How About Some Prettier Pictures?

Well, maybe this isn't quite the pretty I was thinking of, but I think you can guess what the girls and I did yesterday. LOL This is the mess before the pretty. Yeah, that's it.

Maybe this is a little prettier? Well, except for the chocolate face, but we can look past that, right?

Amy really gets into the decorating of it all! She was a huge help in getting the boxes down from the attic.

And my two sweet helpers when they were all done with the tree. I took these at night and my initial tree shot (minus kids) came out blurry. Darn.

Jessica added Polly to the Santa Express!

Here's the train set they put up themselves. Actually they decorated the tree by themselves. I did the other decor.

And here are some shots from around the house. I pulled down a box I must have missed a few years (or Steve left up in the attic) and had fun discovering what I actually had in my stash (like all the snow people and stuffed goodies...LOL) By the pink bag is another thrift store snowman from this year. Oops baby snowman fell over.

The mantel. First time I've decorated it, other than having the stockings around it. Another snowman found at Arc. I noticed after I got him home he's missing an arm, but the rest of him is too cute, so I don't really care. I found the tall bowl on a stem at the thrift store too and added some dollar store garland and pinecones. Then I added a small jelly jar to the center and stuck some cinnamon sticks in it. The cross stitch was made by my mom. The gold ribbon and ornaments in the jars were found at the dollar store. I added a few clear ornaments (from the thrift store) to help fill it up. Oh and the mason jar with the fabric has jingle bells I found at Michaels (on sale) I love the country feel the darker colors evoke. Guess where I got that garland draping the mantel? Yep, the thrift store, it has lights, too, but I gotta figure out a way to get it plugged in. Cost? $2.99 for that garland! Can you tell I've been having a blast? I have three Arc thrift stores within 10-15 minutes of each other and I've been going on Saturdays to check them out. On Saturdays almost everything is 50% off the ticketed price. So fun!

 Found a good place for my gingerbread house and card holder. Showing off some of the great cards we've already received. Now to keep the girls' stuff off the "little table." LOL I painted that sled back in my tole painting days. Loved the little elves.

I crocheted this snowflake garland with the thought of putting it by the mantel (before the garland score) and needed to put it somewhere. Somehow it seems to fit here. (don't tell me if you think it looks dorky, okay?)

And finally, so as to not bore you to tears...here's my corner table on the porch. I found a Christmas tree I forgot I owned! Love how it fits perfectly right here!

Thanks so much for looking. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my humble attempts at decorating for the holidays. Maybe it's not magazine worthy, but you know what? I'm really liking how it turned out this year. I love the homey and comforting feel.It's more than I've ever done. I just hope I don't forget to pack away everything...you know how it is...you lug the last box into storage and find you've forgotten to pack this or that and you just don't have the energy to put it away? I'm gonna have to take a few tours to be sure I've gotten it all put away, huh?

Have a wonderful weekend. I'm excited to share that after the big freeze of last week, we are being rewarded with temps in the 40s today and the 50s (!!!!) tomorrow. With that, the thrift stores are open and I must be off to see what I can find today. LOL