hey friends! i hope you are enjoying this very special time of year and soaking it all in. as we know all too well, the season comes and goes much too quickly. so cliche, but i can’t believe Christmas is a mere 4 days away.

wasn’t thanksgiving last thursday?

as for our family, we are enjoying as much of the remaining holiday season as is possible. i have a few last minute gifts to purchase, a load of wrapping to finish (which any mom will agree is very hard to do with little ones around all day – let’s just say i am losing a lot of sleep!), and i have plans to bake all day friday…with the help of 3 little people, i’m sure. but otherwise, we are enjoying our family traditions and a slightly less stressful work schedule for daddy.

we are thoroughly enjoying it and not forgetting the real reason for the season.

since before we know it i will be taking down our Christmas decorations, i thought it might be fun to share some of my favorites from our home this year. i don’t know why i didn’t think to share photos sooner. humm, on second thought – i know exactly why. my kids have been out of school for almost a week now and i’ve been spending every spare moment entertaining them. 😉

and i have enjoyed seeing holiday decoration photos in other blogs and on pinterest.

so, welcome to our home….

i love our front entry and try my best to make it very festive. this is the spot where most of our family and children’s photos are taken – when we have visitors, on halloween, special occasions like the first day of school or a lost tooth, etc. when i was growing up, my mom did the same thing but it was inside our home near the front door.

and during Christmas…i love a lot of lights!…

we’ve had this snowman since our first child was born…there is a definite attachment to this guy!…

you can imagine my sadness when i plugged him in while setting up the front porch and the lights didn’t come on. i had to sit down and collect myself. thankfully, after a good shake, he suddenly he turned on – yippee!

i also love to see a Christmas tree all lit up inside a home…

there was a heavy discussion in our family about color vs. white – we went with color!

one of my favorite, favorite indoor Christmas decorations is our collection of framed photos of the kids with Santa. we have 7 years of photos now…and i’m already running out of places to set them! we tend to buy one or two images each year, because they tend to be very funny photos. they are one of our favorites, for sure! here are some of them sitting on our entry table…this table is just as you walk in the front door…

you can also see the above mentioned entry table in this photo…

that photo was taken inside our dining room, and facing toward the entry and living room.

here is our beautiful tree for 2011 – it’s a real one. we always opt for a real tree – even though they have fallen down twice since we’ve lived here…and we’ve only lived here 4 years so we don’t have the best odds for a tree that stays upright!….

our living room mantle is another favorite spot to decorate….

i love to decorate the mantle with a garland and candles…and of course, stockings!…

since i can’t post something in my blog without a little organization tip – these stockings are hung with command adhesive hooks. these are so awesome and helpful…and they have stood strong through the “1 year old yanking on them 1,000 times without them falling down” test. hehe!…

here is the sitting area of our living room. this year i found these festive red pillows at target. it was a black friday deal – a set of 2 pillows for $9! such a great deal i bought 2 sets. they add a great pop of color to this room….

and in our dining room…

i have a few simple favorites. i love this very easy centerpiece…

i found oversized pine cones and combined them with trimmings from our tree that were cut off before we brought it into the house….

my other favorite item in the dining room is our nativity scene. this was a gift from my mother-in-law a few years ago. each year we add on a new piece. it’s sure to be something we pass on to the kids once they have families of their own…

in our kitchen/family room area….

i have a few favorites…like that big red holly wreath up high over the oven/stove…

and the simple decorations on the kitchen mantle…

every house needs candy canes…

although i don’t have any photos to share at the moment, i also love to decorate by using our children’s holiday artwork. i have many wreaths and paintings here and there throughout the house. i especially love anything using their handprints. i love hand and foot prints.

finally, i’ll share some of my favorite ornaments. two years ago, when our tree fell (ahem…), many of the ornaments broke. the main loss were the ball ornaments . you know the ones that break when you barely tap them? so i replaced our ball ornaments with these pretties…

they make me smile, because they remind me of that tree falling over. when i was hugely 9 months pregnant. while i was home alone with the kids. while my husband was away on business. you have to smile, right? you can only imagine the visual of a 9 months pregnant mother of 2 trying to pick up a million slivers of ornament, mop up tree water, pick up a large Christmas tree, try to keep the tree from falling over again…while trying to keep 2 very curious boys away from the scene of the crime…and again, all while biting my tongue.

you have to laugh! these ornaments will remind me of what will always be known as *that year*.

it’s all about the memories – no matter good or bad….

i also love our assortment of pretty, glittery snowflakes….

we have a mix of green, silver and gold…courtesy of target!

i’m a sucker for anything my kids make too…

i love our little woodland animals – this one is my favorite fuzzy little guy…

another favorite and something that reminds us of what we can’t live without all year long…

my sister purchased this starbucks ornament for us many years ago. when i see that ornament, i think about her. and *that* always makes me smile.

finally, we load up our tree with photo ornaments. we have a photo of each child for each year. the kids LOVE to look at those ornaments and guess which baby/child it is and how old they were. this one is our first born. he was born in october so we put a newborn photo of him on the tree…and the tradition continues year after year…

i hope you enjoyed seeing a glimpse of our home this holiday season. i had fun sharing some of my favorite things. i’d love you to share with me too! so be sure to comment!

now back to wrapping i go. 😉

{i linked up this post with anna}