Our House at Christmas

We didn't decorate much for Christmas this year. Between starting kindergarten, Hollon's birth, Auburn football & Jake's football, fall was just crazy. The first few weeks of December, we did NOTHING. By the time we got around to getting a tree (more on that below) and actually getting Christmas decor out of the attic, we were midway through December. So we just put up the tree and decorated the mantel and called it a day.

So our Christmas tree.... by the time we went to get one, Lowe's & Home Depot were out. So we bought one from a Christmas Tree lot. We had a great experience with them, I wish we would have used them in years past. We looked at trees that were labeled 9-10 ft. They had some beautiful full ones, but we thought they would be too round for the corner in our house. We picked the skinniest one they had. We got it into our house, into its corner, and realized this tree is HUGE. And a lot taller than we thought and very full. I can't imagine if we had picked one of the full trees. It would have taken up our whole living room. We had to move furniture to get this one to fit. The ornaments around the top were basically just tossed up there. To put the bow on top (which is way too tiny for a tree that large), Rob had to put the step stool ladder on the patio coffee table, lean the tree over, and toss it on there. (Being the wise people we are, we didn't think to put the bow on first when the tree was still outside and was one its side to be brought in.) Even though this tree was massive, I wanted to soak it in. This will be our last real tree for a while. I never thought I'd go with an artificial tree, but at this point, it would just be easier. We found one we really liked before Christmas that was a display and agreed if it was on sale after Christmas and still available but in a box, we would buy it. If not, we'd just keep doing a real tree. After Christmas, Robbie found the tree at a random Lowe's and it was half off, so we purchased it. I'll just have to light some evergreen candles to feel like it is a real tree next year. 

Christmas tree before Christmas with all the presents under it

The picture below is extra special because we finally have 4 stockings hanging from our mantel. When we moved into the house and made new stocking holders & stockings, even though we were only a family of 3, I made an extra one for when we expanded our family. I never imagined we'd have the trouble we did and each year when I would pull out our decorations, I'd wonder if we'd ever get to use that 4th. So happy to finally get to use it this year.