Christmas Decor 2011

Everyone has been chatting away about their holiday decorations, and I feel like I'm a little behind. Then again, I've felt like I was behind on the whole Christmas thing since we got off the boat after our honeymoon cruise. See, the tree at my parents house went up Thanksgiving night after the rest of the family left. And then we'd spend the day after Thanksgiving putting on the lights and decorating it with ornaments. So, considering we got back from our cruise on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we were a couple days behind already. And I didn't exactly have the energy to put up the tree right away when we got home. But eventually it did get done.

I went really simple this year - a lot of my decorations are still sitting in their boxes. I've had so much on my plate already that I knew I wasn't going to want to put it all away later. So only the basic and sentimental stuff came out - things that make it really feel like Christmas.

To start, I hung up our stockings along our entry hallway. There's a stocking for the hubby and I, as well as one for each cat. I purchased these (plus one more that's still in a box) a few years ago at an after Christmas sale. They probably came from Wal-Mart or Target.



We used 4 silver command hooks to hang them up. And there's a gold letter on each stocking to identify it's owner. We're considering leaving the command hooks up after Christmas and utilize them for our coats and my cardigans. We'll see how that goes.

We went really simple on our balcony. Just strung a single strand of white lights around the railing.

Beside our bedroom door I placed one of our two nativity scenes. In my opinion, your home isn't officially decorated for Christmas unless you have at least one nativity. Doesn't have to be big, as you can see below. But Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth, so it's only fitting that you recognize that somewhere in your home.

On top of the entertainment center we took down candle holders and replaced them with some blue & silver cone trees. I bought these from Jo-Ann Fabrics about 3-4 years ago. I worked at Jo-Anns for a couple months my senior year in high school, so I learned quickly what was considered a good sale, and when to look out for them. So when these beauties went on sale, they were mine! These pretty much solidified in my mind the idea of decorating in the blue/silver scheme. Last year I stuck to that theme throughout the house, but like I said earlier, I'm not that focused on how things look this year. (Please ignore the doctor's face on the tv... I didn't think to turn off the tv before snapping the photo)

The in-laws gave us an ornament this year that is gorgeous! I was eyeing this one at Macy's a few weeks ago, but the hubby and I decided that we were going to pass. It was a little on the expensive side, and it's a Lennox, which means fragile. And with a rambunctious cat in our house, we were afraid of it getting knocked off the tree and shattering. But once we received this, we decided we'd place it on top of our entertainment center where it would be safe from the cats.

And now, time for the tree! We moved the love seats around in the living room to make room for it in the corner. If you couldn't tell, it's a fake tree. Personally, I'm a fan of real trees. The hubby grew up with a fake tree, so he doesn't mind this guy. But there is just something about the smell of a fresh tree that I miss. Plus, it's really obvious when you look at the tree that it's fake. I've been searching for a fake tree that doesn't look fake but also doesn't break the bank. This is a mission I have failed. But I've not stopped looking - it's got to be out there somewhere!

As you can see, there aren't a lot of ornaments on it this year. And there isn't a single traditional bulb on the tree either this year. I decided the only ornaments I was putting up were ornaments that meant something to me or the hubby. Ok, ok... mainly me. But that's only because the hubby didn't really bring ornaments with him when he moved in. But there's a handmade ornament with UCF colors, ornaments from places I or we have travelled to, and ornaments that were given as gifts from friends.

I got some close ups of some of the more special ones. The first one is a photo ornament from 2006. I wanted to start buying a silver photo ornament every year and put our picture in it. But in 2008 I couldn't find one, so I sorta just stopped pursuing it. Anyways, this picture was taken shortly after Christmas 2006 in Pennsylvania on my Grandpa's property. It was the the hubby's first time flying on a plane and his first time seeing snow (that he could remember).

Then it's our "First Christmas" ornament from Hallmark. We got this as a wedding gift.

And here she is all lit up. Yes, there's a part of the top lights that are out. I swear they were working fine when I first strung them around the tree. But I haven't felt like fixing them quite yet.

So there you have it. Our Christmas decorations and tree. Nothing fancy. Nothing crazy. Just plain and simple. And this year, that's just perfect for us! Now if only I could get all of our gift buying done...

Anyone else feel like they are behind in Christmas decorating? Did you use a color scheme or just whatever felt right?

I'm linking up to Honey We're Home's Christmas Tree Party.

