All Dolled Up

I've been promising to post pictures of our house all decorated, and now I'm finally getting around to doing it.  Beware, this is a long one!

First off, the outside.  I LOVE how the outside of our house looks.  It's so pretty.  Jake says it's the prettiest house on our road.  We're not biased at all! :) 

And I think my FAVORITE part of the whole house (inside and out) is our front door.  This is a picture of when we had JUST put everything up.  I need to get an updated picture.  I now have a poinsetta in each of my earns by the front door.  Oh, and "Bully" has a bow!  If you'll look just left of the left column, you'll see him in all his glory (minus bow).  We had to spotlight him after State's glorious victory at the Egg Bowl!

Here is a close-up of the "gift" on the front door.  I could have sworn I saw this online somewhere, but for the life of me can't find it anymore!  So if you've seen it, please let me know so I can give them credit.  If not, well, I guess I can be pretty creative, huh?  I really like it and hope to use it for years to come.

So next stop I guess is the Dining Room/Office.  This is our first year for a live tree, and I think we did pretty good for our first year.  There is definitely a learning curve though, and I'm already looking forward to next year.  I really wanted one with the lights showing, but it turned out so blurry.  I wasn't going to post it, but decided to anyways.  I love it, and I love walking in the house every day and smelling it.   

 

I also decorated the desk in the Dining Room.  A few years ago Jake's mom gave me a Nutcracker for Christmas.  And this year, with it being my first year to actually have room, I've put him out and enjoyed him, and decided he needs some friends.  I'm thinking they might need a few more next year as well.

Oh and there's one more tree!  It's a small one in the living room.  We have used this little artificial tree since we were first married.  One thing that has been tradition in my family for years, we always get a few ornaments every Christmas.  This year, I decided to make Jake his own special tree for the Living Room because he said he wanted to be able to sit on the couch and look at our Christmas Tree.  Mom really helped me out on this and gave him his ornaments for this year a little early.  It is very cute (sorry Jake, I know you don't want your tree to be "cute")  and I'm thinking of leaving it out for a while.

I think my second favorite area is the mantel and fireplace in the living room.  We've had the mirror up there since we moved, and I knew I wanted to leave it up there, I just wasn't sure how to decorate around.  Mom came to the rescue again.  I hope she is rubbing some of this creativeness off on me!  It turned out great!

Here is the close-up of the Santa.  He is made out of a cypress knee.  You see a lot of them in the lakes and bayous around the Delta.  After my Grandfather ("Choctaw") died and my Grandmother was moving from their home, my Mom & Dad found a bunch of them that they had.  Every year since then, someone in my family (Mom, Grandmama, and me) has gotten one painted as Santa.  One of the ladies that works with my Dad does them and she does a WONDERFUL job!  I would love to have tons more.  It is so neat and unique, and everytime I look at it I'm reminded of our Choctaw.  He would have loved them!

Here is our Nativity Scene in the Living Room.  Jake started this for me the first year we were married, and he adds to it every year.  I love it because the figurines are some type of plastic.  Meaning little ones can play with them all they like and we don't have to worry with them breaking!  So glad I thought ahead.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!  I'm joining the 960+ others out there and linking up with the Nester to show off our home!  If you have time, go there and check it out, there are TERRIFIC pictures (and lots of great ideas)!  Plus the Nester is just great!