I’ll be honest with you, I’ve hesitated about doing this post for a while now.  I am not a decorator, nor do I pretend to be.  I don’t know what to do or how to do it.  I can copy what someone else has done, but when I go to copy it, I have a super incredible really hard time spending the money to do it.

Case in point: my husband built the bookshelves and fireplace mantle you’ll see in these pictures in August when he was home for vacation.  In August.  Most of the shelves are still bare.  I just really don’t know what to put on them.

But, in the spirit of the Yule, and in hoping that after I hit the after Christmas mega sales on decorating items, this will bring you a little bit of joy and maybe provide me with a “look how much I improved since last year” post next year.  :)

This is my front door.  I made this wreath in this post.

This my tree.  I have a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old, so every ornament on the bottom 3-feet of the tree are plastic, and most of them have been taken down and moved or whatever.  When my children are old enough to comprehend that touching the tree isn’t worth the punishment (heh) I intend to find a theme and lavishly decorate the tree.  In the meantime, I’m good with no beads or tinsel or extra lights that little hands can grab and use to pull the whole thing over.

Here is a full view of my shelves and mantle.

On the top, I just placed holly and pine cones and some poinsettia flowers.  Scattered throughout are little Christmas knickknacks.

I have a nativity scene on one of the shelves.

On the shelf where the television sits is my Town of Bethlehem, with the nativity within that set on top of the television.

You’ll notice the cat and dog have stockings.  My husband and daughter are quite insistent that they get stockings, too.

I wrapped my banister with poinsettias.

The boys’ bookshelf has a candy cane boot.  I learned that this year, Scott can reach it, and that Jeb is quite clever in working out how to reach it.  So, since taking this picture, the boot is empty.  When they can have a candy cane, I’ll put a couple in the boot and tell them to go get one.

This is the top of my desk and another nativity scene, and a candy cane jar that they can’t reach…yet.  I’m sure they’re working on devising a way to make that happen.

I tape Christmas cards around the archway here.

I love this thing.  It’s supposed to hold Christmas cards, but we get so many that I just hang it up empty.

This is the tree in Kaylee’s room.  She begged and begged for a pink Christmas tree.  Then she babysat for me for 3 nights in a row for different reasons, kind of unheard of in my house, and while out Christmas shopping, I bought the tree to thank her for helping me so much while my husband is in Afghanistan.

This is my kitchen table.  I have a plaid runner and a little candle centerpiece thingie.

This is the runner on my dining room table.  I love this thing.  I bought it after Christmas last year.  Because the colors are not “traditional” Christmas, I don’t have my big poinsettia centerpiece on the table I normally would have there.  I want to do a very special Christmas centerpiece, and intended to make something this year, but I lost the whole first week of December this year when the flu hit my house, so it will have to wait until next year.

I hope you enjoyed this small tour.  Hopefully, as the years pass, it will have much more detail and ideas for you.  But, honestly, I’m way more comfortable showing you how to decorate a Santa cupcake than letting you see the Santas sitting on my bare shelves.  :)

Hallee

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