Christmas Time....

I love Christmas time! I love the lights, the decorations, the general all around great holiday spirit. I love doing Secret Santa's for those in need, and Secret Santa Exchanges with friends and coworkers. I love putting up the Christmas Tree, watching Christmas movies (Love Actually, A Christmas Carol, etc, etc, etc) and listening to Christmas music! I love holiday baking, and the fun of holiday eating! I LOVE Christmas shopping for my family and friends - and I absolutely love making handmade gifts (but am absolutely wretched at actually finishing/mailing them out). I love making my own Christmas cards each year, and I love getting cards in return (they don't have to be handmade.

Here are a few glimpses of the Christmas spirit at our home. The three stockings hung on our mantel belong to (in order of appearance.. and age... ha ha ha) Steve, Heather, and Thomas (Steve's brother).

A little about our tree... When I lived in Ohio, a friend of mine had spent a Christmas (or two) decorating trees at Elder Beermans (department store like Dillards). He taught all about stringing lights onto each section of each branch so that there was LOTS of light all throughout the tree. He also taught me about filling in the tree with various other stuffers (we used grapevines, natural fronds, scrolly vines, and other natural stuff), and about putting ornaments into the middle of branches so that the tree looks more dimensional. Well, his analness definitely rubbed off on me. I LOVE my Christmas tree! It's loaded with stars of every kind and all sorts of other natural decorations. There are glass balls in red, gold, white, and clear - which are the colors of the tree. I love the various stars - and especially the straw ones. They remind me of the many, MANY Christmases we spent in Germany.

You'll notice that our tree doesn't have a topper. Thats because the one I had broke, and I know what I want, but haven't managed to find it yet. I've been to almost every local store, to every local craft store, and to all of the local home repair shoppes looking for it. Once I find it - I'll share that glorious news with you all. It's driving me crazy!

A few of my friends have shared their favorite tree ornaments. So, following in their footsteps, here are three of mine.

The first one is our "Our First Christmas" Ornament. My grandmother Linette gave it to us. It's beautiful!

The second one is actually two! It's two snowmen that Steve and I found found at a local gardening store. There's actually a third one that has Thomas's name on it, but I couldn't find it on our tree.

The third one is one of my favorite straw stars. I'll post later about why I love stars so much. Needless to say, the tree is loaded with ALL kinds of stars! Check out the fourth picture to catch a glimpse of what I'm talking about!

Here's hoping your home is starting to feel the holiday season!

Love,
Heather (& Steve)