Christmas Decorations 2010

For some reason, I just can't stop collecting Christmas decorations. The most fun addition this year has been individual trees in the girls' rooms. They selected their favorite color trees (pink and purple) and decorated them completely by themselves. Sara made sure that Eliza couldn't reach any of her ornaments, hence the decorating style you see below.

I got the silver ornaments, tree skirt, and star topper to fill out their trees. They loved putting their own ornaments that they have been collecting each year from Grandma and Grandpa on their own special trees. Laura also put ornaments that she made herself on her tree and decorated it just like a designer. Yep, that's my little pink perfectionist.

This year I added new candles (courtesy of my mom's garage cleanout) and a new advent (so much for my grand plans of making an adorable advent - I bought the house from Kohl's) to the hearth. It is probably my favorite part of Christmas decor.

I was finally able to find something I have wanted for years - a HUGE ornament to hang in my entry archway. My mom helped me with the bows, I strung it with fishing line and I just love how it turned out. I reused the hook from Pickles the witch and it makes me happy each time I see it.
Though I had the apothecaries last year, I updated them with new candy favorites for this year. Eliza adores the candy cane kisses that she eats in just one bite. Sara loves the Kit Kats and we all love candy canes in our hot chocolate. The candy has been so adored that one of my jars has gotten chipped. That just means I made good selections, right?!

Finally, the girls decorated the downstairs tree almost completely by themselves this year - with help from a step stool. It made decorating so much fun instead of a bit of a chore. They were adorable and I love that the tree turned out just like they like it, instead of decorator done. (The decorator tree is upstairs.) It makes Christmas seem more like it should - all about the kids!

Oh, and all my Christmas shopping is done - phew. Time to enjoy the season and feed people! Okay, I still have Christmas Cards and neighbor gifts to tag, but that's not much since it's not quite yet December!