Christmas decor and Family inspiration

This year, as we do every year, the day after Thanksgiving we put up all our Christmas decor in the house. I love this time of year and all the music, smells, parties, and decorations. We are a little Christmas decor overboard and even have 2 Christmas trees! Kinley is in LOVE with the manger scene and wants to make the animals climb on top of the stable and put baby Jesus in his manger non-stop. Here is what Christmas looks like at our house!


The pinecones on the candleholders was Ben's idea and I think it is so cute!

I especially want to highlight two of my favorite items to get decorate with!

First, probably our most famous decoration, is my vintage-framed-light-up-jewelry Christmas tree that my 86 year old Grandma, Momma Gay, made for me. It is fantastic! She had one of these growing up in her house and we all loved it and have fought over it for years. As a result, she decided all of her grandchildren needed one also! So, for special occasions, like weddings or graduations, she has made everyone a tree.

So much thought and effort goes into these trees. She puts a green glass bottle in the oven and brings it out at just the right temperature to smash it with a hammer into tons of pieces for the tree. She drills holes in the wood for the lights to come through. She finds the perfect vintage frames for them all. Even the jewelry is thought out and personalized on each tree. This is something that I will always treasure and am so thankful for.

Momma Gay does not even know how cool she is because these are all the rage in the blog world and on etsy right now...like these here, here and here are almost as cool...but, they don't light up.

Well, I guess Momma Gay's creative and inventive genes were passed on to my mom..because my other favorite Christmas decoration is Kinley's stocking that my mom made her last year. It is fabulous. Seriously, its beautiful...total perfection. She picked out the perfect pattern and worked dilligently, hand-stitching it for weeks to make it for Kinley and she loves it. We take it down and look at it daily.




I just am so thankful for the inspiration I have from my mom and Momma Gay for making homemade items and spending thoughtful time on gifts for family and friends. I hope that one day Kinley will be inspired too!