Last year, we celebrated Christmas in the basement while renovations continued upstairs. This year – reno finished or not – I was determined to have our celebrations in our actual living room. So, we did.
We added our traditional live Christmas tree to the corner, stockings to the fireplace and gifts under the tree – right where they belonged. Sure – with the windows still being finished, we don’t have sheetrock on half of the room. But, we had plenty of space to enjoy the holiday.
We continued our tradition of adding glass ornaments to the tree to represent our year. Isai has been obsessed with robots – so that was an obvious must-have. We also added Elin’s first Christmas bear. Plus, a Pyrenese dog too. And, finally, a sasquatch that we picked up in Jackson Hole while we were visiting Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.
Isai’s robot 
Elin’s first xmas bear 
A Pyrenees 
Sasquatch (from our Yellowstone trip)
When we moved into the house 2 years ago, we were bombarded by unexpected Christmas cards. I put them on our mantel then – our only decoration in the new house. Now, we continue that tradition too alongside our tree, wreaths, lights and more.
With the magic of the season all over the house, Aaron and I stayed up late on Christmas Eve to assemble some battery-operated surprises for the kids. We even had to make a late run to Dollar General for D batteries because we’re very much in the early stages of expert parenting.
The kids woke up to their toys ready to go under the sparkling tree.
They even managed a few minutes of playing together with Elin’s new doll house and Isai’s coveted Hot Wheels. It was a simple and amazing morning celebrating the first of many holidays in the upstairs of our home. Hopefully, the next one will have more sheetrock involved.