We're counting down the days until Christmas, but I'm still working away at these blog posts. Who knew I had so much to say about this holiday?!?! Haha!
Come on in for a tour of our dining room Christmas decor.......
Come on in for a tour of our dining room Christmas decor.......
Left is a photo taken during the day, and the right was taken at night.
I really enjoy having a chocolate and gold Christmas tree!
Under the dining room tree is a ceramic Christmas village. These little houses were cookie jars that I found on clearance for $2.50 each, about four years ago. The figurines I found at Wal-Mart, and the trees I found treasure hunting.
I love having the village under the tree, it's so magical! I also love having it where Baby Girl can easily play with all of the pieces. Think of all the wonderful memories she is making makes me happy :)
The Little Man likes to play too. He takes a figurine, chews it's head a bit, then throws it across the room somewhere. It took us two days to locate the missing priest last week!
The way the little figurines are arranges changes as often as Baby Girl likes to play. I love to see the stories she tells by the way everything is arranged :)
Our stockings are chocolate and gold and hang in the dining room. We do not have a mantle, so I use wreath hangers to suspend them from the curtain rod. I really like the way it looks, but be careful if you decide to hang yours the same way. Fill your stockings heavily and you might have your curtain rod come crashing down!
These stockings were plain when I purchases them, but a little puffy paint made for easy personalization.
Dining Room Wreath
In the middle of the stockings I have this wreath. I think I purchased the plain wreath from Wal-Mart, and decorated it with ornaments that match the tree in this room.
A wreath exactly like t his one is hanging at the living room window as well.
What's Crackin'?
Last year Baby Girl and I read The Berenstain Bear's and the Nutcracker several times during the holiday season. So when I found these on clearance at Dollar Tree for .50 each, I snapped them up. I didn't tell her I bought them, instead choosing to stash them away as soon as I got home. This year when we were opening up and going through decoration bins, she was happily surprised!
At first I put them on the window ledge in the dining room, but that is the perfect reach for the now-walking Little Man. In order to save them from certain destruction, I decided to tuck them into the tree. I like how it turned out, a bit of unexpected whimsy :)
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Behind the bowls you can see a couple of additional wreaths. Not all of my wreaths are hanging, I actually have three of them tucked into my shelving. Nothing says Christmas to me like evergreen boughs, so I like to have them all over the place.
(Look for an upcoming post where I detail how I put wreaths like these together)
These glass jars contain ornaments, bells, beaded fruit and star-shaped pieces of wood. The star-shaped cuts of wood were from a package of potpourri. I liked the look and texture of the wood, so I bought the potpourri on clearance for .99 and tossed out the other stuff.
In addition to the jars, I tucked in a few miniature evergreen trees and a ceramic snowman that belongs to Baby Girl.
My cake stands and large glass jar are filled with gold, chocolate and champagne ornaments. Some of these are from Wal-Mart, others are from Dollar Tree. I like the way they tie in with the decor of the dining room tree and stocking colors.
While I have a whole lot of ideas pinned onto one of my Pinterest boards for Christmas printables, so far I have only made and framed one! I positioned the frame inside one of the wreaths, where the metallic frame can compliment the nearby ornaments.
This printable reads: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
To Baby Girl's delight, Mamaw frequently allows her to paint ceramic pieces. This one is a candy shop that Baby Girl covered in glittery silver paint. This house is literally the product of a 4-year-old playing with paints, but look how well it turned out! I love this house and the way it sparkles in the lights of the tree. I also love the memories it brings ;)
The top photo shows my jars containing two different sizes of miniature holiday lights. I love these! I found both sets different years while treasure hunting, I think for .25 each.
Baby Girl loves to play with these. Sometimes she uses them to decorate the little trees of the Christmas village and sometimes her dollhouse. Once we even knotted them together and wore them as necklaces.
The bottom photo pictures a jar of pine cones and a jar of wooden 'cranberries'. The wooden cranberries came from the same garland that had the wooden candy canes and gingerbread people found in my kitchen post. If you missed the Christmas kitchen decor post, you can read it here.
A Christmas Photo Album
Now this isn't the Christmas photo album for our family (I have a scrapbook for every year as well), but instead a specialty album given to me by Husby's parents. Each page has a space for one photo, journaling, and the book allows you to record an audio message. I decided to use it for my 'under the tree' photo tradition.
Every year since Baby Girl was born, I have stuck her under the tree with the gifts after she fell asleep. She has always stayed perfectly still and fast asleep, giving me the best photo opportunities! I love these pictures and wanted to continue the tradition with the Little Man as well, but he's a different little booger!
It does not matter what time of day or night, or how deeply asleep that child is, I stick him under the tree and he immediately grins. It's like some sort of ornery-boy sixth sense! Then he starts hitting and kicking the branches and gifts, before finally opening his eyes and giving me that 'ha ha!' look.
Once awake, he does give me some awfully cute smiles and poses though. Needless to say, his addition to the book will be awake shots! :D
I haven't decided what to record for the audio journal yet, I'm waiting until they can both participate.
It's like Christmas just keeps going and going!
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And now for me, a little bit of relaxation, but I'll be back tomorrow with a holiday wreath how-to.
In the meantime, happy Christmas count-down and thanks for stopping by!
-Jennifer
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