Christmas decorations finally out

I had brought out the Christmas tree into the living room. I even got the boxes of ornaments/decorations out of the attic but the two never met. Finally, while I was home sick for 4 days I decided to tackle it. It's not very festive but I had a "Hoarders" marathon while decorating. I couldn't find any Christmas movies. And since I was watching hoarders I had to weed through my Christmas stuff. Our first Christmas after we were married, I went crazy at the dollar store, the dollar general, family dollar and thrift stores collecting Christmas stuff. I bought a bunch of cheap decorations. I had them set up on the large entertainment center we had at the time as well as filling up the china cabinet which we also no longer have. So most of the stuff never came back out to play. I went through everything before moving out West and got rid of about half of it. This time, I got rid of all but a few things that I had bought that year. They just didn't appeal to me anymore. It doesn't bother me that there's not many decorations like it seemed to that year.

The dining room chandelier. I added the teddy bear after I couldn't find a spot for him that I felt was safe from Tucker's grasp.

I love my nativity set. It looks a lot like the Willow Tree stuff but it's just a set from Walmart. I waited a few years to find the right one. The sign was a gift from Valerie many years ago.

The angel and the Mary, Joseph and Jesus figurines were from the dollar tree from our first year. I was going to get rid of them too since their eyes are a little creepy but decided to go ahead and keep them.

The dining room table. I sure could use a Christmas table cloth...maybe by next year.


The entertainment center. This is what's lfet of my Santa collection. There used to be a ton. But I decided to just keep my favorites.


And then of course, there's a tree. I found this tree at a thrift store. It's the kind that has a lodge pole in the center and all the branches are glued in place so there's no assembly. :o) Besides that, I just love it. It's compact, I like that! Adam thinks it's a Charlie Brown type tree. I usually have berry garland on it but I wasn't able to find the box with it in it until after I had already put the ornaments on so I used it elsewhere in the house (in the pine garland around the front door and on the chandilier.


Our first Christmas, I decided to paint some little ornaments with scenes from some of the things we had done together. Some are much better than others but it's fun to see them because it reminds us of that year. I had plans on continuing it every year but it never happened.

Sunset while on a dolphin cruise in Hilton Head, SC.

Well, this one is hard to tell but it's the mountains with fall colors we saw while driving through North Georgia.

This is supposed to be Hickory Nut Falls where Adam asked me to marry him.

This is Chimney Rock in North Carolina.

The Hilton Head lighthouse.

Hilton Head beach.

St. Simmons lighthouse.

This one is my favorite, it's a racoon that followed us around a nature reserve in Southern Georgia. He actually walked with us like a dog. When we got to the car, he jumped onto the car and wouldn't let us in. He wanted to be fed and he hissed at us when we got close to the car. I finally was able to get in while Adam distracted him and I got a bagle and threw it out. When the racoon ran to the bagel, Adam hopped in and we took off real fast before he hopped back on the car.

It still doesn't seem possible that Christmas is this week. It has snuck up on me, no matter how many times I talk about it or think about it, or prepare for it, it just doesn't seem close yet.

Merry Christmas! I hope it's full of family, love, making memories and sharing with others.