'tis the season to be jolly.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. The season just feels me with joy. Here are some of our downstairs decorations this year. Since these photos were taken, we've added just a couple things. I wrapped tinsel around a wood post, and Evelyn made a cute Christmas tree with her footprints. The footprint-Christmas-tree is framed and sitting above our sink.

Top: The Charlie Brown tree in our entryway. Bottom: Decor in the living room.

 My Grandma made the bells and the felt Christmas tree. I was so happy that she made bells for me -- my Mom has some at her house, and I wanted some for our house. I thought that maybe eventually I could snag my Mom's set, but my Grandma graciously made me some. I love them. I love the Christmas tree, too.

My Granny made the Angels. They are a set, but the one sitting on our counter above the sink needs her wings sewn back on, so she is resting. The elf in the pine cone wreath is not an Elf on the Shelf. It is an elf my mother sent me our first Christmas out here. She was sending boxes of stuff that we had left behind, and she stuck this little guy into a bottle that was meant for Evelyn. 

My Mom has oodles and oodles of elves around her house at Christmas time. When I was younger, they really irritated me, for some reason. I didn't know why she needed so many, especially old, antique-y ones. (Are there any other types of elves besides antique-y ones though, really?) I laughed when she sent it to me, but I am happy to have my own little elf. It reminds me of Christmases when I was younger.

Our big tree is upstairs in our bedroom, as we wouldn't have much room for it downstairs without rearranging. The furniture is heavy, and I had no interest in waiting until the weekend when Dan was around to help me move it. Not to mention, I'm not a fan of the top-half-of-the-tree-being-decorated when you have a toddler in your house. Who knows, maybe next year, we will have one of those trees. This year, we are fortunate to have a bedroom big enough to put our Christmas tree in, and every part of the tree (top, middle, and bottom) has ornaments.

Evelyn helped me decorate the big tree last week and I have a couple photos from then. She was pretty cute. The ornaments had to sit on the limbs, and in a big pile. Until they all fell down, that is.