It’s one week until Christmas! Today I wanted to share some of our decor and a little tradition we have with our kids that is fun and helps countdown the days until Christmas. I’ve done it a few different ways, but our new way this year has been my favorite!

When my husband was a kid, my mother-in-law would put a stocking on his and his brother’s bedroom doors and put a prize in it every day from December 1 to Christmas day. She said when they were young, it was a lot of small things like Matchbox cars, and as they got older, it was more like cash and gift cards to get breakfast burritos. This is a fond memory Steven has of his childhood, and I was totally on board with doing this with our kids and started three years ago with Henry’s first Christmas.

The first few years it was the same- I found lots of little toys and fun things like bath bombs, Reese’s trees, socks, etc. It’s basically 25 days of stocking stuffers. Which they loved, but I would get overwhelmed trying to make sure I had enough, and make those things special apart from their Christmas morning stocking stuff. Plus we then had an influx of small things they didn’t necessarily care about leading into Christmas morning and Christmas with grandparents when they get even more.

I was walking around Hobby Lobby around the beginning of November and an idea hit me after seeing the miniature trees and decorations. I knew they would both love having their own little trees, and decided to kill two birds with one stone. Instead of 25 days of stocking stuffers, I decided to do 25 days of mini decor that we can pack up after Christmas and reuse next year.

On December 1, they each got a tabletop mini tree. The next day, they each got a mini LED battery powered light strand. I found pink beaded garland for Olivia and red and white garland for Henry for the third day. Then each day after they got one ornament to put on their tree. Liv has Disney princesses, pig and hippo ballerinas, and sparkle ornament balls. Henry’s is, of course, all dinosaurs. I found little felt dinos at Target, and glitter dinos at Hobby Lobby.

Aside from the actual trees, I put their “prize” for the day in a stocking hanging on their bedroom doors. I bought them new stockings last year that are a little reflection of their personalities- Henry’s has a little felt dinosaur and Olivia’s is a rainbow unicorn. They also each have a quilted hanging made by Steven’s aunt Cindy. Henry’s is The Grinch, and Olivia’s is Frosty the Snowman, and they are so cute! Olivia loves getting up every morning and checking her stocking, and Henry usually has to be prompted to check, but they have enjoyed decorating their own trees, and I have found it an exercise in letting it go and letting them be creative, haha!

Another new tradition we started this year was a tree in the playroom that I’m calling the “family memory” tree. This is the tree we had before we moved here that was put into storage directly after Christmas 2021 to prep for moving. We moved into our new/current house on December 2, 2022 and were hosting the youth group Christmas party at our house two weeks later. To make things easier on myself, I ended up buying a new tree to put up instead of digging the old one out before the party.

I didn’t get the old one out of storage until this year, and put it up in what we call the “playroom”- the room off the kids’ rooms where they play and watch TV. This is for all the handmade treasures, the gift ornaments, our special occasion ornaments like First Christmas married and Baby’s First Christmas.

I also decided to take a page from Andrea at Momfessionals and get an ornament for each one of the kids that represents their year. I got a little curly headed angel ballerina for Liv because of her Tiny Angel debut, and of course, a T Rex for Henry. Eventually, I’d like to go back and fill in ornaments for the last few years that I’ve missed. I wrote “O-’23” and “H-’23” on each in Sharpie so we can track the years, too. I can’t wait to fill this tree up with all the sweet family memories!

Buying a new tree and decor last year actually worked out well because we really needed a taller tree for the family room space. This also gives us a tree that is aesthetically coordinated with our usual decor and looks nice without having to sacrifice not displaying our sweet treasures. This year I went with a full green garland with pine cones and red berries across the mantle and added ribbons that match the ribbon on the tree. Our main area is mainly dark blue, gray, white, and gold, so I went with mostly navy and white decor with a few pops of red and tartan plaid bows and ornaments for a classic Christmas plaid look.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel is my favorite Christmas song because I just love the message that Israel pleaded for a savior, an Emmanuel, and He came to fulfill all His promises and more. I purchased a tea towel with the lyrics on it from Kate at Little Things Studio a few years ago, and glued it into a square frame from Hobby Lobby for display with our Christmas card collection we receive each year.

(Also, I don’t know why it looks like the tree lights are half out because it only does that in pictures for some reason. They all work in real life!)

And that’s our decor for this year, and a little look at some of our favorite traditions! It feels really festive in here, I just need to get all our gifts in and wrapped and under the tree, just in time to open, haha! Happy Monday!