christmas in our nest

i had two themes for decorating this year. simple and child friendly. scratch that. there were three. simple, child friendly and inexpensive. half of my decor stayed in boxes, we shopped all other rooms in the house, including the boys' toy bins. after pulling together what i already had i went ahead and spent a whopping twelve dollars on berry sprigs, miniature pines, dollar store foliage and one small box of red and green ornaments.



i really do enjoy the simplicity of it. i probably wont ever go back to crowded shelves and over achieving.



the boys love our little deer in the pickle jar. compliments of their animal figurine stash.



this glass vase sets on my counter year round and i have never seen it looking so happy as it does now. mister polar bear was another of the boys contributions and we have grown quite fond of having him in our dining room.



these are my favorite ornaments on our trees. they are the children's Christmas angels. they are in order oldest to youngest. i really just love them.



because i didn't have a wreathe to put above our mantle this year {and i didn't want to spend money on one} i went ahead and hand crafted this fine piece of artwork. it looks much better in person but the lighting in that room is terrible for photographing. i don't have a picture of the entire mantle but it is very simple. a few deer, a few plush trees i sewed a couple years back and an apothecary drawer. not even a stocking. we hang ours on Christmas Eve.

i am really looking forward to our Christmas morning. nothing beats the wonder i see on my boys' puffy morning faces each year. it's even better than being six again.

merry Christmas!

xoxo. ash