Decorating for Christmas

We've been slowly getting our Christmas decorations up for the last week or so.  It is harder to do with a toddler because we didn't want her to see us touch everything and then expect her not to touch it.  We did the downstairs decorations first because we wanted her to be able to help with those.  She was way more excited about the box than the tree.

Then she got to work helping Daddy with the ornaments.

This is Zach giving her a talk about not touching the tree.

A friend of mine from school was talking the other day about buying ornaments for her kids when they were little.  They bought each child an ornament of the thing they liked most that year.  Ex: Legos, Barbies, GI Joes.  Now, they can look back and see what they liked and when.  I thought this would be cute, and it would give us fun mementos.  

So, Monroe and I went to the store to pick out her ornament.  I knew we were going to buy either Elmo or Minnie Mouse.  When I showed her one of each and asked her which one she wanted she said, "Both!"  We decided to go with the Elmo ornament because she talks about Elmo more and reads more Elmo books.  

 Monroe and her ornament

ELMO 2012

We haven't done outside lights in a couple years.  We were driving somewhere Sunday night, and Zach decided we should put lights on the house.  So, Monday after school, we drug out the lights.  Zach got on the roof and I did the railing.  While Zach was on the roof, Monroe kept saying, "Careful, Daddy. Careful!"  It was so cute.  We had all the lights up in 45 minutes 

It was hard to get a picture of the lights.  When I used the flash, you can hardly tell there are lights on the house.  When I didn't use the flash, the picture is a blur.

On the inside, we have our nativity set and our snowman decorations.  Monroe keeps trying to play with the animals and Baby Jesus.

My favorite decoration is the tree. With a toddler, it would make sense to put it in a corner, but I love having it in front of the picture window.

What a difference a year makes

2011                                                    2012

This year, I wanted to do something different with the Christmas cards we receive other than put them on the fridge.  I decided to hang ribbon on our basement door and garage door.  (They both lead out of our dining room.) Then, I clipped a few cards to the ribbons.   

Close up

The other door

Now, I need everyone to get their cards in the mail, so I can fill up my ribbons.

Our house is officially ready for Christmas!  Now, I have to start shopping for gifts.