Our Christmas Decorating Story

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This year was the first time we have ever decorated outdoors for Christmas. I have never been the type to go overboard with decorating but this year as I found myself a mother of 2 boys for the first Christmas ever I just felt compelled. Another reason was plainly to stay busy. This is the first Christmas without my Grandfather who also happened to be born on Christmas Eve and we have always celebrated with him and this year there just feels a little empty.

The weekend after Thanksgiving I got really motivated. I wanted to decorate everything in sight. Armed with my 4 1/2 year old sidekick we got out all of the decorations we had been stashing away for months. We had solar lights, a crab pot tree for our porch, indoor stuff and the prized Elf on the Shelf had already come back to hang out and get into her usual antics.

I felt that everything was absolutely complete once we added Christmas wreaths to our doors. We also made an evening trip out for hot chocolate and to pick out the perfect Christmas tree from our local fire house. It is one of their biggest fundraisers of the year and was our first experience getting a live tree from them. It is the most beautiful tree we have ever had in the 3 years we have been using live trees.’

This is our tree. Decorated with the help and love of Jack. We are so proud of it and also proud of the adventures that we have had this year in the days leading up to Christmas. Each year we build new traditions, new things that make memories and each year I find myself taking more and more photos.

What family traditions do you guys have? Here are some that we participate in each year:

• Church bazaar sales (Mostly white elephant, but some with vendors of homemade crafts)
• Christmas Parade put on by our town’s Rotary Club
• Hot chocolate dates with candy canes and Christmas movies. A favorite this year has been The Grinch
• Our 4 1/2 year old always adds the topper while on my husband’s shoulders. Thinking next year once the baby is older that we will have 1 actually light the tree and 1 do the topper. Gotta make it special for everyone.
• Baking– It becomes a way of life around here for the holidays
• We still send Christmas cards to family and friends. I actually just ordered and picked up 40 from CVS last night. I will for sure have cramped hands after writing that many addresses HA!

There are many more things that we do, but that is just a taste. Share some of yours in the comments! I would love to read all about them and also feel free to head over to our social media pages and share your Christmas decoration photos. I really enjoy seeing how others decorate.

Samantha

Samantha hails from Virginia and is a proud wife to a retired Deputy Sheriff and mother to two amazing little boys named Jack & William. A veteran product reviewer; Samantha has been reviewing products for 8 years and offers high quality product reviews with original photography.