It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas…

Our house has been decorated for about two weeks now, and we’re enjoying all of the Christmas cheer.  I like to get our tree up before Thanksgiving so we can enjoy it longer; however, that didn’t happen this year.  Oh well…now that it’s up, we’ll enjoy it as long as we can. 
Even though our tree is artificial, it looks absolutely real.  I LOVE that, too.  It is my favorite tree, and we’ve actually bought it twice.  LOL!  We bought one when we moved into our house in 2005, and then we sold it when we thought we’d be moving to VA.  Once we decided NOT to move, I wanted the same tree…so we bought it again.  It’s a 7.5 foot Pre-Lit Glacier Pine Tree. 
Now, for those of you with pre-lit trees…what do you do when the lights stop working?  LOL!  I was having that conversation with a friend last week, and I have no idea what we’ll do.  Do you sit there and try to figure out which light needs replacing?  Do you spend hours replacing every single bulb?  Do you pull the strands of light off and re-wire it again with lights?  Hmmm…I honestly don’t know!  Maybe it’s time to do a Google search…
I have been playing with our mantle a lot this Christmas…but now I think I have it decorated just right.  We actually bought new decorations for the mantle this year, and I’m loving it.  We’ve also added a few other decorations, but nothing major.

Christmas tree

Left side of mantle

Right side of mantle

Center of mantle (This is behind the tree, so you can’t really see it.  However, it looked bare without anything, and you can see it from either side of the tree)

This is our “window” between the kitchen and living room…the garland was added this year as an extra touch.

Christmas plates on the rack in the breakfast area (where we eat EVERY meal…I change these plates out for every season, and I finally found these that are more “Christmas-y” at Pier 1).

Advent calendar that Caleb made at in his arts ‘n craft class at Co-Op

Nativity…my mom and I searched all over to find the right one, and I LOVE this one.  It goes with our color scheme so well, too.

Top of entertainment shelf…I bought the snowman plate either when I was pregnant with Micah or his first Christmas, and I think it represents our family of 4 quite well.

Wreaths on the doors to the gym

Boys’ tree in the playroom…they decorated it themselves, so there are lots of bare spots.  LOL!

So, are you all decorated for the holidays?  When will you take your tree down?  Do you go artificial or real?