Christmas decor!

If I recall, I usually do a Christmas decorations post, but I’m too lazy to go looking through the archives to find out. Either way, Raven Blackbird and Elizabeth‘s posts about their holiday decor inspired me to do the same.

I don’t get too crazy, but I do like to have a couple of holiday touches here and there. Maybe next year, I’ll get around to buying holiday garland for the mantle and the shelf/wall between the living room and dining room. Sorry, Mom, I just really, really hate Michael’s.

Here’s the mantle, which I am actually really digging this year.

I got the idea for the ornaments in hurricanes not via Pinterest, but from a local bougie store in Bakersfield called Olcott’s.

The cinnamon sticks are from my mother-in-law; I put a few in a bud vase/champagne flute and tied a couple of others together with some twine.

You’ll notice that we have neither stocking hangers nor a stocking for LG. Eh, maybe next year. I checked Target for both stocking holders and a cute stocking, but everything sucked. This year, since we didn’t get around to actually stuffing stockings, I just tied them to our candle holders. Last year, I tried those 3M hooks with the stick-em on the back, but they were awful and kept falling down. As for the candles, I plan to get red ones next year, but again with the hating of the Michael’s.

This morning I got a wild hair up my ass and decided to attach all our Christmas cards (and a birth announcement and a random postcard) to the aforementioned twine and I hung it along the staircase. I really like the idea of this and maybe next year, I’ll use red ribbon (if I can talk myself into going to Michael’s) instead of twine and clothespins (or something) instead of ghetto staples.

Here are the Christmas flowers LG “insisted” she and Chris go out and buy while I was at yoga this morning. Love that kid.

But especially her dad

Here’s the tree (and bonus car seat!) Not a very good picture, as the lights are on and it’s 3pm, but you get the idea. The peace sign ornament is a new one from my mom and I love it. There are also a couple of cute ornaments LG made in school, but I’m too lazy to get up and take pictures. If you have kids, I’m sure you can imagine what they look like.

Here are the scented pinecones that sit in a bowl on our coffee table. These are leftover from the DIY wreath I did last year and since the scent is almost gone, I’m going to burn these in the last fire of the season and buy new ones next year. At Michael’s.

Here’s my menorah, which my mom and dad bought me when I first moved out on my own. This year, I’m embarrassed to say I never bought Hanukkah candles, so we haven’t actually lit the thing. I did say the prayer, though, and the way I figure, God probably doesn’t care so much if you forget to light candles every so often. If she does, she probably has to reassess her priorities, just saying.

Picture is from two years ago, but guess what? It looks exactly the same — and sits in the same place — this year!

Finally, here’s the wreath I made two years ago. It’s getting a little cattywompus, so next year it might need some tweaking.

Not pictured: A poinsettia that sits on our dining room table, flanked by LG’s changing station and the Christmas tree. I’m sure you can guess what a poinsettia looks like, though.