deck the halls

I love Christmas time! I thought I would share some pictures of how I've decorated for the holidays this year! My husband is a huge fan of colored lights...but I REALLY prefer white lights. After two years of having white lights on our Christmas tree, last January I promised him that we could do colored lights the next year (this year). I really hoped he would forget my promise and that I'd get my way with white lights again, but nope, that man has a memory like a steel trap! :) So here is our Christmas decor in all it's glory, white lights on everything except the tree. But hey, those colored lights are growing on me. Maybe next year we'll do something crazy and mix the two! ;)

Wreath/thrifted for less than $2. That's a WIN! Bow/handmade using ribbon from Hobby Lobby

 Thrifted, faux poinsettias in a silver & gold ornament filled vase. Bow made out the same ribbon as used on the front door wreath. The vase is sitting on a thrifted gold tray, originally from Pottery Barn. Simple garland greenery, white lights, and red beading dresses up our bar area in the kitchen. Cinnamon sticks and candy canes sit on the top of the bar in a clear vase/bowl we got for our wedding. They smell yummy too!

The tree - my husband's favorite part because it has colored lights and batman ornaments! And a pretty 'Let it Snow' pillow that my mom gave me a couple of years ago. Pretty sure we won't be seeing any snow this year though since we're in TX...

Our mantle is by far my favorite part! This is the first time I've ever had a mantle and I get so excited when decorating it! Atop the mantle sits my pretty angel collection. The angels are really special to me because they're from my mom and she's the best at picking out pretty (not tacky) ones. They all fit really well together even though they're not exactly the same. The angles are mixed in the white lights and greenery together with random gold and silver decorations like the little white birdcage (thrifted) and some glass vases filled with ornaments, gold pine-cones, glittery branches, etc. The vases are sitting on top of silver candle sticks that were also thrifted. The reindeer and 'peace' wall hangings were handmade by me. They are simply white foam squares covered with white tissue paper on which I glued the flat reindeer and 'peace' ornaments as well as the miniature bells. All the supplies for the wall hangings were from the Dollar Tree and totaled less than $6! The mirror was super cheap from Ross and the wreath was also thrifted. Inside the fireplace I added some more white lights (can you ever have too many lights?!) with some of my thrifted poinsettias placed in a basket I already had.

Merry Christmas!

p.s.  last Christmas with my family,

some more pictures of Christmasy stuff,

and a diy holiday topiary (that sadly did not survive the move down to TX)