It's starting to look a lot like Christmas in our casa!

I love the holidays but Christmas ranks well above the rest. Love the decorating, the chill in the air, the baking and the excitement my girls get this time of year. This year I was a little more low-key with the decorating since the baby will be arriving just days before Christmas and I knew the more I put up, the more I would have to take down later and not sure how I'll be feeling. But what we did looks merry & bright and what's important is that the girls love it all.

Our activity advent calendar which I began just a couple years ago. Easy thing to put together and the girls look forward to what each day has in store for us during the Christmas season. Some of our favorites so far: Visit the Macy's Light Show in Philadelphia, french toast and hot chocolate for dinner, and yesterday we celebrated an early Christmas with the Pitocco's. More pictures to come from yesterday which was so much fun!

Subtle decorations on top of our piano...

A simple country star hanging in our mudroom...

Our stockings hung by the curtain rod in the dining room. We have these great, old stocking holders for the fireplace but I just love the color against the white of the curtains and french doors.

Our fireplace and tree. That's a simple garland I made last year using baker's twine and pom-pom balls.

A ribbon wreath I made last year that this year I decided to instead of hanging it, putting it around my candle.

And another wreath I made last year. Now just hanging in our kitchen above the sink for some festive color.

And the books. We have tons and tons of books and our collection of Christmas books is growing each year too which is great. The girls camp out in the living room, tree lit and flip through one after another while I flip through my Christmas magazines. I love it.