pancakes & bubblegum: decking the halls

Friday, December 23, 2011

decking the halls

Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year!!! It's a time to reflect, a time to give, a time to be blessed, a time to celebrate our baby Jesus' birth and of course, to deck the halls!! Christmas is my favorite holiday and not because I receive gifts, but because I get to decorate and give!

This year we have TWO big Christmas trees in the living room with one small tree that holds my Christmas cards I have received in the mail. On a shelf sits a very rustic twig Christmas tree and another Christmas tree that has been with me since 1991 when it was given to me by my great grandma. It started out with dollar bills tied to each branch but of course those were spent pretty fast.

Christmas ornaments are one of my very favorite things about Christmas!! Mark and I have had a tradition of exchanging ornaments on Christmas Eve every year since we have been together. This year, however, I couldn't wait to give him his ornament so he got it early. Take a look...

Mark has thee most loving dog named Debo and he loves him so much. Debo doesn't live with us and since Debo is getting old and may not be around for much longer, I wanted Mark to have something to ALWAYS remember his best friend by. Plus, I love personalized gifts. It didn't exactly come out the way I thought it was going to, but Mark loves it and I love him so that's all that matters!

We also got another ornament a few Saturdays back when we went antiquing. How fun is this ornament and it's right up Mark's alley (which is the reason why we got it). It goes well with his other fishing ornaments.

This is the first year that Mark and I have had a topper on the Christmas tree.I'm not quite sure why we have never had one, but it took some time for me to find the perfect one. It was just screaming at me while browsing the antique store.

I absolutely ADORE this grapevine star. It's not technically supposed to be a tree topper but I love the simplicity and the rustic-ness of the star so I made it work and we both love it!

Since it's Christmas Eve, eve and I'm most certainly in the Christmas spirit, here is the finished product of our main tree.

And here is the other tree that I am dubbing as my sister's family tree since it has all of their gifts underneath it ready for our Christmas Eve party!