Christmas is coming!

This is our second Christmas at Our House. And it's a very special Christmas because it's Dietrich's very first! Christmas has always been a special time (as it is for most people I find). My mom always transformed the house and we went out in the woods to cut down a tree (I have never had a fake tree). We would get out all the special ornaments and decorate everything. Then we would spend days making hundreds of amazing Christmas cookies. Now I'm a mom and I get to do some of those things myself! Last year my sister-in-law Bekah and I spend over 8 hours baking tons of cookies. This year I have been getting a few done everyday, she is coming over tomorrow, hopefully Dietrich will cooperate and we can get a few done! I thought I would share some of my decorations since I get to transform my own house now! Here is the fireplace. I love having a fireplace to "hang my stockings with care." I hate that the fireplace is black above and ugly grey tile, but that will change someday I suppose.

Yes I am aware there is not a stocking for Dietrich yet. He does in fact have one, it will be beautiful and hand-made by this Mama, maybe by the year 2020. In the meantime I will be buying him one that hopefully sort of matches these and will puff paint his name on like the rest of us. Here is our GIANT tree! Everyone who comes in comments on how big it is. 12 feet tall to be exact. I have to stand on the "this is not a step" step on the ladder to reach the top. It took me three days to decorate. I think that my mom and Grandma have some of the most beautiful trees, they load them with gorgeous decorations. I'm trying to learn from them. I think this is my best tree yet, although I know this style of tree isn't for everyone. I received the greatest compliment from my sister-in-law Sarah last night, she said that she would have never thought to pick out a tree with so much space between the branches, but she loved how it looks. You can get so many ornaments on it and you can see through the tree to the ornaments in the back. I love that about the tree too, I'm glad she noticed :) (Side note: please ignore the pile of baby toys on the floor, we were playing).
Look I got a sort-of artistic shot of some ornaments:
I love how a tree looks when you lay on the floor and look up through the branches, here is a picture of my view:
I was teasing Bryce about how whenever we decorate the tree he is so excited but then only hangs up "his" ornaments. He told me "I get burned out." I told him I do too, but somebody has to finish the tree because it would look silly only partially done. This year he went to open up "his" box of ornaments (it has his name on it) only to discover that I have reorganized the way I pack them and "my" ornaments were in there too! HAHA!! He had to help me hang them all! It was a great strategy that I didn't even mean to have!

And here is my favorite little Christmas Baby opening his very first Christmas present from his "Aunt" Megan. Of course he mostly ate the paper and ribbon, it was a penguin pillow pet! If only he knew how cool he is, all the girls in my Girl Scout troop want a pillow pet for Christmas. It's like one of the cool things to get apparently. But of course he's super cool :)