It's December!

It's December!

I almost skipped right over Thanksgiving this year.  I started putting up my Christmas decorations on Monday of last week and it wasn't even December yet.  We had an entire week off for Thanksgiving break, and I decided to get a head start on putting up the tree.  Sometimes the decorating feels like a pain, but it didn't this year. The only part I don't like is dragging all of the boxes down from the attic. (Especially when the attic ladder almost closes on me and I have a Christmas Vacation moment of being stuck there. True story, the ladder partially closed and I was stuck once.  Will heard me yelling and he got Mark to help me get out.)  

Holiday memories!

Here are some photos from last week as we got the house ready for Christmas.

I made the boys pose for this photo with their Santa hats on.  The reality is that the hats only stayed on for about 3 seconds, but it was a cute photo opp. 

Ben is all about Christmas this year.  He was my big helper decorating the tree.  He helped me put lights on the tree, and when I wanted to take care of it without him he said "kids like to help, too."  How could I not let him help then?  He's my very own elf. 

This little tree is in the playroom.  I love the bright multicolored lights.  

The tree skirt was made by my grandma.  She hand quilted it.   

The tree is full of ornaments the boys made in daycare and at school.

New ornaments for our tree--vintage Christmas trucks. 

I bought them from 163 Design Company. 

I had them personalized with the boys' names and the year they were born. 

Here's the tree the night before we got the ornaments on it.  The next morning the boys helped me finish decorating. 

I found this laser cut village at Crate and Barrel.  It's simple but perfect. 

The animals are so neat.

I'm going to do a separate blog post about our gingerbread house and ice cream cone trees.  It's our first time to decorate one, and we had a fun time.  I think the boys and Maggie did a terrific job!