A Family of Elves

I thought I'd better get to business and share my house this winter with you all.  I've been slacking around too much! 

Anyone that truly knows me knows this:  I love anything that sparkles and shines - especially old glitter - I am like a hummingbird or a raccoon.

This wreath is hanging on the door into our garage.  It is fabulous and adorned with a vintage reindeer from my beloved Grandma Toots.  I have a big reindeer collection but it's in the "long term" storage tote because of my littles.

As you come in the house from the laundry room this greets you.  A painting done by my fabulous Mom and a big Santa boot filled with reindeer and elves.  I have a love and small collection of creepy elves!

This is my foyer at the front door.  My pink dresser couldn't be any better for the mere $40 I paid for it.  I have a collection of some of my favorite industrial finds in this area.  I kept it simple for me this year and added a stocking, magazine wreath, and glittery snowman to jazz it up.  A giant pulley is holding all the Christmas cards we have received.

The kids have been busy crafting for me!  My chandelier is covered in coffee filter snowflakes & we'll leave them up through the winter.  The back door is covered with vinyl ornaments that Everett likes to peel off and lick - we won't go into that right now!  We recently put my bench back at the table & now I can fit 8 people!  I'm ready for Kylie & Maggie to move in!  Oh hello Trudie - thank you for getting that tiny morsel for me!

I don't like a lot of fuss on the table because with kids it just gets messy and moved for all the meals so I took an old tool box tray, filled it with vintage garland, some reindeer from the fabulous Toots, and the vintage Santa ornament Jade adores.  It used to be on the tree...but Everett broke it this year along with the tree topper.  He was so excited to help decorate this year, he broke many things, but he had a great time!

I have a tub full of vintage glass ornaments and oh me oh my they are something special!  However - "long term storage" is where they are.  I get out just a select few and keep them up high!

I had to share this shadow box because Aubrie painted it for me, and I was quite impressed.  She's becoming quite the little artist.  This is my window above the sink so she's proud that it's front & center too.

In my cabinets I have a collection of old vintage glittery houses from Toots.  Again they are fabulous & up high so they can't be broken.  I have learned if you don't want it broken, put it up high.  You can't expect littles to not touch glitter - I don't blame them - glitter is great!

This little tool box is in the kids' bathroom on their vanity.  They each have a tinsel tree from Grandma.  We added some more tinsel, plastic ornaments, and a vintage sleigh and reindeer for some fun.

At the staircase the stockings are hung with care.  Even Trudie has one.  I am looking forward to Christmas to see what gifts have been hidden in them this December by the kids!  Anything is possible to surprise us!

Aubrie made a big paper garland so we strung it up over the TV cabinet.  I also have another small collection of glitter houses, but they are "newish" so little hands have ravaged them a bit.

Multiple glitter reindeer - check. (PS I would love a herd of these!)

Glitter Jesus with all the glitter plastic balls & tinsel I could fit into an old tool box - check!

Then, our white tree is one of my favorite things.  It was prelit, and darned the luck this year half of it didn't light up.  I added lights, but with my belly, I missed a small section at the top.  I did my best, but I'm pregnant and if I got too involved trust me I would have knocked it over or it would have taken me over!  Which that would make for a good story in itself!  It's still beautiful I think.

The most exciting part this year was that I forgot I bought a ton of stuff on clearance last Christmas.  I had some new fabulous ornaments, glittery leafy sticks, glittery peacock feathers (woot woot), and snow flakes.  The tree is really full this year and looks fantastic.

Almost everything on here is plastic!  I have a few special ornaments that are glass and of course at the top because accidents do happen.

I had to keep it real for you and show you that the kids rule in this house.  With the addition of Caroline to our family I now have 3 tiny recliners ruling the center of the room.  The TV cabinet is to the left of this picture so you can see they are seriously front & center.  Mom even got them their own personal Christmas throws.  If you even turn on Little Bear when they aren't watching - five minutes tops and all butts are firmly parked gawking at the TV for a good 20 minutes.  You can get a lot done in 20 minutes because of Little Bear!  Little Bear is one of my best friends - he just doesn't know it.

At the bottom of my stair case is my nativity set.  I had it upstairs last year and too much temptation took Mary's head clean off when she hit the tile floor.

This year it's obvious that Everett has done a bit of adjusting.  The sheep was sick of it being crowded in the stable so he took off upstairs & the camel, well clearly the camel is over the long journey it just made.  It is not impressed with the new baby Jesus.

I have an ornament wreath, and then another creepy elf that I love.

Oh there is Ollie.  Hi Ollie!  She has a mere 9 weeks left - really 8 since we are going a week early!  Yes, I may pop by then, and I have no idea what size my feet will be - they are severely swollen but I'll save that post for later!

Oh and the last bit of merry is in our bedroom where I blog.  My glass head is filled with vintage baubles and glass balls - it's better than David Bowie's tight pants in Labyrinth let me tell you.  Some people find this head creepy, but it's versatile - fill it with candy corn for Halloween - eggs for Easter - it's really endless what you can do with an empty head.

So there you have it.  I went really easy on myself this year.  I have a shocking amount of Christmas decor and it's my favorite time of year.  I usually have everything tinseled out - all the cabinets inside and on top.  Sparkly lights everywhere, but mama was tired.  I just put out my favorite things and well it's perfect!  I can't wait for this Christmas to see my kids' expressions when Santa comes.  They are finally big enough to really love the season!  I do dread tear down.  I'll be even larger then.  Thank the lord that Jade is stepping in to help.  Decorating really isn't his cup of tea, but he's been quite the stud this year when it comes to carrying around tubs and decorating the tree.  I am lucky to have him!

Merry Merry to you and yours.  And remember it's all about the Jesus this year!

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