Catching Up on All Things CHRISTMAS!

FRIENDS!!

Happy Monday!

How are you doing??

Phew. I totally did not mean to only post once last week!!!

I had several things I wanted to share...but with it being the last week of school for my kids and having to coordinate 5 different parties, performances, teacher gifts and what felt like to be 45 sign up geniuses the good ol' blog got neglected!!

Anyway...I wanted to share some "Christmasy" things with you before I sign off for the rest of the week to celebrate Christmas with my family!

Aaron and I went to his Christmas party 2 weeks ago and it was such a fun time!

I love an excuse to get dressed up and go out with my favorite person. 

I have absolutely no shame and made Charlotte take about 25 pictures of us while our babysitter just watched us act like fools. HA!

This past Tuesday was the ONLY open day on my calendar- so I stocked up on all my baking supplies (Aldi is my favorite place to get everything I need to bake!) and Marshall and I had a baking day!!

It was seriously the sweetest day and was MUCH needed for my heart. I have felt pretty weary in several areas of my life, including parenting- so to have a fun, easy day baking with my "baby" truly felt like the BEST Christmas present!

(P.S. How funny is our elf in the picture?!? HA!)

We made "cowboy cookies" - you can find the recipe HERE, triple chocolate chip cookies- you can find the recipe HERE and sugar cookies! 

My secret "weapon" for sugar cookies is Alid's sugar cookie mix!! I put a thin layer of my homemade cream cheese icing on them and Christmas sprinkles to make them extra festive!

A couple weeks ago, I stopped by a local store to pick up a hostess gift. They were having a half off sale on all of their Christmas items- so I picked up these two Christmas fragrance oils. FRIENDS. They smell SO SO good. I am totally obsessed with how delightful both smell! I just put them in my diffuser like my other essential oils I diffuse!

They are from the brand Bridgewater Candle Company and you can find them HERE on Amazon!! 

And finally, I wanted to give a quick little Christmas house tour with ya'll!

A lot of our decor is the same from last year..but I have added/switched a few things up and wanted to share it with you!

This is our front entryway! I don't think it is a big enough space that I can call it a porch :)

Same decor as the last two years...I love how simple and cheerful it is!

 

Our sunroom is also decorated the same as last year. I put wreaths in all our windows- which is my FAVORITE!

Our sunroom Christmas tree is the "fun" tree. The kids decorate it all by themselves and it has all of their handmade ornaments on it. I LOVE it!

Moving onto our dining room!

I added two 7.5 feet skinny-ish trees in here this year! They aren't flocked...but they have a slight flocked texture to them. I just wanted something super simple and wintry and these trees fit that criteria perfectly! 

Here's how I have our dining room table decorated for Christmas! I had some silver deco mesh in one of my Christmas storage bins and used that as a table runner. A couple days ago I picked up some garland on SUPER sale at Michael's and also got some flameless candles. I added a few mason jars and I just love how it all turned out! 

Right now, our Advent wreath is in the middle- but for Christmas day dinner, I plan to put a couple silver sparkly Christmas trees!

And here's the dining room all lit up at night! I love how cozy the trees make the room feel!

Another new addition to my Christmas decor this year are these driftwood trees I picked up from Walmart!! Aren't they neat?!?

 I put them on either side of my mantle and I love how they look!

I also did my piano a little differently than I did last year!

I used to have the mini Christmas trees on my mantle- but I moved them to the piano this year!

The wooden arches and white antique window is from my entry way table. 

I love shopping my house and moving around decor!

I got this rustic, wooden nativity scene at Kirkland's this year and I have it behind our stove top. You can see it as soon as you walk into our home and I just love it!

Another fun addition to our Christmas decor is the fun pom pom trees the girls and I made together! I shared about these a couple weeks ago!! We have them on our bookshelf in our reading nook and they are just SO festive and fun!

And finally...our big "fancy" Christmas tree! 

I decorated in the same as I have the last 2 years....but- I feel like it looks totally different against the new addition of the shiplap wall Aaron did this past June!

I use only gold and silver ornaments and it has a very "winter wonderland" feel :)

And here is our tree all lit up at night!

P.S. Would you believe we got this tree at Salvation army for 70% off and paid $15 for it?!?

It is about 15 years old and is SO sturdy and well made!!

And there you have it friends...all the Christmas I can cram into one post!!

I will be back tomorrow for a short and sweet post to share our Christmas card and then plan to take a little break to be with my family while we are on Christmas break!!

I sure hope you have the BEST day and the most wonderful rest of your week!

Linking up with Heather, Johannah, Tanya and Lindsay!