christmas is here

This year I did a bit more decorating than I initially planned. In my last post, I said that overachievers are annoying. I would like to retract that statement. I may have overachieved a tiny bit. I just have so much creative energy these days. The 2nd trimester is so much more enjoyable than the 1st. Although I do have to take a break and sometimes quit standing and walking around for the day around 4:00ish. My body gets achy and I have to stop. Ugh, pregnancy. So I try to get as much done as I can before then. 

I do love Christmas time too. It's so warm and happy. I wish I had more pictures of my house at Christmas time growing up. There were lots of homemade crafts like chain link Christmas banners and popcorn garlands. My mom let us pretty much decorate however we wanted to. What a good mom. 

This is what the Wagenbrenner house looks like this Christmas. Yesterday and today we got ready for our family Christmas party which takes place tomorrow.

Addie was super helpful...

Our little 4 year old friend Grace thought it would be appropriate to decorate the dog too. I couldn't agree more.

Not sure where I got the idea to wrap the paintings, probably a department store or something...

Dan likes to cut up the tree until it looks just about perfect so I used the leftover branches to decorate this year. 

They sell these 3 foot mini trees for $20 at Lowes. Too cute not to buy. The girls get to trim their own tree and every one's happy.

They get their own Fisher Price nativity too. It's pretty funny watching them role play Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. I figure it's a good investment since we have a bunch of kids. We're already missing one of the wise men. We lost baby Jesus briefly but he turned up under a pinecone.

Update: (Dec 15) Mark accross the street informed us that Winter burried it in his front yard)

Free decorations! Pine cones from the side of the road and Dan's leftover tree parts.

I had a huge roll of thick red ribbon from Costco so I used it to decorate the banisters. I think it was actually Dan's idea...

This is my favorite corner of the house. It's just so Pinterest with the wrapped painting, wine bottles turned into Christmas vases and a clothesline of Christmas cards. Adorable.

The bookcase. Cute.

We have to put a gate up in front of the tree to keep the baby from completely destroying it. I cover it with red table cloths to make it festive.

Addie's favorite decorations. She screams when she see's this little dog.

Mya and Winter's favorite thing about Christmas time. Homer Simpson. Mya has been asking for months when Homer is coming out of his box. He finally arrived yesterday.