Just a little Christmas cheer!

It's no secret that I love to decorate for the holidays. It's also no secret that Christmas is my favorite holiday. I LOVE CHRISTmas and everything about this time of year. I've always put my Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving. Every year when I get out my Christmas decorations, it's like getting out old friends I haven't seen in a while. Hello stockings. Hello mistletoe. How ya been nativity set? And having a little girl to share my passion for everything Christmas with is absolutely the icing on my cake! Katelyn loves to help me decorate our house. She loves to listen to my Christmas cd's and sing along to her favorite songs. We read lots of special stories about the birth of Jesus. I love the Advent season at our church and all the special ways we pay tribute to Christ's birth. At home we love to sip hot cocoa in front of the fireplace & watch all the special holiday movies and kids shows that only air this time of year. I LOVE to go Christmas shopping for special gifts for my loved ones. I've never been the type of person to buy Christmas gifts in July. It's just not the same to me at all. Christmas is a very peaceful & reflective time for me. Like Thanksgiving, it's a time to be grateful for all of my blessings. It's a happy time to share with friends and family. And decorating our home for Christmas adds to my joy, well all of our joy!

About 11 years ago now, my husband introduced a new Christmas tradition to me. Mike had been at our local Ace Hardware store and saw that they had a Christmas village set up. He was intrigued thinking, "Wonder what my wife could do with this?" So he bought the "fire station" and brought it home to me. Next came the Catholic Church. I don't remember which building came 3rd, but over the past 11 years I have amassed a holiday village of 39 different buildings, countless number of faux trees, people, mountains, accessories, etc. My village fills our entire entertainment center, 2 of the shelves next to the firplace, and the end table. By the way, I say "holiday village" now because about 5 years ago I started putting everything up before Thanksgiving. It takes me about a week to unpack and put everything together, so I want to make sure there's plenty of time to enjoy it all. All of the buildings light up, so it's quite the electrical ordeal to get everything plugged in. Let's just say we wouldn't want the fire marshall to stop by!!

I have to admit that my village has also become a bit of an obsession. Every year new buildings are introduced and the old buildings are "retired". So naturally when I see the new ones I want them too!! And it's not just me, Mike is just as bad!! Our biggest problem? SPACE!! We are running out of space to put everything!

I don't think these pictures really capture the beauty of my village. So if you're in the neighborhood & you want a closer look, just stop by, and I'll fix you a cup of hot cocoa! Merry Christmas everyone~

Most of the village is on our entertainment center~

Anyone up for a bit of theatre or ballroom dancing??

New this year, I let Katelyn pick out a building (a house) and created the scene on the end table just for her. Everything is at her level, and she loves turning it all on and playing with the people etc. It's hard to see from the picture, but there are lots of dogs too! Shouldn't surprise you!

Happy New Year friends~

MOO!