Christmas Tour of Homes

It's time for BooMama's Christmas Tour of Homes. Am I completely ready? No. Did I want to be ready? Yes. Did I plan to be ready? Yes. Did finding that only two strands of last year's lights still worked delay my decorating? Yes. Did life with a procrastinating 11 year old with a science project comparing the pigments in blackberries, spinach, red onion and paprika to the pigments in water soluble markers have something to do with my not being ready? Yes. Did having to rush the same 11 year old to the ER Wednesday night after she fell in the shower and momentarily dislocated her shoulder add to my inability to finish my Christmas decorating? Most definitely.

All that being said, I did manage to get some stuff done. The rest, quite honestly just might have to wait this year. Something about a 9 month old baby boy, who is all boy, into everything, banging his head and climbing right back up, pulling his sister's apple cider onto the floor twice....something about mixing all that little boy-ness and fragile Christmas decorations just doesn't add up to a calm relaxing Christmas season for the mama.

Without further adieu, welcome to our home:

Our front porch. The girls and I decorated it the other night. It's really pretty when you're not taking a flash picture of it. The flash sort of emphasizes the white wires on the lights. I don't know how we ended up with white wires, but there they are. The lighted garland, by the way, I purchased at Target last January at 90% off. Oh, how I love a clearance rack, and then to make things even better, I forgot all about it until I was unpacking our Christmas boxes last week. It was like I got an early gift.

Close up of our wreath brought to us fresh from North Carolina the Sunday after Thanksgiving. After sitting in the Florida heat for a few weeks already, it's not so much fresh anymore, but it does still smell good, and leaves a nice sprinkling of pine needles in the foyer every time the door opens and closes. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

My Our tree as viewed from the dining room. Yes, I go overboard with the lights. There are right at 2500 lights on this tree. That is not a typo or an exaggeration. I love me some lights on my tree. And the tree has ONLY gold and glass ornaments. Such as the Waterford ornament my sweet mother-in-law gave us as a wedding shower gift. Nothing else is allowed on that tree. Please note that there are no ornaments on the bottom portion of the tree. Remember all the little boy-ness?

How do I manage to have only gold and glass on that tree, you ask. I do have three kids, and while the little one hasn't made any ornaments yet, the other two certainly have. And no, they are not all gold and glass. Actually, none of them are gold or glass. So, I have this other little tree, which truth be told, is actually my very favorite. It has every single ornament my girls have ever made. Plus some special ornaments that were gifts from friends who didn't realize my freaky Chrsitmas OCD would prevent me from putting their gift on the big tree. I love this tree. We may end up with a bigger one once Little Man starts pre-school and starts bringing home his very own ornaments.

Those are our stockings behind the tree. Yes, there are currently only 4 of them for our family of 5. I have another set of 4, but I need one that matches these. I haven't found one yet, so I may have to use one of the 4 we already have, but seriously, remember the OCD? I have issues with matching.

And finally, the tree in the girls' room. I was so excited about this tree, I had it up before they got home from North Carolina after Thanksgiving. This was another of my 90% off purchases last January. I was in Michael's one day just looking through their picked over clearance rack, when I saw this tree. This pre-lit white feather tree for something like $4.95. Ummm, hello, SOLD! I couldn't decide which ornaments to use, but I wanted something to sort of match their room, so I settled on pipe cleaners. I think it's adorable.

Close up of the pipe cleaner "ornaments" (and FEATHERS).

Tree topper! Looks straight out of Whoville, doesn't it?

What's missing? Our beautiful nativity set, another wedding gift (see a December wedding wasn't such a bad idea) which isn't set up yet, and I would have done it just so I could take a picture, but it's tradition that the girls do it, so I just couldn't.

Oh, and Little Man's tree, which isn't up yet, but will be tomorrow. It will have his daddy's matchbox cars from when he was a little boy as it's ornaments.

I guess I'll just have to post those later.

Hope you enjoyed this little mini tour. When you have an hour or 12, pour yourself an eggnog, grab a batch of Christmas cookies, and head over to BooMama and check out her house and all the other beautiful homes on her tour.