Christmas at our House

With a new house comes new Christmas preparations.  This post is mainly for Edward to see where I put all of our Christmas stuff since he's never spent Christmas at our new house.

12 years and still going strong.  Our tree has made four major moves, and this is the original box.  I love how there are moving tags all over it from the different moving companies.

 The tree out of the box.  The kids decorated most of the tree, and then I moved the double hung ornaments onto the top of the tree.  I love how our tree is full of decorations from all of our Army travels.

 Clemson Santa and the Snowmen are out by the tree.  They are cheering on our ACC victory yesterday.

To put up the tree, I moved this end table into the dining room. 

Then, I put one of our nativity sets on it.

 Yea, we have a fireplace again for the stockings!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care..

 The Little People Nativity is on the coffee table (which I know you haven't seen the table either, Edward, so here it is).  Apparently, the kids have Santa, Mrs. Claus, and Rudolph visiting the manger.

 I love our Advent Calendar.  It's hanging in the kitchen on our large cabinet.

 Our addition this year is our Elf of the Shelf, Shephard.  The kids have been enjoying him.

Today, Shephard was found in the kiss jar.

From the move, I haven't been able to find our Christmas doormat, so I "had" to get a new one.  Hope you like it, Edward  :)

I had to decide on my own how to decorate the outside, so I opted to hang these wreaths on the front windows.

Close-up...this is about as crafty as I can get.  I attached the bows to the wreaths  :)

 Edward, you have always made fun of this tree I got from Florida, but it looks awesome right by the garage.  I really, really wanted to hang our icicle lights on the front of the house.  I've done it several years, so it's not like it's a "guy only" thing.  However, due to really tall ceilings/height outside, I would definitely need our extension ladder. We have one of the Gorilla type ladders, and it's way too heavy for me to lug over there to hang the lights.  I'm pretty bummed, but I guess it's just one of those things.  It's not like it feels completely like Christmas anyways with Edward gone, so this tree will have to do.

The most depressing part of this post is here-Christmas in a box.  I'm sorry Edward.  I wish I could do more.  I guess it is birthday and Christmas in a box  :(