Sharing a bit of our Christmas.....

I've seen all these fun Christmas link tours and thought we'd join in before it's too late!  Over the years Nicole and I have had a lot of fun creating at Christmas time....I think that's what got us into all this crafty stuff...ORNAMENTS.  In our family...we decided  that instead of buying gifts for each member of our family...we would each "hand make" ornaments and exchange.  This is really special and it's fun to pull the ornaments out each year and reflect on years past.

I had Nicole send me a few of her favorite ornaments from our family exchange and from her yearly Christmas crafting and tell why they are special.

Nicole said....

"Newly married and poor, these stars were my version of some pretty

mirrored and grouted star ornaments I saw on tv. I broke up some

mirror and glued them onto a paper mache star. Yes, sad by themselves

but they reflect a lot of light and remind me of my humble beginnings

as a crafter."

 

~This year's baby Jesus, Avery hates that he has no eyes.

~My most popular ornament and Avery's favorite baby Jesus.

~Saw a idea of these several years ago and wanted to make my own version.

~Candy's gingerbread man she made for our first ornament exchange.

I loved each little one she made and was happy we had some no-shows

and I got to keep her cute creations!

~Prim Angel~First bazaar I ever did and made ornaments out of scrap wood that

Ace Hardware was throwing away. Only 30 people came into the bazaar

the entire 8 hours I was there. Needless to say, I have alot of these

on my tree!:)
~Mermaid in memory of our trip to the beach in South Carolina last summer.

~Japanese ornament~Brandy made these to represent their time stationed in Japan with

the Air Force, they were embossed onto velvet ribbon. Love them!

~First ornament exchange where I carefully stitched each heart.

Grubby Snowman~This was a pattern from last year I actually followed and learned

something from. It is made from muslin, painted, sanded, rubbed down

with coffee grounds and brown shoe polish, it was fun and cool to

make! I hid one away for myself and sold the others.

Mom/Dad ornament-love that it's them and that it was their wedding picture. This ornament celebrates 40 years together.

All time favorite, made by Avery last year at preschool for me!

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Thanks Nicole!  Now we'll move onto some of my favorite decorations in my home (Candace:)

I love "pretty" Christmas...my mom always had beautiful decorations, sparkly..shimmery...golden things.  It wasn't until my husband and I spent our first Christmas with my mother-in-law that I discovered homespun, gingerbread men, tons of nativity scenes, giant knit stockings stuffed with goodies.......cozy Christmas. I loved it! She would make real gingerbread men and string ribbons through them to hang on the tree, and some to EAT! I think she may have at least 50 nativities tucked through out her home. She makes the most beautiful Christmas quilts too, AND, she's a legend in her neighborhood for outside light decorating!  She individually wraps each limb of her trees and ties them down with twisty ties!  It's brilliant! My mother in law took me to my first Christmas boutique...and I was hooked on crafting and creating!  Living near to her has influenced my Christmas style.... I love both pretty Christmas and Cozy Christmas!  I can have both!

 Here's a few pictures from around my home~

I love red berries!  I love using them in wreaths, garlands, the tree....in glass bowls.

My mother in law knits these AWESOME stalkings for everyone in the family and also puts their name on each one!  They are fun and boy do they ever hold a TON of stuff! They also have a tradition in their family of filling each other's stocking with kind notes through out the season.

I have several of Nicole's wood letters tucked on shelves in my home....I just love them!

My favorite thing to do is to raid my mother in law's stash of crafts and recreate them.  She had this great Nativity I fell in love with and this is our version of it!  Love it! I learned how to make my first miter cut on this!

My kids love this funny little moose...or is it a reindeer?

My mother in law also loves to give each family wonderful Nativities.  This one makes me laugh!:)

I love a pretty red poinsetta.

A few years ago, Nicole and I made our own version of the Pottery Barn advent calendar.  Treats don't last long in these pockets with my little ones!

This is my baby's new stocking...my MIL is so fast at whipping these puppies out!

A couple of years ago my mother-in-law distributed pieces of cloth with drawn nativities for all the grandchildren to color with fabric markers.  She used some of the original pre-colored squares and some of the grandchildren's colored squares and then sewed them all into a Christmas quilt for EACH family.  She's amazing!  I love that my children made the sheep GREEN!

My MIL also makes each of us beautiful wall hangings.  I love this strand of ornaments!

  I picked these cute furry stars up at my first Christmas boutique with my MIL.

I put up a small tree for the kids and their fun ornaments. They needed some BLUE lights to make them happy.

I love the Willow Tree nativity!  I really love the (BUFFALO?) in it!  That's what you get when you have boys!:)

Here's my TREE.  I wanted a PRETTY tree this year.  I used lots of red berries, pinecones, glass balls stuffed with fake snow, and these pretty snowflake ornaments. I wrapped some extra burlap around the tree for a skirt.

Hope you enjoyed looking and Merry Christmas! :)