Christmas Decorations

This is what has been consuming my entire life this week. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this and have a blast with it, but it is ALL I have been doing this week.

It all started when we got home from our vacation and I was admiring all of the Christmas decorations people on our street have. And since this is our first Christmas in our house I was dreaming of all of the things I would do to decorate our house. Meanwhile, Justin told me he would be right back. I asked him where he was going and he said, "Don't worry about it." A couple of minutes later he came walking into the house with a $100 for me and said, "Go buy any Christmas decorations that you want. When it's gone, it's gone." What a great hubby I have. So I took the money and ran! Here are a few of the crafty projects and screaming good deals I have found taking over my life this week.
Michaels - 9 feet of garland for $1.50. Who can pass that up?
JoAnn Fabrics - berry garland 4 for $8. I wonder if they know me by name in there yet?
Anyways, lots of other places contributed to my decorating obsession. I'm thankful Target and a gazillion other places had rusticy looking ornaments because that's where my ideas came from.
I had been himming and hawing forever about what kind of theme I wanted to do our tree in. I kept going back and forth back and forth about how I wanted it to look and fit in with the rest of my decorating. I'm crazy I know. I eventually want two trees. One for our living room and one for our family room. Well, eventually we will have a 'fancy' tree for our living room. But for now, I decided to start with a rustic looking tree. So here goes...

Above are the star stocking holders I bought. I bought six so according to our stocking holders I can have 4 kids. After that, who knows what we'll do. Well, I guess we'll just have to see how that all pans out. If it's less than it's less, if it's more than hopefully Target will still carry them in a few years :)
These very rustic bells I found at the dollar store! Anyone who knows me knows that it is at the top of my 'favorite stores' list.
Who can beat 25 cents for an ornament? So I bought these, painted them, sanded them, drilled them, and finally hung them up. Justin even helped with these!
A few years ago one of the little boys I taught his mom gave me a bag of these wood sleds. There weren't enough for the entire class to have one so I really wasn't sure what to do with them. So they remained in a bag with the rest of my craft stuff until this week. I saw a similar sled done up like this at Michaels so I copied. After paint, and berries, and acorns I thought they turned out quite cute.
Here are my cutie little trees that will soon find their home in the corner of our front porch.
Ta-da. Here's the mantle with the lights and garland and stockings. The whole shabang!
And we can't leave out the entertainment center. Now...what am I to do with all the other Christmas stuff that has piled up on our floor from years past that I have no clue what to do with?
Here the beauty is now! Next year my Christmas money will go towards a tree skirt and star. But for now I'm thinking she looks pretty good! Now I'm down to 5 bucks. I think I'll buy some mistletoe to show my hubby how thankful I am for him and what a happy wife he has now ;)