It's beginning to look a *little* like Christmas!

Mid-November, Husband starts asking, "Can we decorate for Christmas?" Sadly, the mean wife always replies, "No, you know that Thanksgiving is the earliest we decorate in this house!!" (Or something to that effect.) I like order, and one way to ensure order is to make silly, meaningless rules, like Christmas decorations don't go up until Thanksgiving Day at the earliest, and they stay up until Epiphany, January 6th - the day the three wise men visit Jesus. Growing up, we kept our decorations up until Epiphany, and I like that idea - celebrate the real reason for the season all the way through, so that's a tradition I've mandated (yes, mandated!!) for our little family!! We had our family Thanksgiving dinner a week early, so I bent a little and said we could start bringing out the Christmas decorations after our Thanksgiving. See, I am flexible after all! Last year, we hit some massive sales and LOADED up on Christmas decor. We were so excited to finally use it in our house and make a place for it all. Somehow, it didn't end up being quite the large load we thought we had, so I guess we'll not-so-sadly have to hit up this year's after-Christmas sales, too! Darn.

Our tree is the "big attraction" in our house. Literally. It's so big, in fact, that all 9 or 10 feet of it doesn't fit in our house! We have to squoosh the top in and pretend that it fits... The majority of the ornaments on the tree are - one guess - yep, police themed! Hobby Lobby always has an amazing collection, and I love to make them stocking stuffers for Husband. (Although he doesn't see why he has to wait to put them on the tree - he'd love to open them now!) I do have two attorney ornaments, and we have a couple "us/couple" ornaments, too.


Those four blue ball ornaments toward the top of that picture represent the years Husband has been a police officer. Each has the year on them, starting with 2004, and we'll collect them each year until he retires! Love that squished top!! Some day, O Tannenbaum, Some day!!
We're still looking for the perfect Nativity for our house. We want one that's not only really neat looking, but meaningful because of where/when we get it, too!! My Mom & Dad found this really cool Nativity for us, made by a man in the town we live in. He must have spent hours carving the wood - it's extra neat at night when the light behind glows. Husband's Grandma gave each of the girls this cross last year for Christmas, and it's made from wood from trees near where she lives. I love that one side of it has a "Bethlehem" star on it! Last Christmas, we went to Husband's cousin's house when she had it decorated for Christmas, and I was inspired! Everywhere you turned, there were neat little displays and decorations. I was so impressed, and aim to have my house look like that some day. I figure, she's been married 18 years, me, only one. Give me 17 years, I might come close at the rate I'm going!! (Although I will have to work hard on convincing Husband that it is okay to take down regular pictures and decorations to make room for and put up the Christmas decorations...) Christmas ball ornaments work everywhere, I think, to spruce up a regular space!

Our stockings are also themed, of course! Husband's stocking holder is really cool - it's a policeman Santa. I couldn't find any lawyer stocking holders (really, it's hard to find lawyer anything! You'd think they were sneaky little snake-like sharks or something. Oh wait, most are!!) but my mom found this fat little gingerbread man with an apron, chef's hat, and baked goods. She thought since I love to bake it was appropriate. I'm still on the look-out for a more fitting one, but it'll do for now!! Husband's stocking has police print fabric on it, and we're going to put some patches on it for him, too - patches from his department now, his Dad's patch, and whatever other department he goes to. It should be pretty neat. We can't leave Callie & Alley out of the festivities, either. Callie gets a boring stocking until we can find one fitting for her, but at least she has a doggy stocking holder!

The whole fireplace & mantle, complete with more Christmas ornaments!

Last year, Husband's Mom and Dad bought us two pieces to a Christmas village - a police station and a court house!!! We love them, and look forward to building on our village each year. This year, I've got my eye set on a Law Office building!

My mom found these cute little felt boxes last year... I'm still working on how to display them best. It'd be neat to string them up somehow, but I'm not sure where or how... Two of Husband's Policeman Santas, including one with a fire dog!

This is my "Christmas Monstrosity!" My Grandpa always called the "Archway Monument" near Kearney which spans I-80 a Monstrosity, which is a very appropriate description. Now, anything large and somewhat questionable gets called a Monstrosity by me in honor of him! It's full of sparkly, glittery silver strings and branches, interspersed with sparkly, glittery red snowflakes. There are more snowflakes on the rest of the table.

Police snowmen and another Police Santa. I made the plate for Husband a couple years ago.

Police Nutcrackers - our favorite is the one with the Bobby Hat my parents found last year!

This display needs some work - a red fabric background framed with a big picture frame or some twigs would be perfect. When we're in our next house, I'll have to work on it some, but it'll do for now.

Our "santa display." I found the Santa votive on clearance - the candle goes in his glass belly! I hung the Santa ornaments on cinnamon sticks.

My Mom made this Noel Snowflake plate for me a few years ago, and it goes perfect on a silver charger with some old red light bulbs!!

This is our "centerpiece." My grandma was getting rid of her old Christmas light bulbs, and I snagged them up, knowing I could find something to do with them! Add in another charger, some ribbon, and a few sparkly trees, and there ya go!