Christmas Decor on a Dime

It's a Christmas miracle. My house is clean(ish). 

I've literally never been this joyful in my damn life.

My parents are amazing. They and my Nana came down on Saturday to help me clean and get ready for Christmas, and everything finally got taken care of. Apparently it takes 5 adults to do my job. My mama and nana switched off cleaning and baby tending, my daddy blew and bagged all the leaves in our yard (a monstrous undertaking), Alex worked in the guest house, and I ran around in circles. 

And Bobby tried to undo everything we did.

You know what sucks about moving every three years?  Not being able to find your Christmas decorations. I left Japan a month before Alex, so he had to pack out our house alone (read- he "supervised" Japanese ninjas doing it). These ninjas have a packing system of the bizarre. I went out to the sheds on a hunt for our Christmas decorations, and returned 3 hours later with only a handful of items. I opened a box labeled "miscerraneous," and found a drum set, an old bottle of vodka, a dust pan, baby toys, and a pillow. And oh-by-the-way, at the very bottom lies my nativity scene. Literally every single box was like this, so after a while, I gave up. Currently I have really bipolar Christmas decor. My kitchen is dressed up like Candyland on steroids.

And the rest of the house is more rustic and traditional. 

I am still missing my advent calendar, my tree skirt, my holiday guest towels, and a few other Christmas items that I'm sure I have forgotten exist until I see them again. It's just not worth hunting for them. Since a lot of our items are missing, I had to improvise and create many decorations on the cheap. You know, it's really not that bad. To do simple, rustic, traditional Christmas decorating, you only need a few items.

 The tree clippings are the most important. You can get these from your tree farm for literally nothing. And then put them EVERYWHERE. Bonus, it smells good.

Since we are missing so much of our usual stuff, the majority of our Christmas decor this year revolves around tree clippings, mason jars, burlap, cranberries, and white candles. And I actually really like it. It feels like a cozy, rustic Christmas. 

I realize this doesn't look awesome. I'm just saying it's possible to put something in the middle of your table for $3. But I cannot guarantee that you won't find cranberries and pine needles in your toddler's diaper.

 A real Christmas wreath on the front door is worth the money every year.

The other easy and cheap DIY are the chalkboard canvases. Walmart had a 2 for $2 sale on the 8x10 canvases, and I already had the chalkboard paint and brushes, so this cost virtually nothing.  

I'm not the best artist, but you get the jist.

I have been stressing for months about what to do with our Christmas tree with a certain toddler in the house.

 I know he'd probably be an angel around it, but I am inclined to not trust him.

These doe eyes are not to be trusted. Ever.

 It finally occurred to me to take all the toys out of the gated play area, and then to put the tree inside the gates, making a teeny, tiny, Christmas jail. So far it's working great! I was able to put all my pretty ornaments on it still, and so far, there are no casualties to report.

I still have shatterproof ornaments along the bottom, because I am not a complete masochist.

Our bedroom is the place where all other good interior decorating intentions come to die. It's a pit of despair. My MIL didn't even recognize it when I sent her a picture of it clean. Does anyone else have a disaster of a master bedroom? Just me? It's where we bathe and get the babes ready for bed, then we lounge around at night, then we pass out. Then I get up in the morning and barely get enough time to brush my teeth--much less clean my bedroom--before I am called to put out my first fire of the morning. Laundry is piled. Papers are piled. Nine times out of ten, it's a complete mess. 

 So I decided that our bedroom needed a little Christmas love. I am most excited about these flannel sheets from Target. They were $25 for a king size set, and they are warm, cozy, and amazing. Plus, they are fun stripes, so bonus points for making us feel extra festive.

We had originally planned to go to a movie date while my family was here, but instead, we took advantage of having a babysitter and did something completely saucy, exciting, and out of the ordinary. We took a nap together. I don't know the last time my husband and I have curled up in bed together with fresh sheets and taken a two-hour afternoon nap. It was ah-mazing. 

The kiddos slept in Sunday morning, and we just lounged around enjoying the Christmas decor. I love the twinkle lights and how cozy Christmas decorations make a room feel. I wish it could last just a little bit longer. 

As I wish the baby phase would.

We had a brunch of sweet potato pancakes and bacon. This was my first foray into sweet potato pancakes. We topped them with butter, syrup, cinnamon, brown sugar, and whipped cream; it tasted just like a sweet potato from the Outback, but in pancake version. 

Can't go wrong with that.

Then we decided to take the beasties out to play and to see the big Christmas tree in Destin Commons. 

The weirdest thing about living on central time is that it gets dark at 4:30. Not. Cool.

Things were going great until shit hit the fan.

We are looking forward to a fun week of cookie making, eggnog drinking, cake baking, and enjoying the Christmas season. I am going to make some new soups for dinner this week, since the weather has finally decided to cooperate somewhat. And we are going to see Santa! 

Happy Monday!

Keep on keepin' on!

-Annette