It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I was processing this all and my reasoning is that this holiday represents everything that I am: faith, happiness and family. So this time of year – I go all out.

Yes, I am one of those who decorates way ahead of the day after Thanksgiving, but this year we had a little mishap. We have a Texas basement (walk-in attic) that stores all of our Christmas decor. One of our toddlers shoved something in the lock. My husband had to do some unscrewing – but we finally got into the Christmas stuff last week and this weekend, I spent dressing the house up as Christmas. While I like to add Christmas to every room of the house with a little Christmas here and there, so far I’ve only made it thru the downstairs.

Here’s a little Christmas home tour. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s home.

Gigantic Christmas Tree

Last year for my birthday, I asked for a Christmas tree. It was obnoxious, but my justification was that:

1. I was asking for a CHRISTMAS TREE for my birthday. Who asks for a Christmas tree for their birthday?

2. Our 10-year-old tree had finally bit the dust.

3. This room needed this tree.

See, we have this awesome room with 15 foot ceilings. It has massive windows which face the front of the house. I remember when we were house shopping – I walked into this home and declared our front room as the Christmas room. 2 years later, yes it is just that. The problem is trying to decorate a gigantic tree is quite comical. So while the tree is gorgeous, making this a decorated gorgeous tree isn’t happening.

I secretly hope to find a live Christmas tree for cheap to squeeze in the family room (good thing my husband doesn’t read my blog regularly!). I love the smell, so until then I’ll use a candle that smells like live Christmas tree.

Lighted Garland on the Stairs

Our stairs are in the front entry and I love this garland. Last year the lights quit, I just rewrapped the garland in standard lights and unless you eyeball it closely,  you’d never know.

Side note: Did you see Ted? Yes, he is back and now lives on the stairs most of the time – because this bear is 59 inches tall and takes up half of our sectional.

Family Room

The family room is magic at night. I love to sit in here and take in the lights. When it’s not Christmas, this room feels to bare – more reason to decorate early.

Nothing fancy here on the fireplace mantle, but I do have to point out the stockings you can barely see. Last year, after years of hinting (years, as in 16 years) – my Mother-in-Law handed each person in our family a gift box. In each was a personalized stocking she had made. She is a great gift giver, but this one took the cake!

Kitchen

This is our kitchen dining nook and the photo does NO justice!

I had painted an accent wall in the dining nook with chalkboard paint a while back. Typically the kids have this graffiti’d with some kind of chalk art. Wanting something Christmasy for this gigantic wall, I made a wall tree out of lights and green tape and red shiny garland (see last year’s felt Christmas wall tree).

Christmas Mood

To complete the Christmas feel – as soon as the decorations go up, Christmas music plays on the SONOS and I change out my scents. I am very seasonal with my home scents.The pumpkin smells go away and I add in the aroma of Christmas.  I love Glade Sparkling Spruce, which I can just drop into my wax melter. Every week on my grocery shopping trip, I pick up a new Christmasy smell.

With 3 boys, it helps the house smell less kid-ish. Hey us moms need to take whatever we can get! No clean floors, toys everywhere, dishes piled in the sink, mountains of laundry – but at least there are Christmas decorations up and it #smellsclean – which I consider a mom win. 

There’s a quick Christmas house tour of where we are so far!

Merry Christmas Y’all!