It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas!
This past weekend {after debating whether or not to put decorations up this year} I decided to go ahead and decorate the house in the normal Holiday fashion.  Putting aside all the other things on my list, I went to work.  Tyler strung the lights {the colored variety this year} while I dug through box after box of decorations, picking just the right amount of trim and holly to display.

In Christmas past I've decorated in a specific color scheme, making sure everything matched the house and looked absolutely perfect before being viewed by others.
This year is a little different.
I decided to do a "family" tree.

Displaying all the fun homemade ornaments and special findings from our childhood.  This is what Christmas is supposed to be with little kids around the house.  Someday I plan on displaying two trees in our home.  A "family" tree as well as my tree.  But for now this is perfect.  Tommy helped me fill the branches with all our goodies while "A Christmas Story" played in the background.  What a sweet memory it made for me.

I knew I was having all my family members over on Sunday night for dinner, so I was determined to get as much up around the house as possible.  I continued on all through the night putting up as much as I could handle, til I finally crashed, well after midnight.  I'm so glad it's up though and now I can focus on all the other things on my To Do List.

Here's a little peek at what our home looks like before snuggling into bed.  

My Christopher Radko Collection.  Is usually displayed on a special tree in the front entry, but in fear of little miss Lola's wondering hands, I decided to display them up and out of her reach.

 Miscellaneous Snowmen and Santa's piled into one big display.

The Santa's Mail Bag was my Mother's, always hanging in the front hallway behind the door.  

Dawning all the Christmas cards and letters we would receive from friends and family.

A few of my fun Vintage finds.  

Our stockings look purple and blue in this picture, but are actually soft blue and teal.

The boys right before bed.  Snuggling up to daddy on the couch.

We also welcomed a new little member into our home this Holiday season.  He's our "Elf on the Shelf", Peek-A-Boo, who keeps track of all the happenings in our home.  He reports back to Santa each night to make sure everyone is still on the "nice" list.    

                              -and let me tell you, so far..... he's been worth every 3200 pennies we paid for him!  Tommy has caught his "attitude" issues and corrected them on a number of different occasions in fear that Peek-A-Boo will tell Santa about his naughtiness! 

Each night after returning back from the North Pole he positions himself 

on a new shelf somewhere throughout the home.  

Toms loves waking up and searching through the rooms to see if he can spot him first.  

A fun new tradition we plan on having for years to come!  

Welcome into our lives, Peek-A-Boo.

ok, 

I'm off to work on some Christmas orders, not a lot of time, but a LOT to do!  Wish me luck in getting it all done, as I'm sure each of you need luck in doing all of your things too!  

Such a busy time of year, but we all love it!