Welcome to my Christmasy Home :)I'll be honest, it's been hard to get into the spirit this year. It's even been hard to decorate and usually that's my favorite part!
It could be the many weighing issues like money, too many projects not enough time, or just being lazy ... but for the record I'll just go with being so super busy with some super awesome events and projects and I just have been on brain overload!
Or maybe I've been in a sugar induced coma from all the holiday sweets ... whatever.
In any case, it is done :) And here is my Christmas living room! I ended up going with a scheme of Red, Green, and Gold because that's basically what I had. 
And my Christmas mantel! I wasn't sure what I wanted to do here, I've seen so.many.tutorials! and pictures! And it made me want to chuck all of my stuff and start anew! But that will at least have to wait for next year.
I started finding cute tutorials for Christmas decor oh about ... 6 months ago ... but because I am the biggest procrastinator ever I waited until about last week to start on any lol. But I can say that I made almost everything on this mantel :) I made the wreath, and the little gold tinsel tree, the hurricanes, the mini hurricanes, and 3 out of 4 of those things in the frames ;-)
I'm more or less happy with how it all turned out ... but you can be sure I'll be starting on Christmas projects a heck of a lot earlier next year! Which will probably mean a week earlier ... but hey I can get a lot done in a week!
Our hodge podge tree lol. I sometimes wish I could have a pretty themed matchy matchy tree like all the beautiful ones I've seen. And then the boxes of ornaments come out and I see the kids' faces when they find "their" ornaments.Every year each kid either picks out or makes an ornament to represent the last year. I have a 14 year old ornament on there that says "Parents to be, 1996" and it makes me smile ever time I pick it out because I can remember the exact moment I picked it out :)
And at that moment, and all the MANY OTHERS (4 kids x a new ornament every year = LOTS OF SWEET MOMENTS) I love my tree and wouldn't trade it for any pretty matchy one.
And then I get over it and throw 500 red balls at it until it looks to have SOME kind of color scheme to it.
The dinning room and entry way.
Basically I just got a bunch of dollar store ornaments and threw them at whatever stood still. I not UNhappy with it, it'll do until next year :)
I was at a TOTAL loss for what to do for a centerpiece! Then a good friend reminded me that I have a trifle bowl! So I tossed some more balls in it and called done. I wanted to use my new Cricut to put something super cute on it, but that will be yet another project for next year.I should start a list.
Here again are a few things I managed to put together that came out pretty cute!
I made these glitter trees using dollar store styro cones, glitter, glue and candles sticks. And I just LOVE the sparkle it adds to the room! These pictures don't do it justice.NONE of these pictures do actually ... but THAT is a rant for another day.
I made the wreath using dollar store ornaments and a wire hanger! I just LOVE how it came out! I'm actually VERY happy with this project and plan to do another for the outside of the front door next year.
Looking from the dinning room, these are the stairs to the second floor. It took a sweet forever to get this garland up and groomed but I just LOVE the way it turned out!
I'm using the little table behind the front door to display my countdown calendar and my holiday cards ... or at least I WILL be if I ever get more than 2 >:-/ 
Going up the hallway I went through and put up a bunch of old holiday photos from years past. It's funny how seeing the kids at Christmas's past makes every one in the house smile :)
The top picture there always makes ME smile ;-)
And then in the hallway above the stairs is one of my favorite additions to the holiday decor ...
The festive flock of holiday ducks ;-) Years ago when the hubs asked if he could display his trophies up here I said "SURE if you put little santa hats on em at Christmas so they go with my decor LOL". Well the ducks went up ... and this year they got all dressed up and filled with the holiday spirit.
A couple more somebodys are too :)HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!! May you days be merry and bright :) and may all your stuffed animals be filled with joy. Amen.
