Christmas Decor: Our 1st Time Decorating for the Holidays

While on our pit-stop home this past weekend I took several pictures of our festive Christmas decorations.

I had so much fun decorating our apartment this year, especially knowing that next year I'll probably be decorating a house!

EEEEEEKK!!

It was so nice to incorporate my style, which is traditional, rustic and cozy, into our Christmas decor.

I prefer wintery stuff over Christmas stuff. That way I can leave it up and enjoy it all throughout the winter months. I have a few Santa's, all of which were my mother-in-laws... the rest are snowmen and wintery accents.

I absolutely LOVE how everything came together...!!!

I love the ski's hanging on the wall to the right... so cozy!

And my wall of chests on the left blends in perfectly with all of the festive decor I added
My advent calendar is very traditional
The pictures in the long frame are of special places for Bryan and I... they signify our life together -- the top one is where we got engaged, Napa. the middle one is where we got married, St Thomas. the bottom one is an open field and a big blue sky, which signfies our future together.
And those tree branches, I broke those off of a nearby tree.

Guest Bathroom

The Santa cookie jar was my mother-in-laws, but it's mine now, hehe!

I have Christmas candy in the bowl, wine corks in the vase and my plant, Fred, who's been with me for 10 years now *yikes that a long time*

I really like this armoire, particularily because most everything in it was given to us by our family and friends as wedding presents. Each piece tells a story -- the lemon pitcher is from my sister-in-law and it's one of my favorite things... the dish between the wine glasses is from my mom and is what Bryan and I ate our wedding cake off of on our wedding day.. the red bowls are from Bryan's aunt, the glasses on the bottom right were bought soley for my fathers Irish whiskey drinking, etc. It's all just lovely!

I really like wine... a lot

I purchased the "Believe" sign at Kohls for $5 on black Friday. It's such great quality and looks super cute!

This looks a lot prettier in person... the picture doesn't do it justice

I am OBSSESED with our old-fashioned knit stockings!

The little house is another donation from my mother-in-law... I turn it on every night!

There are pine cones in the bowl (the bowl was a wedding present).

The mirror was in my bedroom when I lived at home with my parents.
The coat rack above the mirror is our all time favorite purchase. We bought it in Telluride, CO when we were there for my friends wedding. It's super expensive and super rustic and it was worth every penny. Normally I have a sand dollar ornament from our wedding (it was our wedding favor) hanging from it, but I decided to take that down and replace it with something festive, like a door hanger with bells

We're newlyweds and new to living together, so we have many, many pictures of us around our house... I'm sure that'll change over time. Not to mention, they sometimes make me nauseous!

All of the nick-nacks on the shelves were bought throughout our travels... the honey jar is made out of an olive tree from Greece.. the sail boat was my great grandfathers.... the thing to the right of the sail boat is from the Dominican Republic... the sand dollar, well Bryan found that on the beach in St. Thomas...... and the snowman is from my very giving mother-in-law.

My mom got me this lil cutie pie of a snowman pillow last year. How adorable is it?!

And there you have it -- our festive digs in a nutshell!

I love decorating. It's one of my favorite hobbies. And decorating for the holidays adds such an exciting twist, especially when red wine is involved :)

***Merry Christmas***