house tour: our Christmas decorations

Since we go out of town for Christmas, we don't really do much decorating. Plus, we've only been married a year so we haven't built up heaps of seasonal items. Last year, our tree was actually a Christmas bush. My parents were in town for Thanksgiving, so on Black Friday while my mom was out shopping she stopped by Lowe's and asked them for some scraps (she said they also sell the scraps, but why not ask?).  B was gone on the sub for most of Advent, and I went and visited my family during that time, so decorating was not much of a priority.  But at least we had a bit of that Christmas-tree scent.

Yes, we still had room for more ornaments.  And yes, I had to water this.

This year, I decided to move up in the world a bit, so I purchased a 3-foot tree.

Lighting up our end table, no watering required.

This is an ornament we found in the guest bedroom at my parents' house.

So, first on next year's list: find a true tree-topping angel.  As for this year, my mom made sure we had an actual manger for the Nativity set.  B was apparently given a figure a year to this set growing up (until a certain point, obviously), but he never got the manger itself.  My bargain-shopping mom to the rescue!

Since we're leaving Sunday, I already put baby Jesus in place.  I'll move the magi closer as Epiphany approaches.

And what is that you see?  Something on the roof?

I always loved putting animals on the roof of my parents' manger scene.  Tradition FTW.

 As for the rest of the house, we don't have TOO many decorations (drats, I keep forgetting to buy some mistletoe!), but we have a few.

Pretty sure I got the table runner at the Dollar Tree a few years back, making it older than the table itself.

The little candle ring is new this year.  We don't do big clunky centerpieces in this house.

Most likely another Dollar Tree find.  Man, I love that place.

I'm not Martha Stewart, but I did do one crafty thing this year:

Bows made out of magazine ads.  Here's a tutorial.  You can thank me later.

I also want to give a little shout to my ornament swap partner, Mrs. 2nd Lieutenant at For Where E'er We Go.  She is a gorgeous super "crunchy" Catholic mama of two adorable boys.  I absolutely love her ideas on liturgical gift-giving and will hopefully incorporate some of it when we have kids. (I was gonna try to do it this year, but B's big-ticket (gold) item was bought for him by his parents and shipped to our door last week.  And he's impossible to shop for.  So much for that.)  You should definitely go check out her blog and see what kinds of Catholic craziness she's up to today.

 Anyway, for the swap, she sent me these gorgeous embroidered(?) ornaments.  (I know they're from an Etsy shop, so ask her about them if you wanna know.)  They look really good on our tiny tree!

Thanks so much!  And thanks to Trying Our Best for hosting the swap.

B and I will soon be embarking on what I'm calling our "Glad Tidings Tour 2010."  Driving to Georgia, flying to Indiana, driving to Chicago and back to Indy, flying back to Georgia, then driving back here to Florida, all in two weeks' time.  I'm excited, if not a little overwhelmed thinking about all of it.  But I'm sure it will be great to see everyone in our families and treat B to his first-ever Georgia Christmas.