[early] deck the halls

We put up our Christmas decorations this weekend and I know that this bugs a lot of people, because you know, Thanksgiving. But since we are going to be gone for a big chunk of December to visit family, I wanted to be able to enjoy our Christmas tree and decorations. We drank hot cocoa and watched White Christmas while we put everything out. It was perfect.

Our tradition continues with our sunburst mirror multi-purposing by holding our Christmas cards. I'm trying to figure out a longer-term solution for all our cards but in the mean time, it looks pretty fun.

I continue to love drawing on my windows with chalk markers. Once I get a little more organized, I'm going to deck all the windows out in various festive scenes. I think it'll look really fun with the hanging wreaths. I also found these adorable colored trees at Target and I'd love to put them on our mantel, once we have one. For now, they're hanging out by the window above our entry. They have a pretty nice view of everything going on.

I have a big basket of books that I keep on our ottoman. For the holidays, I replace them with festive books... and we have a LOT of Christmas books. I love finding the kids on the sofa, looking through the books and pictures, by the light of the Christmas tree. It makes me very happy.

Every year, around November 1st, I start receiving magazines with Christmas decorations. I pine (har har) for beautiful Christmas trees that I see in Serena & Lily, West Elm and Anthropologie. I dream of having one of those trees, perfectly spaced lights with gorgeous, hand-painted globes that coordinate with beautiful ornaments. But every year, when we pull out our decorations and I look at each one as we put it on the tree, I think about how nice it is to have reminders of vacations to Denmark, first ornaments that I picked out for my babies, our wedding cake topper that I put a ribbon on to hang and beautiful others gifted to us from family and friends. This mish-mash of ornaments, and my cheap bulbs that I got from Big Lots that are mostly broken now, may not make the most beautiful tree but it lights up our home with beautiful light and memories. And that makes Christmas perfect to me.

this is Louisa's ornament this year. I love the little Clara dancer!

one of my all time favorites - William's first ornament

our wedding cake topper made into an ornament

we bought this one in Copenhagen a few years ago

I have been eyeing this pretty print for a while but decided that I'd try to replicate it at home, just for fun. It didn't turn out nearly as pretty as the original but I think it looks OK for free dollars. I had it in another frame and was trying to figure out where to hang it, until Louisa knocked it over and broke the glass. Oh, babies. I moved it into this frame and I still don't know where to hang it so I hide it behind the fireplace screen for now. It looks reeeeeal classy... as does our fireplace. I am so anxious to get our mantel and surround completed but hopefully by the end of the year!

And that's it, folks!