Our House is Glittery

I am so excited that it is December.

On Saturday morning Sydney and I woke up and hit the town to do some serious Christmas decoration shopping. After a few flop downs in the middle of Canadian Tire and one in the middle of the parking lot (don't you love toddlers using their free will to sit down and not move when they don't feel like shopping anymore?), we finally made it home with a ton of loot.

I picked up the lanterns, candle holders and candles for our fireplace from Ikea. The garland is two $2 green garlands from Walmart twisted together.

When we moved into the house we knew we would have to upgrade from our tiny apartment Christmas tree. David posted our tree on Kijiji and a couple who were actually looking to downgrade traded us straight across for this nice 7.5 foot tree. Works for us!

Sydney helped get the extra lights organized....

After all of the decorating was done (and long after Syd went to bed), David placed the star on top of the tree.

We also put out a few other decorations. Our NOEL letters when on the landing by the front door and David placed candy canes on every surface he could find, including our dining room chandelier.

The finished product is so beautiful and it has put our whole family in the Christmas mood.

I also wanted to share a few of our favorite ornaments with you. Since we met, David and I have collected ornaments from every place that we have traveled and we have also added a few special personal ornaments. Here are a few of our favorites:

1 ~ From our first trip to Cancun, Mexico together. We went with my family weeks before David proposed to me back in Canada. 

2 ~ From Jasper, Alberta. We spend a lot of our summers here hiking and camping. 

3 ~ From Sydney, Australia. This was the kick off for our 2 month Australian honeymoon and one of my favorite memories of our relationship so far.

4 ~ From our trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico this year. We flew down for our good friends amazing wedding and had such an amazing time. 

5 ~ From Maui. This was the first major trip that we took with Sydney. She wasn't even four months old at the time and it was so incredible.

6 ~ From Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta. I grew up going to this national park. It is not far from Lethbridge. I took David for the first time years ago and we have fond memories of hiking and dipping our toes in glacial waters.

7 ~ From Phoenix, Arizona. My parents have a home here and we love it so much. We were fortunate enough the spend a month here in 2011.

8 ~ The Christmas Pickle. Google it. There is a long German tradition behind this one. David's parents have on on their tree and now we do too. 

9 ~ From our trip to Honolulu, Hawaii this year. We went down to Hawaii for David's sister's wedding. It was our second trip to Hawaii in one year!

10 ~ Mount Rushmore, South Dakota. This is one of my all time favorite random road trips. David, Sydney and I drove 18 hours to get there and it was completely worth it. 

11 ~ Our House. David's parents gave this to us when we moved into our condo. Looks like we will have to get a new one for this house. 

12 ~ Cute as a button. David put together this ornament for me or Sydney's first Christmas. So sweet.

13 ~ From Mont Tremblant, Quebec. This was our most recent trip. We traveled to the Montreal area so that David could compete in his second Ironman.

14 ~ From Las Vegas, Nevada. We drove through on the way down to Phoenix last year. While we were there we got re-married at the Little White Wedding Chapel and we placed some winning bets. 

15 ~ From Montreal, Quebec. This is one of my favorite travel destinations of all time. 

16 ~ Sydney's first Christmas ornament. This is almost a right of passage for any new child. I love her ornament. We bought it while in Phoenix last year. 

So you have any ornaments that mean a lot to you or your family? Are there any family traditions that you are looking forward to during this holiday season?

Mrs. E