Bloomington, IN: Christmas at Our Home

Eric and I looove decorating for Christmas. That is kind of an understatement. And yes, that is a giant stocking on the door (we found it at Menard's for $8 back in November). The jingle bells did not come with the stocking :)


Last year we bought our own tree - 7.5 feet tall and 2600 branch tips. We wanted it as full as we could get! We tried leaving the lights on the tree (we don't do those "pre-lit" ones) after Christmas last year, instead of taking all 1700 of them off, and it worked out really well. Our tree comes in 3 sections, so we just put the lights on the tree accordingly and tried to make it so the ends would line up.


I don't think I managed to get a shot of the tree with all the presents under it before we took them to Tennessee, so you'll just have to imagine them. PS. Those presents in the picture above light up. We found them at an antique store in Waynesville, OH, and it is still our favorite/coolest Christmas-related purchase.




We have a couple of reindeer - this guy who lives by the tree, and another who lives on a table and holds all our Christmas cards.





Pretty much all of our ornaments have some kind of significance. We try to pick at least one ornament up whenever we travel somewhere new, plus there are a few from my childhood (or even my mom's childhood!) scattered on the tree.





Eric's parents started a tradition last year of giving us the Hallmark lighthouse ornaments (the light really flashes). This is last year's. They are awesome. They have their own cord that they plug into which is kind of silly, but they look cool.


Every Christmas we've lived together (this is our 3rd), I've gotten Eric an ornament of where we live. This is the Indiana ornament for this year. I spent months (literally since we moved here) searching for some kind of Indiana or Bloomington ornament that wasn't IU-related or didn't cost $50. I eventually thought to reach out to Visit Bloomington to see if they knew of anywhere that sold ornaments like this, and they pointed me to By Hand Gallery. Perfect. (I added the little heart over Bloomington with a Sharpie to customize it a bit.) Now I have to figure out what to do for next year...



We also put up these fun window clings. Eric has a lot of Charlie Brown Christmas stuff and it all gets put out. These guys are on our front door.


And these are on our China cabinet.


We even have some stuffed guys who say things when you push their feet, books, and magnets.




We finally have a mantle to hang stockings! Sure, it's over our kitchen opening and not a fireplace, but whatever. These stockings are from the Bloomington Antique Mall and we found them over Thanksgiving weekend. We'd been looking for stockings like these (knit) for several years so we just went ahead and bought them.




Our tree topper is actually something we found at a little glass shop in Annapolis, MD. It was handmade by the shop's dad, and as soon as we saw it I told Eric that we had to buy and use it as our tree topper! We didn't get to last year because of how our ceilings sat, but this year we actually just hung it where a lamp normally goes and it is perfect. For next year we have to figure out how to get some lights pointing up at it to make it sparkle like this Google+ AutoAwesome shot ;)


For the first time ever, we have stairs to decorate. We found these stockings on clearance at BB&B last year (they were less than $2). The garland is from a thrift store from Laurel, MD.


And last but not least, we have a second tree. This is Eric's college dorm room tree and it looks great sitting on our shelving in the kitchen. We put some lighted garland (also found at a thrift store in MD) around it and the plant stand next to it.



Oh yeah - we also have a wreath hung up :) Since we didn't have a chance to put up lights outside (definitely will next year!), I wanted to make sure to have some kind of outdoor-ish decoration. I bought the wreath a few years back at Michaels and the ribbon is actually from my Valentine's Day rose bush from last February.


Did you guys decorate for Christmas? We were excited to be able to go a little crazier than the past years. Don't worry, it will only get more insane.
Bloomington, IN: Christmas at Our Home Bloomington, IN: Christmas at Our Home Reviewed by Maria on 10:00:00 AM Rating: 5

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