Hey! Christmas is coming!

And it's kinda sneaking up on me... what about you?

Here in the South, we like to blame it all on the [unseasonably warm] weather,

but the truth is -

IT'S THE SAME DAY EVERY YEAR, FOLKS.

So let's get to it -

I wanted to share a bit of the Christmas decor. Remember I changed things up a bit this year after seeing this beautiful post over on the Tidbits blog -

I love seeing a cozy Christmas tree in the front window, don't you? And stockings hung by the chimney... and NOEL to welcome the season...

When you walk up to our front door you'll see a little tree we picked up at Home Depot and strung a few lights on [those LEDS are growing on me...]

with my precious moments nativity on the bench...

I used the ice skates I got in Wisconsin in the

old frame that hangs on our little porch...

Love it.

Once inside, our little foyer will welcome you - I had every intention of creating a bit of art for this space, but, hey - Old Time Pottery had this on sale for $20 - and I can't buy the canvas for that!

I love the colors!

I also got the swag [and all the flocked stuff] at OTP on sale.

Tip - I sprayed with sealant to keep it form spreading onto everything it touched, LOL

And, as you can see, I went with the blues and silvers, and whites this year.

I also have a little char in the foyer that holds this precious pillow my sister had made from one our mother's Christmas sweaters. It's a treasure!

[Excuse the shoes, we live in this house - ha.]

Down the hallway I've added a bit of Christmas cheer to the chalkboard...

Yep, that's a scanned photo of me, doctored up a bit with picmonkey.

Chalkboard art changes as people add or take away - lol

I love this vase with some cuttings from our frazier firs out back...

The simplicity of just a few ornaments is very calming to me...

The bathroom has the traditional snowman nativity...

Now, we're just going to swing around the living room so I can share some things -

The NOEL and drift wood arrangement are on top of the shift robe, along with that collection of Bill Bryson books I intend to read.

[New Year's Resolutions, anyone?]

On the drop leaf table to the left is a sweet pot of lights with white sticks, don't you love how obvious it is that I AM NOT A DECORATOR and don't have a fancy name for this?

I really like that it has the bird cut outs that let the light shine through - next to that is the church sign I got from Mary and Martha, and a small nativity on a pedestal.

And above it, I moved one of my old windows and hung this cute little banner of houses [they're lights that my sweetheart picked up for me!] and stars from Target...

Also a white tree and pines cones on top of the antique radio -

A close - up -

I actually have the sticks standing in clear cellophane

with a string of lights dumped in on top - ha.

And here's the whole thing -

in progress photos since the church sign had not been placed at the time of this photo -

And, disclaimer - the plaid table cloth is still behind it.

[Summer will be back around, y'all.]

Now we will move over to the mantle -

And I can't even describe how this ship lap has warmed up the feeling of the room!

I love the simplicity of our vintage mason jars with just a bit of greenery and lights...

A closer look - I moved the arch to balance things out a bit...

Tip: I pack the Christmas photos away each year with the stockings, etc. and

can find them easily when it's time to decorate again.

Looks like I didn't get a close up of the other side -

But you can see here that I have the white star and a couple of candle holders there...

As well as our wooden tree and large nativity on the hearth.

[Thank you sweetheart.]

Here's the little mid century modern dresser on the other side of our dining area...

[the mirror is much older, from my grand pa's house...]

[Don't look closely, I'm not sure what kind of mess might be on the table in that mirror - lol.]

I have my silver trees, as well as a vintage plant basket with the extra ornaments, and of course, our typewriter with MERRY CHRISTMAS typed in large letters.

A closer look - The ornaments have a string of round lights underneath to lighten things up a bit... and I use my collection of milk glass to display things as I go...

[The mason jars on the mantle are all on top of milk glass for height.]