Tis the Season!

Well its Christmas time at our house! I had to do a lot of improvising this year decoration wise but somehow it worked out.

What is it about Christmas lights that makes everything feel so cozy? Which I admit is a nice change around here :)

Axel was napping when I put up our lights and when he woke up, we showed them to him and he went "OOOHH!" And pointed to all the new lights in our Kitchen. (Where did he get that?!)

Surprisingly though he leaves the tree alone for the most part. (unless he is tired or bored) But we haven't had any major catastrophes just yet. He does ask for one of the "Balls" everyday though. Sigh but I knew that was going to happen.

We somehow still managed to find space for our Christmas tree in our front room, its super crowded, but cozy crowded :)We made this at the Anderson Girls night, this is the craft I was in charge of, and I didn't mind making the craft, but I wasn't a very good teacher, so I apologize to those of you who made it and suffered through my poor instructions, or rather lack there of. Hope they turned out cute tho with the ornaments on them. :)
I also made this little guy that night. He is my Santa Elf. Thanks Kelli for showing us how to make them!
And later I decided I would attempt to make the card wreath too. (as some may remember was one of the options to vote for) I think it looks funny tho. Maybe once it has more cards...
I included this because we got this Santa/Baby Jesus from Kory's grandmother earlier this year. I just thought it would be nice to have something to remind us of them during Christmas since they loved that holiday so much. I have heard there is a story that goes with this, I would like to know what that is so we can tell it to our kids. I believe my mother in law gave this to her.

I had to be extra creative with Christmas decor since my front room has no space this year. So I spread it into our Kitchen and I really like how it turned out. But what I am MOST excited about is this...

Last year we bought Christmas lights and the hooks AFTER Christmas for dirt cheap, and I have been waiting ALL year to put them up. (I even put them up BEFORE thanksgiving because I was afraid it would be too cold and snowy) But I didn't do this all by myself. In fact most of the work was done by my good friend PJ, she came over to help me, ladder and all, and ended up doing MOST of the work. She even convinced me that cleaning out our gutters was a good idea too. So it wouldn't have gotten done with out her, so I am pretty grateful she came and helped me. It looks really good at night too :) It took me a while to figure out the extension part, and how to get power to all the different parts, but I figured it out. We even got an awesome remote control on clearance for 5 bucks at Target, and it makes turning them on pretty exciting but also low effort on our part which we love.

I of course can't forget my favorite decoration of all :) His nose glows :)

This weekend we went to the Anderson Christmas Party, and my battery was TOTALY dead so the only picture I got was of Axel with Santa with my phone.

But what a great picture it is!

We had fun visiting with lots and lots of family, and riding the train and of course meeting Santa, and I even got teerey eyed during the 2nd part of the train ride as we viewed pictures of the Savior. And even though I have seen it quite a few times, it still touches my heart. (Although I have never cried before, so is it safe to say it's the hormones?) Anyway, I am very excited for this holiday season where I get to reflect on the many many gifts my Savior has given me, and ways I can become closer to him. Happy holidays to you all hope you are having as much fun decking the halls as we are!