A Merry Little Christmas

Ruffle Bum Romper: She Loves Her Mama   Bow: Zozu baby

The hubs and I absolutely love decorating for Christmas. Every year we add a little more to our home. I wanted to review a few Christmas traditions with you! Leave your traditions in the comments as well because I LOVE new ideas! I have included links to product ideas you can purchase on Amazon as well as local links for those in the Cary/Apex NC area looking for places and ways to celebrate!

WAYS TO CELEBRATE:

1. Matching family pajamas on Christmas Eve

2. Sleeping overnight by the Christmas tree

3.Getting a live Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving

4. Stovetop Christmas potpourri

5. Pictures with Santa

6. Letters to Santa 

(research if there is somewhere in your area that will write a letter in return before Christmas!)

7. Make Gingerbread houses

(You can buy kits on Amazon people. 

Now you don't have to drag your kids to the craft store- you're welcome)

8. Look up Christmas light displays in your area

9. Attend a Christmas parade

10. Host a fancy Christmas brunch

(we continued this tradition from a family friend of ours and it is a favorite of mine! It will get it's own blog post after Christmas)

11. Attend or host an ugly sweater party

12. Take family pictures and send traditional Christmas Cards

13. View or participate in local nativity celebrations

14. Act out the nativity while reading the gospel of Luke 

and sing Christmas songs

15. Wait on the stairs Christmas morning until 

everyone is ready

16. See the Nutcracker

17. Set up an advent calendar with things for 

your family to do together all month

(new christmas books, movies, activities, etc)

18. Go ice skating

19. Attend a local Vintage Market Days

20. Make Funnel Cake. Seriously you can 

do this. Best kept secret ever.

21. Make cookies for Santa

22. Keep a card table out over Christmas break to do a

puzzle together as a family

(Shown below)

WAYS TO SERVE:

1. Picking a family to anonymously deliver the 12 Days of Christmas 

2. Gifts to neighbors

(blanket, Paper goods, wrapping paper, potpourri, Dr Pepper reindeer, snowman jars)

3. Go caroling to neighbors or a nursing home

4. Sing at or visit a children's hospital

5. Donate old toys to a shelter or relief organization

6. Send cards and pictures to troops overseas

7. Participate in the "Light the World" initiative

8. Donate the money you would spend on cards to a charity and do an E-card instead

9. Put up Christmas lights for a widow or elderly friend

10. Pay for the person behind you in a drive-thru line and ask the attendant to have ask the next person to keep it going

WAYS TO DECORATE:


Bookshelves: Think balance, not symmetry. You want to look at the amount of negative space on each shelf, as well as the amount of color, and balance the right side, with the left.


The Santa mailbox on the left was such a good find for me this year and I linked the same one here on Amazon





Entryway: Think simple. You still want the space to be fully functional. The shoe basket on the right never moves and all I do is change out the pillow and the throw blanket. Around Christmastime, the reindeer on the left gets to make an appearance. I had the hardest time finding the right Christmas pillows this year but I just found an amazing stash on Amazon and linked them all here including the cutest red buffalo plaid!

Window boxes: This was super easy. I went to Michaels and got pre-snowed garland strands during their Black Friday Sale when they were 40-50% off. I stuck them gently in the box and laid Christmas lights on top and voi la!



Around the house: GO GREEN! This is all the rage these days right? So why not buy into the idea?! I have garland on the outdoor columns, in the window boxes, on the fireplace mantle, and wrapping the stairs. It is a timeless way to decorate that will never go out of style.

Table Top: Again you want to keep it simple so you don't have to keep moving it out of the way. It should be low enough you can see over it and small enough that it can remain in the center of the table and eat around it during the week.


Santa Sacks: You're welcome for no longer needing to wrap the gifts for your kids. We purchased Santa Sacks and now each kid gets their own bag to open on Christmas morning. And they double as being adorable and matching your Christmas decor.




So there you have it. The best month of the year wrapped up in just a few photos and a couple sentences. Make the memories that matter most. Have a merry little Christmas!