Christmas is by far my favorite holiday because it's more than a single holiday, it's a season. I love all the things that come with Christmas - cheer, lights, music, hot chocolate, decorations, family time, giving, and a sense of magic.
Neither my husband nor I have put up a Christmas tree of our own since leaving home. We've both lived in dorms or apartments and returned home for the actual holiday so we passed on the decorations. Last year, I got a little crafty and made several decorations for the holiday, but still skipped the tree. This is our first Christmas together EVER (in 8 years!) and our first as a married couple, so we wanted to do it up right. We live in a condo so space and storage is at a premium. I didn't want a mini Christmas tree, so I did some searching online and found this six foot tree. I paid $30 + $6.99 in s&h so if we decide we can't spare the space to store it, I won't feel guilty tossing it. You can find it here (note, prices have gone up since Thanksgiving, so now it is just at $40 with shipping). It's a great deal. I was super impressed with the quality and fullness. The top is a little shaky, but we used light plastic ornaments and it's held up just fine so far.
In addition to a tree, we needed all the trimmings. Again, I didn't want to invest a fortune since I'm not committed to the tree, so we picked up some ornaments from Target. You can find the ones on the tree here and here. We added lights (here) and tinsel (here) then topped it with a gold star (here). Don't mind the white extension cord. :] I think I might get a skirt for the tree to help hide it. Overall, we're thrilled with the way it turned out!
I purchased our stockings on sale from Pottery Barn last year after the holiday and had them monogrammed, but they're still available (here). The mini stockings are for the animals and are available here and here (depending on the letter you need).
I made the santa hats (tutorial here), snow globes (tutorial here), and mini tree last year (no tutorial - I just used a left over cone from the santa hats and covered it with balls like these from Michaels).
We decorated the tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving while listening to holiday music and we had an absolute blast!
On Sunday, we saw the Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center. We're hoping to make it an annual tradition; last year we saw it at Warner Theatre. It was so fun to see a different rendition of the same Ballet. Not to mention, I love getting dressed up! I got this dress last year intending to wear it to the Nutcracker, but I didn't take note of the sizing guidelines and failed to size up so I had to exchange it. I'm so glad I did and I was able to wear it to a company holiday party. It is still available here. Be sure to size up 1 to 2 sizes.
Other holiday outfit ideas (for work and play) I'm loving: here | here | here | here | here | and see a full post here.
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