It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Today, since I'm enjoying my second snow day from school (with another one coming up tomorrow!), I finally had time to share my Christmas decorations. Although I didn't go all out this year, I did manage to find room for all of our favorites. Now that Ava can remember a few Christmases back, it's so nice to share holiday memories and favorites with her! Hopefully Hudson will truly grasp the meaning of Christmas this year, as well, and we can gain a fellow merry-maker in the decorating department.

As usual, we placed our Christmas tree in the playroom, since that's where we tend to congregate and also because our living room is rather small and odd-shaped, making it hard to fit anything else in there. Again following tradition, Ava single-handedly decorated the bottom half of the tree, although Hudson did contribute a couple of ornaments himself. That was about all he felt like helping. Then I finished the top half of the tree, trying to mimic Ava's characteristic style: wildly trailing ribbons, heapings of ornaments, and random holiday stuffed animals tucked in here and there. While it's probably not the most stylish tree ever, I LOVE it!

We were also thrilled to bring our Christmas books out again to display. Most of these go back into storage after the holidays, so it's almost like reading brand new books. Plus, it's a great way to reinforce the reason for the season! Ava in particular tries to please Jesus (and Santa!) more than usual around this time of year. ;) In fact, this gorgeous Santa hangs on the wall to remind both kids that someone is always watching! Next year, I'm considering adding an Elf on the Shelf to our decorations.

Behind our couch, Ava and I usually spend hours arranging our Dickens Christmas Village. Last year, she spent so much time kneeling on the couch, playing with the little figurines, that it became one of her favorites. However (and it's a BIG however), it did not work out this year, since we have a rambunctious toddler who loves to scale couch cushions, explore items he's not supposed to touch, and basically destroy anything breakable. Yes, this was a hard pill to swallow, but I let her help me design a more kid-friendly display for the sofa table. Thus, we relocated the village atop my kitchen cabinets, interspersed with my nutcracker collection (sorry, no pic of that!), where it can watch over our Nativity scene this year.

Well, that's about it. Nothing too spectacular (and no exterior lights since that's beyond my abilities and Erik doesn't really enjoy all that additional work), but simply building traditions with my kids is enough for me!

P.S. Someone asked me earlier how I displayed my Christmas cards. While I don't have a photo of that either, we just hang garland on the two doorways of the living room and clip our cards to it. Since I only have a couple of cards so far, I didn't take a picture yet. But once they're full and give a better effect, I'll add that as well.