The stockings are hung by the chimney with care

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Cottage & Vine

I've spent the last week or so working on our interior Christmas decorations.

I'm the sort of person who loves the results but hates the work.

I don't do a whole lot, and this year in particular I'm just really decorating in the den, with small trees in the kids' rooms.

This might be my last year with red and silver as my primary colors.

I'm sort of ready for a change, and I'm thinking I might switch to blue and silver. I think I can do it tastefully.

But for now, I'm sticking with the red, green and silver that are pretty traditional.

I have these two really ginormous ornaments that drag the ground when I hang them on my tree, so this year they're hanging from a pair of candlestick lamps instead.

I like it so much, they may never grace the tree again.

My nativity set was on the foyer table, but Nick moved it to the sofa table in the den. Good call, Nick.

I hung my subway art that I downloaded from eighteen 25 last year and had printed on canvas at Costco.

I put up our pre-lit tree, which this year wasn't so much "pre-lit" as it was "partially lit."

I'm here to tell you that nothing will steal your holiday spirit like trying to light a tree that refuses to be lit. BAH FREAKING HUMBUG. Please notice the nice mix of jumbo bulbs and mini bulbs that my tree is now sporting. I am so proud. That last sentence was not true.

What I DO love about our tree, as always, is the growing collection of photo ornaments featuring each child.

At the end of every year, I order the next year's ornaments (usually on clearance) engraved with the following year for each child.

One day I'm sure I'll be able to have a tree decorated with just these ornaments. They are my favorites!

Nick and Jake have a really tacky turquoise tree in their room that holds all of their Star Wars ornaments.

They love it.

I try to add one ornament to it each year ... Target usually carries a few Star Wars ornaments.

This year since Nathaniel moved to a different room, he gets a University of Alabama tree.

I found a bunch of ornaments for it when I went to Gatlinburg last month.

I got this centerpiece ornament at the Carolina Craftsmen show when we were in Winston-Salem for Thanksgiving.

The others are pretty standard, but I think they're cute.

The only other piece I whipped out was our advent calendar, which I filled with three small treats for each day. So far, the boys are RIGHT ON TOP OF IT. They never forget.

What about you? Are you decorating much this year, or laying low?