Christmas Decor 2011

A quick little stroll through my house at Christmas time. This year I was lucky enough to be on leave with Dane. So instead of staying up REALLY late every night decorating after work, I was able to use the better part of a week while the boy was napping and enjoy it! I love to decorate for the holidays--and now that I am addicted to Pinterest I have a long list of things to add next year :) I hope you enjoy!!

The boys had somewhat matching wreaths on their doors. I have quickly learned that trying to do something for your second kid years, or even a year later, and have them match is VERY difficult. More to come on this subject!

Last year at the end of the season, I had Ryan purchase a white tree for me. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but I love my black Razorback tree so I knew I would come up with something. And that I did. THIS is my favorite tree this year. It is simple. Simply beautiful. 

I took pictures from over the past year -- family, friends, professional, snapshots, etc -- printed them wallet size in black and white, placed the same two pictures back to back, punched a hole in the corner, strung a ribbon through them and hung them on the tree. I then made the topped of some more of the pictures and placed a white "H" in the middle. I wrapped some empty boxes to put below the tree and place more pictures on the tulle bows. Absolutely beautiful. I had tons of people look at this tree and compliment me on it. It was a hit! 

I will say there was a bit of a "debate" as to how many pictures to print. I had a hard time deciding which to use and which to nix. I started with 207. Yeah, I know. I managed to whittle it down to a little over 100. Ryan said I only needed 30 or so. Well, he was probably right but I managed to use them all.

This is my dining room table. I love it. I love red, black and white. (Obviously there is probably a reason with me being a Razorback :)  The pictures really don't do it justice but it is beautiful in person.

I also added some of the pictures to the tulle bows on my leather dining room chairs. Such a nice touch.

My beloved Hog tree. And unfortunately ALL my lights went out this year :( I am so, so sad. But my sweet hubs has offered to restring the tree this spring. I know I will never hear the end of it but I love this tree and refuse to get rid of it.

My houses. OH how I love my houses. I have realized I have no more room and there are no more cool Christmas ones. So I will be moving forward with the Halloween decor. Yes, they have these house for Halloween.

My main tree. I love it but I think I will have to switch it up next year. I would like a really tall skinny one instead. So if you see any good deals out there please email me!

My mantle. I added a lot to it this year and I have to say, I really like how it turned out

 

Remember when I mentioned trying to match things of years past? Well, these would be the issue. I ordered Chaz's a few years back and if I were a smart person I would have ordered a few for future kiddos but I didn't. So, I challenged (hee hee) my mom to 1) change Chaz's from its original color scheme of red/green/white to my scheme of black/red/white 2) make one to match for Dane 3) make striped ones for me and Ryan. With a little help from my Meme and Aunt Sandra, this was the final result. I.am.in.love. I just hoped they saved enough material in case we have another baby. :)

My kitchen table.

Last year when we bought the white tree we also bought a little tree for Chaz. We originally thought it would be big enough to put on his little table and you would be able to see it from our window upstairs. BUT then we opened it. I didn't realize a four foot tree was so small. Oh well, Chaz loved it.

We sat down one night and made construction paper garland. Chaz got such a kick out of it! Then I took some of our old "kid like" ornaments and gave them to him. He was so excited to put them on his tree. Lots of Scooby Doo, Winnie the Pooh and Looney Tunes. So cute!!

 My front porch. I didn't do as much as I wanted because it got so cold and I really just didn't want to be outside. I do think it looked really good though! 

Our cute little blow ups. Don't judge, we love them and so do the kiddos. My dad made the tree for us. LOVE!

Here is the post from 2010 if you want to see how they compare.  I think the additions of this year have made it look that much better. I am already planning for next year!!

The start of the Christmas parties. Yippee!!

One of my favorite parties every year is our family party. We all gather at my aunt's house and have a great ol' time. Unfortunately, this year there were some key people missing -- Dad, Uncle Jimmy, Shane and Lisa :(  But somehow we managed to eat, drink and be merry without them :) As usual, the majority of the pictures are of the kids. I am going to make it a goal next year to get some people over the age of 5 in the shots!

The kids were corralled into the area in front of the T.V. We tried our best to keep them in there for as long as possible and we did pretty good. They all get along so well and play pretty good together. I love this age. The age of imagination. They were making up games and pretending all sorts of things. I couldn't keep up!

Mom snuggling with Dane. I think her and Michelle just switched back and forth all night. They are such baby lovers! Michelle even got some one on one time with Evan. What a cutie!

Then it was time for presents. Don't they look so sweet and innocent when they know a present is coming. Good mercy me!

and then it was on. Malay.

Chaz wanted a Power Ranger REALLY BAD. So, Gaga got him one and as you can probably tell, he was a little excited. "I got it!! I got it!!" He was literally running through the house yelling this. Best reaction ever!

The girls got super cute hats and scarves.

The Adams gave Chaz this super cool truck set.

And we (through the wonderful present picking abilities of my husband) gave Sid this ubercool baby set.

The Hamlins gave Sid this cute little skirt. Love it! She said "I'm pretty" Yes, yes you are!

and although I didn't get a great picture of it, when she put on the headband she quickly resembled Zoolander.

I have no clue what is happening in this picture but I think it is hilarious.

I love, love, love this one! Sidney just adores Chaz -- he likes her too but refuses, refuses to show it -- and she loves to hug on him. If she could she would give him 1000 hugs a day. Chaz is funny about this because he acts like he hates it and cannot wait to get away. Sometimes he even runs and hides from her. Now we all know this is just him being shy but it is super cute. Anyways, I got them to BOTH hug on each other. Too cute!! Note: Chaz likes to hug around the neck, he isn't looking to cause her harm :)

Then it was time for a pallet and a movie. Don't let this picture fool you. They were on WAY to much of a sugar high to just go to sleep. It didn't happen until LATE that night. Oh well, you get to break the rules during the holidays, right?

A look back to the craziness of 2010.