Christmas in the New House

Christmas in the new house was just simply wonderful. I had so much fun decorating the house and making it look pretty. We had a housewarming party earlier in the month, so I took a few pictures of my decorations then but never posted them. I have to say thanks to my mom, my grandmother, and Josh's mom because they all helped me decorate and get things ready for Christmas. I'm almost sad to take down the decorations tomorrow, but I guess it's time. They've been up since Thanksgiving, so I guess that's long enough. I can't wait for next year though. I already have so many ideas of things I'm going to do differently as far as decorations go. Thank goodness for Pinterest or else I'd never remember them! Here's a look around our house the way it was for Christmas. 

My free printable from Pinterest

I love this verse!

I have to say my favorite place to decorate was my mantle. Sue gave me the idea of doing a wreath on top of the mirror and I LOVE how it turned out! I bought a pre-lit wreath from K-Mart and then hot glued gold glitter ornaments on top of it. I used a Pinterest inspired tip (stuck a Command strip upside down on the back of the mirror) to hang the wreath on the front of the mirror. 

My mantle above the fireplace

The night before our Housewarming Party, my mom, grandmother, and I were doing last minute decorations around the house. Before they came all I had above our entertainment center was a strip of garland with lights on it. I knew that I wanted something else up there but I didn't know what to do. Using things I had around the house already, Mom came up with this idea. Thank you, thank you, Mom!! I have to say thanks again to Sue for the vintage Santa picture. It was part of my birthday present from her and I love it!

Our resident Elf on the Shelf, Elfis, was with us every day during the Christmas season. He was a very well-behaved elf, unlike several elves I read about on various blogs and Facebook. He pretty much just liked to hide in different places, usually high places, around the house. Eli and Daddy really enjoyed walking around and looking for him every morning. Eli understood Elfis a lot more this year and made sure everyone followed the Elf on the Shelf rules :)

One of my absolute favorite things during Christmas is receiving Christmas cards from all our family and friends. I bought this wall hanger last year from Willow House and I love using it to display all the Christmas cards we receive.

It's not a Christmas without seeing pictures of my little man during his first Christmas. This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of him :)

My staircase...loved decorating this!

The stockings were hung with care...

Actually, the stockings were hung above the fireplace at first, but after Eli managed to pull one of the stocking hangers down on his head, I moved them. After bandaging the cut on his head, I asked him why he pulled it down and he said he just wanted to see it. (We'd already had the conversation about not pulling on them because it could fall and hurt us.) I decided to take temptation away from him and moved them to the top of our china cabinet where they've always been and will probably always be from now on.

If you've ever moved into a new house that's bigger than the one you were previously living in, then you know how it feels to walk into rooms and have nothing in them. That's what we have right now in several rooms in our house. We have the space, but don't have any furniture to fill the space. Our dining room is a classic example of this, so this year we opted to fill it with our Christmas tree :) It still looks pretty bare in there, but at least it's not just an empty room anymore. It's going to look like a cave tomorrow when I take the tree down though!

I love getting the ornaments Eli makes at school and hanging them on my tree every year. This year his class did lots of ornaments! 

I love that Eli goes to a school where they talk about the true meaning of Christmas with him.

I'm so very thankful that he's not only getting it at home and at church but at school as well. 

It's hard to believe the Christmas season has come and gone. Tomorrow I'll take down the decorations, box the tree up, and wrap up all the ornaments. I'll place them in the attic and won't look at them for an entire year. It'll be sad to see all the pretty decorations go, but I'm thankful that the true reason we celebrate Christmas isn't something that gets boxed up or put away. Thank you, God, for your love, for sending your son to this Earth to save sinners like me. Thank you for loving us!