first Christmas will definitely be remembered for years to come! Happy New Year! 

Christmas is Still Happening Here!

It's sometimes hard to believe that Christmas preparations still happen, even when there is no blog post to prove it, so I've pulled together a few photos from my phone for posterity.

We did go out to the Christmas tree farm with my parents to cut down their tree, see? Evie even came with us, all snuggled up on her daddy's chest in the baby bjorn.

We attempted a family portrait. 

We attempted another family portrait. 

We managed to pull the tree on a sled to our car, and it only fell off 5 times! 

Then Josh and I went home and set up our fake, pre-lit tree (which I find myself loving even more since we had an 11-foot-tall real tree last year!)

You may have noticed in the background one of our recent projects- we covered up the railing in the living room with some board-and-batten. It started out as a child-proofing project, but of course we had to make it pretty! I will probably do a before-and-after post at some point, but here's another angle of it. I love it!

I even managed to do some decorating besides the tree. I love this musical tray that I made last year, and it fit perfectly with some new tealight holders from Target, and sparkly pinecones.

I must have sparkly pinecones in my Christmas decor. 

I'm even getting festive myself and wearing a red hat + red lipstick most days. It's amazing how a quick swipe of apple-red lipstick can make even a new mom feel pulled together. 

This year, Christmas is so different and wonderful. Evie is still too little to truly understand the wonderfulness of Christmas, but I'm enjoying nonetheless watching her experience it for the first time. From her wide-eyed gazes at the Christmas tree to her unhappy response to a santa hat, it's truly a joy to behold.