It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Well, not quite like Christmas down here in FL.  But in our house, yes it is starting to look like Christmas.   I didn’t go too crazy, but I do seem to accumulate more stuff as the years go by. So without further ado, it’s time to get our Christmas decorating on.  As you know we already have the tree…

live decorated xmas tree

Look at that happy little tree.  You know I can’t stop there!  The rest of the house needed a little Christmas love as well.  What better place to start then the mantel…

christmas mantel DIY

First up, the stockings!

christmas stocking on mantel

My mom sent these last year filled with all sorts of things for Justin and I(yes, we still get our stockings filled!).  These two became my new favorite stockings, so last years have been retired.   I also picked up a couple little reindeer from Hobby Lobby to hang out on this good ol’ mantel…

christmas mantel

It also got a bunch of candles and a cute little Christmas tree.  And did you notice that awesome new pillow hanging out in the basket?

monogramed christmas pillow

My aunt Kim sent this sweet monogrammed little pillow to us for Christmas.  Don’t you just love it?  Thanks Kim!

I also grabbed my glass hurricane that I used to decorate for Thanksgiving…

Fall decorations 3

And I used that sucker to decorate for Christmas too !  Versatility rocks yo!

DIY christmas home decor

This time I used a white pillar candle and just strung some red beaded garland around it.  I just threw it together and yup, love it…

xmas home decor

Some more reindeer joined the hurricane on the console.

christmas home decor

And a snowman to boot!

Next up I headed to the kitchen and plopped down our Christmas table settings that Justin’s mom picked up for us last year.  Along with a cute little centerpiece that we got to take home from Justin’s Work Christmas party this year! Love it!

xmas table decor

And do you see those berries in the background niche?  Oh yes I stole that idea from my Thanksgiving decor as well, remember these?

Fall Decorating

Well they got filled with beans this time, and I picked up some sticks with berries attached from Hobby Lobby and came up with this…

christmas home decor DIY

I dig it.

christmas table decor

I also added a gingerbread man…

xmas home decor gingerbread man

And snowman soap dispenser, gotta have one of those…

christmas snowman soap dispenser

Here’s some more Christmas decor and our massive Christmas card collection, yes that’s all of them!

xmas home decor

I made these pine cones a couple years back, just picked them up outside and spray painted them white and red.

christmas home decor DIY pinecones

Holdiday plates?  got those too.  And a handsome yellow lab.

christmas home decor

And of course some santa napkins…

santa humor napkins

Lastly we headed outside to get festive.  Justin tackled the front yard…

photo 3

Aren’t those globe lights in the tree just dreamy?

outdoor xmas lights on oak tree

I think it’s my favorite part!  We got them from Lowe’s if you’re interested.

christmas light supples

And last but not least, the palm tree on our back patio received a make over…

christmas lights potted tree

There you have it, our house for the holidays.  Hope you all have a rockin Christmas!
christmas photo

Oh Christmas Tree!

As you may have guessed this post is going to be all about our fancy schmancy Christmas tree.  I am a pretty big fan of Christmas, so you better believe we picked out our tree the day after Thanksgiving.  And now you know how long it really took me to write this post since Thanksgiving is long gone.

We were pretty jazzed to get our tree, since this is our first Christmas in this house!  We couldn’t wait to get festive and how about start with the tree?  Amiright?  The last two years we have had an artificial tree, but this year we decided to get a little wild and get a real live Christmas tree.  We’re living on the edge people!  Since it was black Friday we checked out the ads in the paper and we saw that Lowe’s was selling an 8 foot for $40, so of course we headed to Lowe’s.  We went with an 8 foot tree because at the lowest point in our living room the ceiling is 9 feet tall.  We were figuring we would put the tree in the corner of the room, where the ceiling is lowest, so 8 foot seemed appropriate.   Here is our pretty little tree in all packed up in my car…

christmas tree in SUV

Isn’t she pretty?  We also had to pick up a tree stand and a couple more strands of lights.  We always go with white lights, I think we both agree that we like the simple classic look of white Christmas lights.

prepping live xmas tree

Then we propped her in her new stand and I cut the netting off…

netting on live xmas tree

Look at that pretty little tree!  Here is the tree skirt that I made last year…

homemade christmas tree skirt

Last year I was looking for a tree skirt and everything I liked was around $40 and I was not interested in spending that much on a simple piece of fabric to go around the bottom of a tree, so I grabbed some fabric for about $6, cut it into a circle, hemmed the edges and voila… tree skirt.

