Christmas Decor 2012

As I've been getting us all ready to go to Idaho for Christmas, I realized I haven't done a Christmas decor blog post! I've done one every year since Tyson and I were married, and I can't very well stop now. I guess it's turned into a tradition. So here we go!

Welcome to our house! (My apologies for the tilted picture.) We've loved being in a house for Christmas. I've actually been able to use all my decorations! Last year in our apartment we picked six or seven things and that was that. But we're so happy to be in a house and loving every second of it. This is our front porch, and I have to say that I just LOVE this porch. It is just the best for holiday decor, and it's one of those front porches that I've dreamed of having. Too bad we're just renting and this porch isn't mine to keep.
(Maybe one of these days I'll actually do a blog post with pictures of our house!)

We had to buy a new Christmas tree since this one didn't quite make it through the move. We couldn't help but laugh after taking this picture, even though this poor tree looks so sad. It looks like a shark bit the side. It's a pre-lit tree that only half works now. And all kinds of pieces broke off from it. Poor thing. Our tree got retired and we bought a new one on Black Friday at Fred Meyer. (I ended up buying one with colored lights instead of clear so we had to buy ANOTHER tree here in Ogden. So yes, we have two trees until we're back in Idaho again.)

 

We put the new tree up and fluffed the branches out a bit before adding another set of lights.

 I'm loving having two large bay windows in the front of our house. Heck, I love having windows in the front of our house! We've never had a front living room window before, not even in our house in Idaho. One of my favorite things about Christmastime is driving down streets and seeing lit Christmas trees through the windows. And now we can do the same thing with our house! It's so fun.

 We wrapped a garland and Christmas lights around the banister going up the stairs. Brycen really likes it! I love it too. 

 I found the Little People Nativity for $19 on Black Friday. Brycen plays with it in front of the Christmas tree, where it stays. It will also get put away after Christmas so we can look forward to it next year.

 It's Carter's first Christmas so his first ornament is a little baby in a stroller. We got Brycen a little elf holding a present, and Tyson and I are sharing a Santa ornament this year. 

I shared this picture on Facebook a couple weeks ago. I love this one of my three boys. Brycen was so excited to read Christmas books by the Christmas tree after the house was all decorated. In this picture they're reading, "Santa Elf."

 Carter likes to look up at the lights, as I'm sure all babies do this time of year!

 We sent my missionary brother, Adam, a family Christmas card with this little picture inside. Brycen loves Elmo so I printed off this Elmo Christmas picture to color. 

Brycen loves coloring and anything related.

 Carter loves music. The piano is especially soothing. Sometimes when he's upset in the evening we'll put him in his little lamb chair and play the piano for him. It's been fun hearing Christmas music coming from the piano the last few weeks!

 We finished our Christmas shopping last week and it's been so nice having everything bought, wrapped, and under the tree! Now we're trying to figure out how to get all this to Idaho. Thank goodness for our van!

 Having a screen door has made it difficult to put wreaths up. I decided to force my Christmas wreath between the two doors, which actually wasn't too difficult. I'm just glad to have a wreath up! That door was looking really bare. 

 And Brycen has LOVED looking for our elf, Charlie, every morning. We don't do anything crazy with him, just move him to different spots. That's been really fun for Brycen this year. 

 Brycen likes to be the one to turn on all the lights every night. 

One button turns on the Christmas tree...

 ...and the other two turn on the banister lights and the small tree lights on the porch. 

 Kohl's has a style of stockings that hasn't changed since we got married. We've been able to find a new stocking for each child for the last few years, and they go right along with the ones I got for Tyson and I when we were first married. We've lucked out!

And I've REALLY loved having a mantle. It's been so fun hanging the stockings above the fireplace!

Charlie's Christmas debut was on the Christmas tree. Brycen thought that was pretty darn hilarious.