Christmas Decorations, Old and New
Disclaimer: A portion of this post is sponsored by Sears and I was provided a gift card to purchase items from their holiday collection. All opinions, as always, are my own. Thank you all so much for reading and supporting STSL. It means the world to me! xoxo <3
Well hey there, my friends! How is December going for ya so far? I told you all yesterday that I was going to fill ya in on the rest of our long weekend, so let’s get to it.
Overall, it was a really, really great weekend. I took a little time to unplug, so I didn’t snap a ton of photos, but it was filled with all sorts of good stuff. On Saturday morning, Lucas wound up sleeping in a little later than usual, so Jay and I got up, brewed some coffee, and hung out in the peace and quiet with Cody.
Yes, Cody’s still around and doing well! He certainly doesn’t win the award for the most active in the house anymore, but he’s still a character, that’s for sure. Funny guy, loves his snuggles as soon as Lucas is out of sight.
Saturday, as you may or may not be aware, was also Small Business Saturday. So of course, Jay and I had to do what we do every year…head to one of our favorite local liquor stores and stock up on some booze.
Wine and vodka…should keep us entertained for the winter.
Saturday was also amazing because I had a 90-minute deep tissue massage scheduled. I bought a Groupon a while back and actually almost forgot I had scheduled it for this past weekend. Good thing I use my calendar app in my phone…! It was a good massage but, unfortunately, actually was closer to 60 minutes than 90. That was disappointing, but ahh well.
On Sunday, Jay and I knew we needed to get all of us out of the house so after Lucas woke up from his morning nap, we all headed out for brunch/lunch at one of our favorites: B-Rad’s Bistro (the same place we brought Lucas for his first outing and where my surprise 30th birthday party was).
I ended up getting Maryland Style Eggs Benedict, which was poached eggs with hollandaise on top of avocado and crab cakes. Our waitress said it was one of their best sellers, which I’m sure many people love but, unfortunately, it really wasn’t my thing (I totally forgot about the eggs being runny and I am not a fan of runny egg yolks). I had maybe half of them and then just loaded up on the home fries and some of Lucas’s grilled cheese.
Lucas, surprisingly enough, did amazing the whole time, which I’m sure was mostly due to the fact that we had a table of younger adults behind us who were keeping him entertained by chatting and playing peekaboo.
This little man is a flirt, I’ll tell ya! The little smirks he gives girls sometimes? Oh myyy…am I in for some trouble.
So being the weekend after Thanksgiving, this weekend also included some Christmas decorating!
Decorating for the holidays is one of my favorite traditions—from decking the halls to trimming the tree—and I love how every family has its own unique way of getting their home ready for the season.
Growing up, my mom was always HUGE into the Christmas holiday (and still is!), so every year, it was a tradition to have the tree up the day after Thanksgiving. I’m pretty sure that we used an artificial tree every year except for one; and that year, the tree died about a week before Christmas so we wound up taking all of the decorations off, throwing it out, and putting the artificial one back up with all of the decorations. Needless to say, mom wasn’t too thrilled with how things panned out with that one!
Since moving out of my parents’ house and into a house with Jay, I’ve continued the same tradition: Every year, the day after Thanksgiving, the tree goes up!
Some years, depending on where Thanksgiving falls, I may or may not wind up doing a little decorating around the house a bit early. This year was one of those instances…I was just really in a festive mood!
That’s our tree this year! We attempted to somewhat barricade it in the corner so a certain sticky fingers would have less access to it…
When it comes to my decorating style, well, I’m not quite sure I really have one. I guess if I were to sum it up, it would be something along the lines of “a mix of hand-me-downs, stuff bought on a cheap budget in the early years, and some new pieces here and there.” How’s THAT for a style description?
There are so many styles of decorations that I see and absolutely LOVE, but honestly, until we wind up getting into a home that has a bit more room, I’m probably just going to stick with what I’ve got. Of course, there is always room for something new each year though, riiiiight?
This year, Sears and Kmart were generous enough to give me a gift card to choose some of the items from their holiday collection (we actually bought our tree from Kmart a couple of years ago for an amazing deal!). So on Black Friday, I made my way on out to Sears to see what I could get my hands on.
I went into the store knowing that we definitely needed a new tree skirt. Ours was a few years old, and between Cody’s crazy fur and spit up from Lucas last year (oh, I do not miss those days!), it was time to trade it in for a new one. Thankfully, they had a great selection and were all half off.
I wound up getting some new ornaments, special just for Lucas, since I knew he’d inevitably be trying to pull them off the tree.
I also bought this beautiful strand of pre-lit garland to decorate our new coat rack shelf.
It was on sale for only $20.99, and if I had more places to put them, I probably would have bought more than one.
And while I was upstairs looking for curtains, I came across this table of stuff so I snagged that adorable snowman floor mat for about $4.
Yeah, speaking of the curtains? I cannot tell you HOW excited I am to have FINALLY found some simple curtains for our kitchen window.
That window has been bare for so long, but I was having the hardest time finding some simple, white grommet valances. These were on sale for only $9 a piece. Score!
But back to the Christmas décor…I’m also loving the rest of our decorations this year, even though there were quite a few I had to leave in the boxes due to keeping the house “Lucas-proof…”
I’ve gotta say…I kinda love having a stocking with “Mom” on it.
I also really love being about to hang the stockings now because when we were growing up, we never hung our stockings on the mantle until a few days before Christmas. I’m not sure why, but my parents just liked to save those until the big day got closer!
So have you guys done any decorating yet?? Sears and Kmart recently conducted a survey and actually found that:
- 1 in 4 Americans will begin to deck the halls one month before the holiday.
- 41 percent of Americans defined their signature design as “classic,” followed by “colorful” (37%) and “vintage” (12%).
- More than half (58%) of participants felt the most essential decoration for the holidays was the Christmas tree
- Nearly 25% of Americans choose decorating as their favorite holiday activity, with listening to Christmas music and shopping as other favorites.
I’d definitely say that I fall into each of those percentages above. So fun! Equally as fun is the Best Dressed Home Sweepstakes that Sears and Kmart launched this year to celebrate the uniqueness of this holiday tradition and capture how you and others across the US are decorating.
Want to enter the sweeps? It’s easy! Anytime between now and December 26th, visit the Best Dressed Home Sweepstakes page, answer the poll questions, and upload a photo of your home all decked out for the holidays!
- (60) people will instantly win $50 in Shop Your Way points—you can enter daily
- (1) grand prize winner will win 1 million Shop Your Way points
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So that’s a very lengthy look at our weekend. Hopefully I didn’t lose too many of you along the way there!
What are some of your favorite holiday decorations? Any with special meanings and/or hand-me-downs? Anything new you’ve purchased and love?
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