It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Even though we put up the tree on Nov. 27th this year, the earliest ever, we still managed to be digging through boxes and struggling to get the house all holly jolly with decorations up until the last minute.

As with the stockings, everything sort of got a shift this year. It's been one of learning and growing. Nothing is in the place it was last year, but I kind of like that. This is our third Christmas in this house and we are still learning how to make it a home. Deciding what works and what doesn't.

Some new things this year are the glass jars, that I absolutely love, filled with ornaments and glass beads. The frame on the dining room table has the free Be Merry and Bright download from Becky Higgins in it. My plan with this frame is to rotate a different digital print each season. The Playmobil Nativity Scene is new and really cute. I thought the kids would love it, as they could arrange the scene and play with the characters however they wanted. It sits on one of end tables in our living room. I moved the wreaths to the french doors leading into the library. It spreads out the holiday decor throughout the main level and keeps me from going insane each time they would fall off the only window we have facing the front of the house.

I added the Joy ornament to the wreath that hangs on our door. I like it a lot more now. Added a little color and pop to it, don't you think? I tried to find a welcome sign but they were all too big. Instead, a Welcome sign hangs around the end stair post as you first walk in. It is a wooden sleigh with a Santa face that reads Believe as well as Welcome.

The stairs are decorated pretty much the same. Lighted garland wraps the top banister. This year, I added wire garland to the bottom, weaving it through the balusters as I worked my way up the stairs. Gold, red and green ribbon bows are attached to each post; made with the wonderful Bowdabra. (Haven't put that thing to use in years. Such a wonderful tool it is.)

Scented pine cones sit in a gold basket next to a ceramic pitcher filled with white poinsettias on the other end table in the living room. The silk blooms came about because we had Zeke and poinsettias are poisonous to cats. Four years since his passing and I still haven't found the heart to buy the real thing. More silk flowers lie in various size vases in the corner of the dining room.

Though quite possibly my favorite decoration was my husband's brilliant idea last year; to wrap the pillars separating the living and dining rooms as candy canes. The tree still sits in the bay window in our dining room. We contemplated moving it into the hallway this year. But left it where it is. I feel it is out of the way here and still the perfect spot to build our village underneath once the kids get older.

Speaking of village. I have been begging Fred to get an electric train for under the tree for 5 years now. He keeps coming up with excuses and putting me off. Mason is a big train fanatic, he owns almost every Thomas train there is, and now with Sophie developing a strong interest, I really wanted one for this year. However it was looking like once again it was not to be. And then a Christmas miracle happened. Fred was installing recessed lights in my parents kitchen on a Grandma Sunday. Mason and my Mom were putting up the village and brought out the train they bought to put around the tree. As luck would have it, the train was huge. Too huge to place under the tree with the village and so Fred no longer had an excuse and I finally got my train. Doesn't it just look awesome?

The kids were over the moon about it. There is a Santa at the engine, it plays Christmas music and, it goes forward and backward. I LOVE IT! Thanks Mom and Dad.

And that is it for the holiday tour of our home. Hope you enjoyed it and maybe got a few ideas for yourselves for next year.