Honeymoon & Thanksgiving Cruising

As promised, I'm back with some pictures from our honeymoon and a little breakdown of what we did throughout the week of Thanksgiving. Firstly, let me introduce you to our home for the week:

Welcome to the Freedom of the Seas from Royal Caribbean. This ship was huge! Granted, it was only the second cruise the hubby or I had ever been on. The Freedom is part of the Freedom Class of ships, which means its one of RC's second largest ships. The only ones larger are the Oasis and Allure, both of which we are dying to go on soon! Anyways, I'm not going to get into details about the ship itself, but if you're interested in checking out this ship a little more, you can head over here to do that.

We left out of Port Canaveral which was really convenient. It's about 2 hours from our apartment, but only an hour from our parents. So, we drove to my in-laws and then they drove us to the port. Which meant no parking fees! Woo hoo! Here we are getting ready to go through security and check-in.

It was a 7 day cruise which left from Port Canaveral, over to Coco Cay, Bahamas (which is a private island owned by RC). After that we were on the boat for a day until we reached St. Thomas in the the US Virgin Islands. The next day we were in St. Maarten. And our trip ended with 2 solid days at sea as we made our way back to Port Canaveral.

We went kayaking in Coco Cay and then relaxed in one of the hammocks for a couple hours before heading back to the ship for lunch. They served lunch on shore, but it was the same stuff you get on the ship, and I personally didn't want to risk getting sand in my food from eating outside on a picnic table.

Like I said, their was a day at sea after the Bahamas. We used the day to explore the ship a little bit. I think my favorite part, as weird as it sounds, was that every day they changed the carpeting in the elevators.

In St. Thomas we went snorkeling at Turtle Cove. It was awesome! It's basically a turtle sanctuary and let me tell you - the turtles were beautiful! I didn't know that sea turtles breathed oxygen. But that comes in handy because typically if you're snorkeling, you're simply floating at the surface - not getting very close to the turtles munching on grass at the bottom. But, when they come up for air, they get super close.

The next day in St. Maarten started off on a rocky foot. It was my fault... I woke up in a crabby mood. When we got there, all I wanted was a Christmas ornament. See, that's sorta my thing when we travel. I like to collect Christmas ornaments each year and then when I put them on the tree each December, I like to think back to the fun times we had on the trip. Sadly, the port in St. Maarten wasn't exactly the "it" spot for shopping. The only ornament I found was priced at a ridiculous rate and it put me into a worse mood than I woke up in. Note to self: when travelling to St. Maarten, bring along a few extra bucks to take a cab or water taxi to decent shopping areas.

Anyways, our excursion at this port of call was called Discover Scuba Diving. Basically, it was a course for people who were not scuba certified but still interested in taking a dive. To me it was perfect - certification courses can be expensive, and I didn't want to spend that kinda money without knowing if I'd even like it or not. The hubby on the other hand was ecstatic and couldn't wait to get underwater. I still feel bad that I made the day so crummy beforehand, but I'm glad that things perked up once we got on the boat. Needless to say, it was amazing! It took me a little while to get use to the breathing apparatus - the hubby was practically already a pro with his previous firefighting training. But once I got use to everything, it was so cool to be that up close & personal with the fish.

It was also Thanksgiving night, though oddly enough, not a formal night on board. We ate dinner alone...again. I thought we had signed up for a larger table so that we'd have people to talk to at dinner. But we ended up at a table for four, but our other guests never showed up. One night we did have company - a nice couple from New York who decided to go to a later dinner time so that they could catch the earlier show. It didn't exactly feel like Thanksgiving. Sure, they had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberries, but it just wasn't the same. No family. No smells of the kitchen. And it was all so formal. I dunno, but to me Thanksgiving is a very down-to-earth holiday in my family. But I must say it was nice to be able to spend our first Thanksgiving as a married couple as just that - a married couple.

After St. Maarten we had two days at sea. Honestly at this point I was a little bored with the ship, but we made the best of it. Then the last day I got really sea sick and stayed in bed most of the day. Anyways, here's some other random pictures from our trip in no particular order.

So that's a recap of our honeymoon in pictures. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip. We've only ever sailed on Royal Caribbean, but I definitely recommend them if you're looking to go cruising. We're even thinking about talking the family into doing another Thanksgiving cruise - we'll keep you posted if we book another cruise.

Other than that, not a whole lot has been going on. We've purchased a few new things for the apartment and we've decorated a little bit for Christmas. I'm going to try and get another post done tonight or tomorrow with pictures of our new stuff and fill you on our most recent big purchase. We're so excited! Until then...