Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly . . .

Fa la la la la la la la laaaaa!!! That's what I've been doing this past week. Dragging out all those dusty boxes (I really should take a bucket of soapy water to those things . . . YIKES!) and getting everything up. It takes me the entire week to get it all out . . . you know, because it never just goes up perfect straight from the box. LOL! There are always things missing, lightbulbs to replace, things to glue back together, etc. etc. etc. But it's always worth it! :D :D :D





My very favorite decorations to put up each year are the Christmas trees. We have a "fancy" one that goes on our main floor and then our "sentimental" tree is in the basement.Several years ago, as our Christmas present to one another, my husband and I decided to invest in decorations for our tree. I'm so glad we did! I love the magical feeling this tree brings to our home every holiday season.

Here's a page I did about this tree using the Noel Mignon Dear Santa kit (sorry sold out). I also did this one for The Merry & Bright challenge going on right now at the Noel Mignon Challenge Blog . Come over and play with us! We are blinging out our pages this time around! :)



The buttons and glittery, floral sprigs are from my stash.



Scalloped accent tag is misted with the Shimmerz Spritz included in the kit for a bit of shimmer! :)



Our tree in the basement (where we open gifts from Santa) is filled with the ornaments we've collected and made together as a family over the years. As I was decorating that tree, I realized that my very favorite ornaments are the ones that show my children growing each year . . . you know, the ones that include a picture of them, a handprint, their writing, etc.

Keeping this in mind, I thought it would be fun to make ornaments this year with my children's handprints on them. I had them "stamp" their hand onto red cardstock using white paint. Next, I traced a mitten shape around their handprint and cut them out. I traced this shape onto chipboard, cut it out and then decorated the other side with patterned paper. I added their name, the year, and how old they are . . . I'm thinking I will add a photo of them opening their presents this year on the backside. :)



Ornaments created with the Noel Mignon DEAR SANTA kit. I added the Zva Creative Pearl Snowflake from my stash.



These should be fun to look back on several years from now and see how much the kids have grown.

For more Christmas ideas come check out ourSanta's Workshop" in the Noel Mignon forum." :)



Happy Tree Trimming!
Jana