the party's on, the feelin's here

song of the day: 'wonderful christmas time'

i just wanted to share with you guys some of my christmas decorations. i don't put up much, but what i do i think is cute (if i do say so myself). as i've said before, our christmas tree is actually a lime tree that we have to bring in when the weather turns too cold. i don't want to have two trees in my home so we throw lights on this one and call it good.

the little paper bags are kind of an advent calendar. i put small toys, books, or activities inside them and isaiah gets to open one each day leading up to christmas. there's only 17 because we'll be headed to florida after that.

i think i change our stockings every year. this time around i used the bags that my punjammies came in (and if you want to know more about punjammies, just click on the link!) much of my decorations, just like my gifts, are either handmade or second hand. i made little paper snowflakes and strung up some vintage doilies.

probably the coolest thing is our old lionel train set. it's the set that matt grew up with and his parents gave it to us last year. isaiah loves it and he and matt will play 'trains' all night long. it winds around the tree and goes through the tunnel. it's just good old-fashioned christmas fun.

olden times and ancient rhymes

song of the day: 'christmas time is here'

every year i think i'm going to be super adult about christmas. and truly i'm getting better at it. i really don't do a ton of decorating, and this year we're only buying presents for the kids in the family, but deep inside there is a very excited little girl. there's just something in me that gets giddy when i see the twinkle lights come on, when i hear a song on the radio, see a movie on tv. as the season goes on, the scrooge in me melts away little by little til soon there's none of an ebenezer left. i'm almost there. i think we're watching polar express tonight and if i'm not bubbling over with christmas spirit after that, i think there may be no hope.

but it's so fun to see it through your child's eyes. because i think as adults we can lose the magic of christmas. and it's not all about santa and presents. we don't do santa in our house for many reasons, but i want my son to learn that this is a season of love and giving. i want him to be excited about christmas and getting gifts and stuff but that isn't the truth of it. i want him to feel the joy of giving and spending time with family and making great memories. i remember more the fun times i had as a little girl with my family during christmas than i do the gifts i got. and we're starting our own holiday traditions together and what's more awesome than that?! i bought him a fantastic book based on the robert frost poem 'stopping by woods on a snowy evening.' it's beautifully illustrated and he was so excited about it, he brought the book to school for his teacher to read to the class. that just melted my heart. and it's one that we can pull out every single year and read together. ah, i love christmas :)

details:

sweater-vintage, thrifted

fur-vintage, etsy

tee-american apparel

skirt-thrifted

shoes-thrifted