O Christmas Tree

Just like it was at Halloween, the majority of our Christmas decorations are in the living room. We do have nutcrackers on the mantle in the family room, along with a small tree, but most of the action is upstairs. To start with, here's our tree and closeups of a couple ornaments (and yes, that is a ruffled, red lamé tree skirt - I know the magpie in you is jealous):


My personal preference is to stuff the tree full of lights and ornaments. That's how my mom's tree always was, so it's how my tree is now too. Several ornaments were from my childhood (including the trio of Santas climbing up the rope) but most I've picked up since I've gotten married and, more specifically, since Charlotte was born. Isn't that photo of her chubby face the cutest? That was her first ornament. In the same photo is her ornament for this year - a Lego Darth Vader. We always try to pick a new ornament that is indicative of the year, and this year was nothing if not filled with Legos and Star Wars.


Opposite the tree, over the couch, is a wall of snowflakes. Charlotte, Mark and I all spent time cutting up coffee filters to see what different patterns we could make. There are a couple repeats (the beauty of coffee filters is that they're thin enough that you can cut two at once), but most are different. I'm a little bit of a perfectionist (understatement of the year) so only my patterns made it on to the wall. Mark's and Charlottes are for playing with. :)


The hutch has a few different Christmas knick-knacks and is home to our glittery Christmas village. Charlotte is really into the bottlebrush trees and loves to rearrange them! They were a great find at just $6 for all of them (except the big one in the center). Gotta love Big Lots! And below is a shot of the whole room. Overall the space is full of color and cheer, just how I like it!