Deck the Halls!

.... with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la!

candles in all the windows

the mantel has gone from basic fall to

lighted garland

plus stockings and candles and the Menorah

I am loving these crystal candlesticks I found in the Clearance dept at Home Goods!

It looked a bit empty in the middle, so I pulled in the wooden sign  'Believe'

we take the Menorah down to light the candles each night for Hannukah,
but for the rest of the holidays it will live here on the mantel.

with the addition of our dining room hutch, we now have a place for the creche

I did the painting years ago when we lived in Lawrence for the dining area,
but it makes a great background for the creche! Has me thinking about doing some side panels for next year though, so the entire top would be the sky.

Matt hung our big wreath above the garage. We saved  $$ this year by
getting a plain wreath and decorating it  ourselves with past years decorations.

And here is the front door! I've been SO excited for this ever since
I painted the door black. Doesn't it look great? :-)

There is of course more decorating to come since we haven't picked up our tree yet, but I will post pictures - don't you worry! This is one of my favorite times of year and I've had carols playing for days now - loud enough that I can hear them in every room of the house!

Next up is wrapping packages and baking! woot!