The Inevitable Christmas Revamp at Home

Without snow in our side of the world, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without over-the-top decor and lots of glorious lights.  But after our recent renovation, I didn't want to move a single box anymore.

But finally some Christmas spirit won out.  That and Ladybug Girl, who at five seems to have grown into Christmas a little more this year.  She began wondering where our decorations were.

Last year she was completely uninterested in the Christmas morning action around her.

She also began making these drawings:

And so this year I decided that Christmas greens and twinkly lights would be our theme.  

Sort of like this in the foyer

And this on top of the kitchen cabinets

The highlight being our real sweet-smelling pine tree from S&R

Of course I had to get Ladybug Girl involved in the decorating preparations for fine motor skill practice.  Saturday mornings are just meant for lazy home projects.

Stencilling our windows and electric fans (!) with Winter Wonderland book stencils (old post on them here).  Use poster paint and a sponge to apply.  It washes off. of course.

And here's the living room wall now a Christmas showcase.

Pantone postcards and washi tape frames are what's new this year

And origami

Plenty of room left for this year's art and pictures

Ladybug Girl worked beside me, too:

Christmas greens and all our random toys and decor look so beautiful all together in one place:

These shelves were scattered all over our house in three sets, so the inevitable furniture moving had to happen.

Our Playmobil Advent countdown toy is on its third year

I did buy one thing this year: purple twinkly lights for Ladybug Girl's room.    

They look so pretty, I'm not taking them down!

Now my goal this holiday is to get to relax at home and enjoy the lights and the pine smell as I leisurely wrap presents with carols in the background.   I am excited to be taking a long holiday leave for the first time in a decade.  I'll have to check in on some projects at work, but I plan to be absolutely, unapologetically selfish with my time with my family and home.

Someone is ecstatic about the days ahead!  Merry Christmas, folks!