Christmas Decorations

Travis and I finally finished decorating the inside of our apartment last night, once I made a last minute trip to Target for some command strips to hang our stockings.  Our landlords are a little crazy about holes in things - they tried to tell us that we couldn't put ANY holes in the walls when we moved in (which we didn't listen to), so we decided to at least not drill into the mantle.  :)  Command hooks have become our best friend!

Since I'm allergic to Christmas trees, we aren't able to pick our perfect tree from a tree lot/farm.  We DO, however, have an amazing pre-lit tree that was given to us as a wedding present from the FBC Smithfield church staff!  What an awesome wedding gift, huh?

I've been collecting Christmas ornaments since I was in college.  Everywhere we go...anything that was important...we have to have an ornament from it.  Because of this, we have a LOT of ornaments.  It makes it a lot of fun unpacking and decorating the tree each year though - we get to relive the memories each time!

And my favorite picture of the evening...

The above bride & groom snowmen were a gift from Jenny (my mom-in-law) at one of our wedding showers.  So cute!

Our mantle has changed a lot over the years - this year's my favorite so far.  The ornaments were a great deal from Crate & Barrel - we happened upon one of their stores going out of business a few years ago and got each of them for $3 instead of $20!

This mantle has taught me the importance of buying nice things.  The garland on this mantle was a hand-me-down from my mom, who used it for years.  Travis and I have been using it for 6 years now, and it still looks as good as new!  Target garland won't do that (we have some of that outside...trust me!). It's even nicer when you don't have to buy those nice things. :)

Trees and angels in the windows

My Willow Tree nativity

Toby eventually gave up on trying to help, and decided to hang out on his upside down bed.

Even the duck gets a bow at Christmas!

The funny Christmas dachshund our old landlords gave us hangs out on top of the TV.

I'm finishing up a project outside - outdoor decoration pictures will come soon!