Staycation: Decorations

Christmas is well underway at this house. We're listening to festive music, indulging in hot chocolate and sharing stories about the birth of our Savior.

I have a love/hate relationship with decorating.  I really love a festive home, but I hate the chaos it causes for a few days. Boxes everywhere.. tree battles... etc.  Luckily, Justin was home and put up the outside lights in addition to his normal Christmas box duties. 

This year we battled with the lights on our pre-lit 9 footer.  We replaced around 200 bulbs and still had some sections that didn't light up.  Ugh.  So, I threw in the towel and strung lights in those sections.  I'm not sure what we're going to do next year.. I'll worry about that later.

Just a little glimpse at a few of the decorations around our house...

Our pretty tree.. with shatterproof on the bottom for our Luker. He hasn't changed much since last year.

First year ever... kid tree! Mylie was beyond excited to decorate "her" tree.  It's filled with ornaments from our childhood, Mylie and Luke's yearly ornaments, as well as a few fillers.  I really really really love it.

 Luke spends a lot of time redecorating and giving his tree some TLC.

The Christmas book tradition is well underway and the kids love grabbing one every night from under their tree.

 Our candy countdown.. can you tell what's wrong with this little house?  It makes me laugh every year when

I set it out.

This is the most visited area during Christmastime.  The kids play with their nativity for hours and love reading their Christmas books. At the moment, they are fighting quite a bit over who gets to push the angel and start the song.  Hoping that newness wears off soon.

Really excited about this new centerpiece for the island... got it on clearance last year for $12.  Yep, I'm awesome.

I love Christmas!

For our last activity during our staycation the kids really wanted to go swimming.  Justin and I were okay with the idea until the weather started to get blustery and cold.  We convinced them that it would be just as fun to put their swimsuits on and hop in our tub.  Still can't believe it worked! They had a great time splashing around together.  After their swim, we went to Arthur Christmas.  Such a cute movie! We hit up the matinee because I had YWs... baptisms with the Beehives and a presidency meeting... can't really take a vacation from that unless you're out of town. :) But, we thoroughly enjoyed our time as a family.  Relaxing, playing, and enjoying each other's company.  We sure like having Justin around. 

Already looking forward to Christmas break when we get more quality time together.