Christmas Decorating

I finally took pictures of Christmas in our home. It has hit us hard on the first floor! These pictures will help me next year when I haul it all out again and put it up. It was tricky to figure out where to put everything.

This is our Family Room. It has our family tree with the yearly ornaments we get to remind us of events that happened during the year. I also have my winter village above the fireplace. My fireplace screen reminds me of my great friend Kati W. We spent many fun and late hours together painting ornaments and decorations...this is one of the items we painted.

I couldn't display my entire winter village (it was on the shelves along the perimeter of my sun room in IL). I scaled it back to my 4 favorite houses. These houses are the Norman Rockwell 4 freedoms. Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship and Freedom from Fear. The scenes in each window is a replica of his paintings. It is a great time of year to think of these 4 freedoms we enjoy here in America.


Also in the Family room I have my Willow Tree nativity on top of the bookcase. The black shelf holds 5 of my 40+ nativities (my favorite decoration!). Below the shelf is a nativity I painted.
In the family room I also have my Santa Collection. I had to scale back a few pieces because they wouldn't fit on the shelf (you can find 2 more Santa's on the bookcase on the wall with the Nativities....hey, I am thinking this just might become an "I Spy" experience for y'all!)

This is the view in our entryway. Our formal living room and dining room. The dining room is where "Bama's tree" is displayed. Bama is the nickname Jaley gave to my Grandma. Each year Bama would give me an ornament for this tree...a lot of fond memories when I set up this tree. It even has a couple of ornaments that belonged to my Aunt Sybil.

The snowman sign is another fun item I painted with my friend Kati W. My sister, Shannon, cut out the lettering on my winter wonderland sign.

Here is the tree that displays about 1/4 of the ornaments I painted. I also have my snowman collection displayed on the cabinet.

Here is the rest of my snowman collection by the front door. Kati W. and I also painted sleds together...wow...lots of fun crafting memories with her!

There's more Christmas here and there, but I thought I'd spare you of any more photos! It is so fun to be surrounded by Christmas! Putting up everything was like being reunited with an old friend. I haven't been able to see most of this stuff for 2 years. Because the house was on the market last December, I was instructed to display VERY little...it was hard.