Decorating, errr, Disclaimers 101

*I feel like I need to put a disclaimer up about the following photos.  I am clearly not a professional photographer...I feel like I can get by with less-than-perfect pictures of my oh-so-perfect baby because, well, she makes up for it.  But, here I go posting not-so-great pictures of my not-so-perfect crafts...just don't think I'm all patting myself on the back or anything.

*I took these pictures tonight after the sun had pretty much gone down.  I do know that it's better to take them with natural sunlight.

*Still...I take a better picture than my mother.

*Oh, and the other disclaimer, since we are leaving for Hawaii in nine days, my holiday decorating is pretty minimal.

*And, last but not least, this little 2 foot tree is still way better than last year's crazy, crooked, shedding tree.

Now, on to the blog post!  Remember when I made those pinwheel garlands for part of our Halloween decorations?  Well, I kind of got hooked on the scrapbook paper.  My mind was racing with how I could use it to help decorate for Christmas.  I love, love, LOVED the pinwheels, but seeing as how much space they take up to store them {we're talking an entire 100 quart tub}, I didn't want to do that again.  So, I decided to make a stocking garland instead.

Originally, I was going to have them all facing the same direction and then after talking it over with my husband decorating consultant, I decided to have them going two different directions.  We hung them up last night according to what I thought were the directions of my assistant.  And, then today, I kept staring at them wishing that each side was facing the opposite direction.  When I told husband, err, assistant this, he said, "Yeah, that's what I said we should do last night."  So, we're switching them.  But, I love that the paper is two-sided and I can see it when I'm sitting inside the family room snuggled up in front of the fireplace.  I picked up the swag in the middle today at Trader Joe's for a mere $6.99.  It's nice to have the smell of fresh pine/spruce in the house, even if it is just a little bit.

Oh, and see that wreath back there?  {Focus on that instead of the orange pumpkin above the tv that I forgot to remove.}  I'm thinking it needs a little something...and I know just the thing.

So, since I was taking pictures of the garland, I figured I might as well take some pictures some other holiday decor for prosperity's sake.

Our mantle

Our stockings

Our formal dining room table

My favorite Christmas decoration

The Christmas tree above our fireplace is really an advent calendar from Pottery Barn Kids.  I ordered it last year and we put it in the little nook by our entry way.  I was the only one who ate the chocolates, and believe me, I enjoyed it every day.  But, Livi is too young to be eating chocolate on a daily basis and I wanted to do something for her to count down each day.  Somewhere in the blogosphere I saw an idea of wrapping up a holiday book for each day of the month.  This was perfect for us since 1.) I have several holiday books from my days teaching and 2.) I was really going to miss seeing Olivia open up a gazillion gifts this year.

So last night, I spent about 15 minutes wrapping up some books for her to open for the next nine days.  But, I love this idea and want to do it every year for her.  I'm looking forward to adding some new books each year.  Here are the books I chose:

All wrapped up in her room.

And here are a few pictures of Olivia opening tonight's double feature.

Happy Thursday from the Central Coast!