Getting In The Mood...

The the Christmas mood, that is!  :)  Nothing gets you in the Christmas spirit quicker than Christmas music and decorations.  We decided last minute yesterday to put our Christmas decorations up.  Jorge has been working a lot recently so we thought we'd better take advantage of some time off.  I, of course, have been ready to put up Christmas decorations for a while so I was excited when he suggested we get it done last night.  Don't get me wrong, it's a pain sometimes and can be tedious work but the end result is always so worth it.  The ambiance it adds to the house makes you forget about all that work!    I got most of it done last night but added some last touches to it today.  I also made some ornaments.  Some for me (of course!) and some as gifts for others.  This is the time of year I'm thankful for a small home.  I spend enough time and money decorating this one!  I don't know how I'd handle a bigger one...yet, I'm sure I'd manage...haha!  Here are some pictures from last night and today.  Enjoy!

Warning: picture overload ahead!

My little Christmas helper.

I've made several changes to this year's decorations from last year's.  The tree is pretty much the same as last year though.

The entry is a bit different.  I added the ornaments hanging from the mirror and the ladder was on the fireplace last year.

Here is a close-up of the ornaments hanging from the mirror.  These are some of the ornaments I made this morning.

Picture of the mess I made while making said ornaments.  I don't have a work space so I use what I have - my floor!  The next 7 ornament pictures are ones I made today.

Here's our mantle.  My favorite place in the house (besides the kitchen, of course!).  Several things are different from last year.  The garland going across the top and down the sides of the mantle is a new thing and most of the decorations on it are new.  The ornaments hanging from the ceiling are a new thing this year as well.  I have to say that I love it!

I didn't include a picture of the back wall because I'm not finished with it yet.  It's mostly done but there's something about it I'm just not happy with yet.  When I figure it out I'll take pictures and post them!

Since we put up our Christmas decorations last night I had to do something with all the pumpkins we were using for our fall decorations.  I threw the bad ones away but kept the good ones, cut out the meat, and boiled it last night while we decorated.  This morning I pureed it all and now I have 15 cups of pumpkin puree in my freezer.  Yay, me!  I see lots of pumpkin baking in my near future!