Deck the halls

I finally (finally) got up the last of the Christmas decorations yesterday. I used to aim to finish it over Thanksgiving weekend, but now that Ellen's birthday is the week after Thanksgiving, I feel the need to wait so she can have a birthday that isn't always associated with Christmas.

This a new wreath - I pretty much followed the tutorial on Smile and Wave. I'm a pretty lazy holiday decorator ... I love the feeling of holiday decorations, but I don't love putting them all up myself. Simple, child-friendly is key for now.

I did have a little bit of a craft FAIL ... I spent quite a while cutting out felt pieces, and then stapling and pinning in place - only to remember at the end that the back of the wreath would be visible through the glass door. Doh! (I worked out a little solution today.)

I was on a roll with the wreaths this weekend! I saw this Coffee Filter Wreath tutorial on Martha this week, and then I remembered that I had some cupcake wrappers and plenty of paper plates - a free project! (My favorite!) I think this is really cute and it was super fast .... you can do it!

Last year I decided to do two little trees instead of our big tree. I wasn't up for battling Ellen over the ornaments, and I pretty much felt the same way this year. The trees are small enough that they just barely hold our favorite ornaments, which is perfect.

Yep, another one ...

And, lastly, our mantel. I did something similar last year with the paper cones, but I also had a big mirror with lots of cut-out paper snowflakes hanging in front. When I did the re-do of the mantel and fireplace, I moved the mirror, so things looked a little bare this year. I added as many additional trees as I could find in my stash, along with some glass cake stands and candle holders for variation.


The Christmas season has been really fun with Ellen this year. I did most of the decorating during nap time, and it was so sweet when she came downstairs and said, "oooohh, mama, look at dose!", "aaahh, mama, look at dat!". Yesterday, when the wreath was finally hanging on the front door, Erik brought her down and she said, "look, Dada, isss Chris-mas!"

It has been kind of hard to explain that "Christmas" isn't a tree or a wreath, but rather a day. I put up the tree, and she asked "where Sant-a go?" I explained that he came only on Christmas, but in her mind that meant he came every time she saw a tree with sparkly lights. Hmmmm. Next year, I think she will be really ready for the concept of an advent calendar. Looking forward to it already!