Our real Christmas Tree. We love having a real tree! I think we will continue this new tradition for several years to come!

The year we were married (2007) I bought the two Christmas Bears on the end. Then the year Little Bug was born we bought the 2009 Christmas Bear. Sweet Pea has a 2011 Christmas Bear. Our little bear family is the perfect touch for under the Christmas Tree!

The kitchen table with the Christmas placemats, flowers, manger scene and teddy bear. And notice the plastic “tablecloth”. It is my attempt to save our table from Miss Messy Eater (aka: Little Bug)!

This was the stocking my Grandma made for me. It hung from their mantle every Christmas along with my brother’s and four cousin’s stockings and now it hangs on my pantry door. Good memories of Christmas past …

I have garland with lights, the nativity scene and snowmen on the kitchen counter between the kitchen and living room. Besides the Manger Scene and Christmas Trees, snowmen are my other favorite Christmas decoration!

The Manger Scene is the center piece because I want my family’s focus to stay on the TRUE meaning of Christmas: Jesus!!

On the top of the kitchen cabinets I put Little Bug and Sweet Pea’s First Christmas pictures.

My kitchen rug.

Nothing spectacular about these decorations really except the memory that they are building this year. Little Bug LOVES for me to light the three little candles just so she can blow them out. She gets so much joy in doing this every day. I need to get a lighter or else the box of matches is going to be used up pretty fast!

The coffee table in the living room has a Manger Scene that Little Bug is allowed to touch and play with. The only rule is that she has to play at the table (or else I know she would scatter those pieces everywhere and we would be finding the missing shepherd in July!). She likes to put the pieces in the sled and take them for a ride around the table!

FOUR stockings this Christmas! Our first Christmas together (we were engaged at that time) Dave’s present to me was our Christmas stockings. He picked out our girls’ stockings too.

On this wall in the living room I put up Little Bug’s picture with Santa on her first Christmas. We didn’t go see Santa last year but this year we will go so I can (hopefully) get a picture of Sweet Pea with Santa on her first Christmas. I say hopefully because Sweet Pea is already showing signs of stranger anxiety at just four months old. I am not sure she will want to sit on Santa’s lap if Mommy isn’t sitting there with her!

Little Bug’s bathroom has some Christmas décor, which she thinks is just fabulous. She enjoys making the bells jingle on the little Christmas Tree. One day she told me, “Mommy I need to jingle these bells for Sweet Pea.” Then she proceeded to jingle them right in Sweet Pea’s face. And I mean right in.

I always put a few decorations in our bedroom, too.

A snowman on our bathroom counter.

Our front door!

I always enjoy pulling out the Christmas decorations every year!

- Elaine