Looks Like Christmas

We busted out the boxes yesterday, and pulled out Christmas!

The family room is looking merry and bright.

I made a bunch of these cute little houses for a colorful Christmas village.

My collection of tiny deer feel right at home amongst the pretty houses and bottle-brush trees.

The Santas are all hanging out on a big old trunk.

The kids have made many Santas over the years. . .

. . .each of them a treasure.

We have a little fake tree that we like to pick a theme for every year. It comes out with the rest of the decoarations, a week or two before the real tree.

The themes aren't very complicated; this year's is White.

We used silver and clear too, because they're close enough.

We made these easy and inexpensive additions wth clear glass balls and some ribbon-

We just threaded the ribbon into the ball and replaced the little top thingy. Voila! An ornament craft that even a teenager can do. Under the tree sits a Dylan-made sled and some scrappy stars.

I know that stockings are traditionally hung by the chimney with care, but a table works too.

Each year we add a little charm to the stockings. I haven't added this year's charms yet though.

Can't forget our furry friend, Tuesday the Wonder Fluff.

The teddy bears come out to play at Christmastime.

I got that one with the blue-striped shirt for my 1st birthday, many Christmases ago.

Naturally, they insisted upon party hats.

Hopefully, we'll get the real tree next week and get to bring out all the ornaments (each of them with a tiny ghost of Christmas Past attached).