Next up were the lights…

live christmas tree with lights

And then I added a red beaded garland…

live xmas tree with lights and red bead garland

Then came the ornaments, my favorite part.

live christmas tree decorated

and all lit up again…

live decorated xmas tree

While I’m at it I figured I would share some of my favorite ornaments.  Because I am sure this is intriguing stuff to you as well!

yellow lab christmas ornament

I guess I’ll start with this little bottle brush yellow lab, of course a yellow lab!

sabres christmas ornament

We also have 4 of these Sabres hockey pucks. Gotta represent Buffalo down here in FL!

white bird christmas ornament

Cute little bird in the tree also!

peace xmas ornament

Love this peace ornament from my mom back in 2011!

portrait christmas ornament

She also got this one for Justin and I a while back, complete with our mugs right on it!

baby bootie christmas ornament

How about we get a little sentimental with Justin’s little baby booties ornament!

And I thought I would also show you some of my favorite homemade ornaments…

homemade wood christmas ornament

I made this guy last year out of a portion of a Christmas tree trunk.

homemade christmas dog ornament

homemade christmas dog ornament

I painted these two a couple years ago.  Did you know that I like my pups?

homemade lightbulb christmas ornament

I also made a bunch of these guys a while back out of light bulbs, small branches, paint and some fabric.

And that’s that.  I love our first real live Christmas tree.  Makes it feel like home.  And how about a handsome dog in front of a pretty tree?

yellow lab in front of christmas tree

Okay one more!

photo 1

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Eat, Drink and Be Scary!

Happy Halloween folks, well almost.  I wanted to show you all how we celebrate aka decorate for Halloween around here.  I did my usual decorating for Halloween this year, but now I had a new house to decorate.  Here is how I did it…

ggg7

I started with this cute little home sweet home sign.  I wasn’t sure where to put it, since it use to hang on a wall in out apartment I tried to find a good place to put it in our house, but I didn’t want to make any new holes just for a month or two.  So it ended up here…

ggg8

Hanging on our pantry.

Here is the table in our kitchen…

gggggggg

Like my pretty hydrangeas?

ggggggggg

ggg9

I also broke out our spider web basket where our fruit resides for this holiday.  I think this is my favorite Halloween decoration.

ggg99

Here is the other side of our counter, complete with a little scarecrow man on the shelf and a pumpkin filled with candy…

ggg999

Next up I got out my Halloween napkins…

ggg9999

and also my pumpkin salt and pepper shakers….

ggg99999

Yup, I have those too!

Oh and if you’re wondering if I have a pumpkin soap dispenser. Well, you would be in luck…

ggg999999

ggg9999999

Here is a closer look at my awesome fall plate where we throw our keys…

ggg99999999

Yup, those are cats and dogs holding pumpkins, definitely my jam.

and the whole kitchen…

ggggg1

And here’s that awesome little pumpkin again…

gggg5

Still hanging on the mantle.

 

gggg8

And my two pumpkins on the tv console…

gggg1

gggg2

I am beginning to think I may have a little pumpkin obsession.  Here’s a couple non pumpkin decorations…

gggg9

gggg99

And to get back to the pumpkins…

I have a couple pumpkin pillows.

gggg999

Oh and hey here’s another pumpkin…

gggg999999And my other end table looks like this…

ggggggg

This is my favorite pumpkin of them all!

I also have a couple more spiders outside in the patio…

gggg9999999

and a cute little owl…

ggggg5

Oh wait… he glows.

ggggggggggggg

And lastly I’ll take you out front…

For the front I just threw some gourds in a lantern and bought a couple pumpkins, that will eventually get carved.

gggggggggg

hh999999999

Here it is…

gggggggggggg

Thanks for reading my long crazy post about lots of pumpkins and a few spiders.