Decking the Halls.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. Friday night we had quite the holly and jolly night - we picked out our Christmas tree, set it up, went to see my parents' tree, went to see Ellen's tree and new house, and then went to the Sequoia Christmas Crawl. Quite a night!

Jake with our tree at the lot -

Getting it ready to load up -

Set up and waiting for decor -

Jake's parents' tree during the Christmas Crawl -

Saturday night was spent decorating our place. Here's our blank slate to start with:

We've started a little tradition between the two of us of blocking off a full night to decorate and spend time together. We pull down all the decorations, put on Christmas music, pick up a pizza, and just spend time enjoying each other's company. This year's pizza was from Broadway Pizza:

We set up our nativity I got last year from the parentals. I love it - notice that the Wise Men are still on their journey and aren't at the manger scene yet. If I was a better Episcopalian, they'd actually be across the room but I worried about the dogs eating the wise men.

But I did hide Baby Jesus. He'll hide until the 25th. Then he'll stay out through the 12 Days of Christmas (Dec 25th-Jan 5th) and then the Wise Men will show up on January 6th, Epiphany (the day the Wise Men made it to the scene). Here's Jesus hiding in the mail:

I put out my little felt runner and candle holder for the dining table:

And our countdown calendar (I would say Advent Calendar but it starts with Dec. 1 and Advent started in November this year):

I also put up my new Christmas wreath:

Here's the main focal point - the tree and mantle:

 Here's our mantle - it has our two stockings and then two for the dogs/cat (they have to share). We bought a nutcracker this year that has the year on it and decided we want to add one nutcracker a year to the collection, picking it out together at the beginning of the Christmas season.

 You can barely see them, but I hung up ornaments in the window too, plus Jake put up the Christmas lights outside:

 It is Harley's first Christmas and she's not quite sure what to do with herself:

 After decorating, we spent some time sitting in the living room hanging out and enjoying the decoration:

 (I think we wore her out!)

 So there's our decorations! Looks like we have decked the halls. Now to wait and prepare for Christmas... Happy Advent! Try not to get too wrapped up in the hustle and bustle.

In tinsel and sparkles,