'Tis the Season to be Freezin'!!

I cannot deny that, even though winter will stretch all the way until March when I want to kill Mother Nature, early December still has me craving the snow.  Northeast Ohio is notorious for the four seasons of almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction (I stole that from Jeff Foxworthy!), so the fact that it hasn't snowed yet is a little disheartening.  But I digress....by getting the house ready for our first Christmas together!


The mantel is decked and the stockings are hung with care - and 3M removable hooks.

I used an old window leftover from summer decor on the patio and put snowflake wrapping paper behind it.  Upside down wine glasses served as candle sticks, and green glittery candles and decanters were stolen from the wedding stuff still packed in boxes in the basement.

Here's three of the Christmas bottles that resemble the ones from my Halloween mantel.

The nutcracker I bought when we went to see the Nutcracker Ballet over Thanksgiving weekend.  He's super glitter-ified :)

A little wooden sign I made a couple of years ago.

Who doesn't love the Grinch??!

This past weekend we went and picked out our tree.  Chopped it down and everything :) 

There's something to be said for gettin on your boots, hat, scarf, and gloves and trudging out into the Christmas tree field in search of the perfect tree.  It's just not the same when you have to trudge to the basement to pull it out of a box.

Growing up, we always got a real tree.  And every year, my sister and I would pull out the box of ornaments and decorate with a hodge podge of macaroni angels and clothespin reindeer.  What mother would ever turn down a handmade ornament?? 

This year being our first Christmas as a married couple meant our ornaments had to live together on the same tree.  I'm not the "themed" Christmas tree kind of person.  While I can appreciate the aesthetics and the planning of such trees,  there's nothing quite like the patchwork of ornaments that each tell a story.

This one we picked up on our honeymoon in Paris.  Handpainted Eiffel Tower and Paris city scene.

I didn't get this one in Paris (more like Hobby Lobby) but it's one of three Eiffel Towers hanging on the tree.

My mom made my sister and I matching angels when we were little and I stole mine from her ornament box when I moved out - now it hangs at the top of our tree :)

Dan's mom bought us this for Christmas last year.

From the first Christmas in Dan's new house.

This is one of Dan's contributions....

Just Kidding ;)

My little sled and Dan's really little sled!

And here's our patchwork of ornamental beauty!  Of course, there's more ornaments than branches, but we like it that way.

Merry Christmas, Everybody!

Does anyone have any ornaments that mean something special??  Do you decorate your tree in a theme, or a menagerie like our's?