My Christmas Decorations 2012

I am taking a quick break from all the last minute stuff... I'll be honest with y'all, I just did my shopping yesterday (besides for my online stuff) and I started wrapping it yesterday. I always want to be one of those ladies that have it all together and all done by October. Sigh. Maybe someday. I did want to give you a little tour of our Christmas decorations. Those have pretty much been up since the end of November.
First up... The mantle

Not much has changed since last year. I did add my glitter canvas. I have a quick tutorial up here. (There is also a Pinterest fail, and those are always entertaining.) I also added those yarn trees.

Do you see Santa's boot? So cute!

I am pretty happy with those. I used this tutorial, and let me tell you, those were super messy to make.

Here is my card holder. I love Christmas cards. We never really sent them out as a family, so its all kind of new to me.

This is a frame without the glass. I wrapped the cardboard backing with wrapping paper and I hot glued ribbon. I use the cutest little clothes pins to hang my cards with.

Our tree:

This is our newest ornament. We got it in Kauai this summer.

This is the first Christmas since my mom passed. It also makes this the 19th Christmas without my dad. After mom passed away I went through my childhood decorations and took the most important ones to me. The first was the angel tree topper.

The Mister and I have used a star for the last couple of years, but he said we should use the angel from now on.

Another thing I took were two of my mom's Christmas bears... er mouses.

I made those pillows last year and the blanket a few years ago.

I also set up a small tree in our kitchen with these other decorations.

Every year my mom would get the M&Ms with the little plastic toppers that made a train. I took a small set of them to remind me of her. I also took the set of small wooden ornaments that I used to LOVE putting on the tree. These things are at least 30 years old. The little drummer monkey is even missing an arm. The story behind the wise man is one that we would tell every year. Before I was born, my dad was out shopping for Christmas stuff and he came home with this. My mom asked him where the rest of the wise men were. He said "it's a wise man? I thought he was just a cool looking hippie dude."

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas/holiday. This year is going to be a tough one, but having my mom's decorations up makes me smile.