Twas the Night Before Christmas

Here are the photos I promised. This is our family Christmas tree. Some people prefer to have a tree that looks like it belongs in a showroom. Ours is packed full of memories. Memories of Christmases past, trips and vacations, family members, etc. Plus I have several vintage goodies that I have found over the years. Our gold star sits on top. Having a gold star tree topper was something I dreamed of all throughout my childhood. It was not until I became an adult that my wish was fulfilled. Here are some of my favorite ornaments:

These were hand-me-downs from my grandma. I remember them being on her tree when I was a child.

These are from my/our travels: Yosemite 2006 Kaua'i 2008

Maui 2006

Richardson Grove Camping Trip 2008

Yellowstone 1996

I also love to collect chipboard houses and bottle brush trees. Todd says I have enough at this point because they now fill the mantle. But let's face it, a girl can never have too many! This year I created some "snow" and back lit the village with small, white lights. Some of the houses have been gifts from Todd, and the trees were Christmas gifts from my parents. I created the little pink and blue gift boxes this year while on bedrest. I thought the trees needed some presents!

For the past twelve years I have been slowly collecting the Dept. 56 village. All of the buildings have been gifts. I write the year and the giver on each box so I can remember who they came from and what was going on the Christmas I received them. Like I said, Christmas is all about memories for me! This year I put the village in our dining room hutch. Todd and I agreed, this is the perfect home for the Village.

The pub was an early Christmas present from Todd this year. We both loved it. We're not Irish. But we figured our Scottish ancestry was close enough :)!

Here's our ledge in the dining room. Gail's trees at the cabin were my inspiration. The flag banner was a project I began right around Christmas last year, but did not finish until this spring.

Here are some other tchotchkes that I have around our home:

More of Grandma's hand-me-downs. These three little statues are some of my favorites.

My pink marabou tree (a gift from my mom). I think I can safely say this is not Todd's favorite! I made all of the little ornaments on it. A project I found in Somerset Studios Magazine.
Here are our stockings. Todd's is from his childhood. This is probably his favorite Christmas decoration hands down. Here are a couple little do dads that I whipped up. I stumbled upon this photo last year on another blog and it inspired me. It's amazing the things you can create with your "spare" time while on bedrest.