Feeling Festive

For some reason whenever Christmas rolled around at our home in Toronto, it never felt a whole lot like Christmas to me. Maybe it was the cramped space and our constant reno's that made it hard for me to see a home decked out for Christmas. Regardless, now that we have a lot more space and our rental isn't full up of renovation bits and pieces, I'd say this place is really putting me in the festive mood. I thought today would be a good day to start sharing some of our holiday decor with you. I'll start off with our mantel...

Halle's canvas has stayed front and center up there and I love it. We've received so many compliments on it which only reinforces how I feel about it. The pre lit garland we bought at Canadian Tire (along with two others that are strung on our railing), and it is perfect since it hangs just the right amount off either end of the mantel. The tapers are placed in some simple glass holders that B's Mom gave me, and we have two beautiful silver animals. The reindeer we've had for quite a few years now and purchased him from HomeSense. He was originally brown when we bought him, but I sprayed him silver and I still love him. Our newest addition, is this adorable penguin that arrived to us in a lovely Christmas package sent from our wonderful friends at The Home Depot.

This little guy is part of the Martha Stewart Living Collection and is only $9.86. We both really, really love him, as we have a little joke about penguins, so we have a few that we put out each year at Christmas. He's super sweet, and I love him looking all regal up on our mantel. I'm sure Halle will adore him just as much as we do as the year's go by.

We hung our stockings using 3M hooks that I placed on the top edge of the mantel. Yes, we have four stockings hanging and no, that doesn't mean a thing. I had B's Mom make them for us when we were visiting last Thanksgiving, and we did four so we'd have a fourth whenever we needed one. I figured since we have it, we may as well hang it...

You may have noticed a sweet little wooden deer living on the hearth. He was gifted to us by my cousin and her husband last Christmas. Their neighbour makes them and I had commented on how much I loved the one they have. He's one of my favourite decorations and Halle is always calling to him. Yes, both him and the fire are kept behind a baby fence to keep our little girl safe and sound.

I kept it pretty simple on the mantel this year, and I really love it. Every night when B gets home from work he turns on the fireplace and we let it roar away as we enjoy dinner, play with Halle and then usually unwind with some sort of Christmas special or movie. We also kept it simple because we have a little more than usual going on this year... like TWO trees! Yup! TWO! We used our same old faux tree that we purchased at The Home Depot the first Christmas that we lived in our house, and we also bought a real tree this year... also from Home Depot, and boy does our house smell beautiful! 

Our faux tree is pretty similar to year's gone by. All white lights with blue, silver and white ornaments. We've put it in the dining room this year so that it's visible from the street, and also so that we can keep the doors closed and keep little hands from touching all of the delicate ornaments that grace it's boughs.

Up on top of our tree lives our brand new topper, which also came from The Home Depot. It's a pretty silver star that has replaced our old snowflake topper. Our old topper never sat properly and was too heavy for this tree, so we were thrilled to have a beautiful new star to grace our tree! Thanks Home Depot! 

Right now, any and all wrapped gifts are also safely tucked away under this tree to keep them safe from tiny hands as well. On Christmas Eve, after the little Miss has been tucked away in bed, we'll move them all out to the living room where our second, more colourful tree lives.

This tree is full of the more colourful ornaments we've collected over the years - including B's extensive collection of sports ornaments. Mainly Boston sports team related - Red Sox, Patriots,  Bruins and Celtics. It's a really fun tree to have in our main living area and Halle can touch most of the ornaments. Her favourite are the little green jingle bells - she could shake them all day.

We have a few other smaller items scattered throughout the house... but I'll have to save sharing those for another day. I still have a few things to finish up with decorating - so keep an eye out for another Christmas decorating post next week. 

How is your decorating coming along? Are you all done or do you still have more to finish up?