Homemade Christmas

I've never been that excited for Christmas the last couple of years because it's always snuck up on me and I was always too busy to really get prepared for the holiday.  I didn't have time to decorate or go shopping for all my loved ones & made me irritated for holiday season (which I hated, and made me even more upset).  And then working in retail where Christmas comes before Halloween, I *really* hated the holiday season.

So imagine my surprise when I find myself starting to think about what I want to bake for Christmas Eve dinner at my grandfather's house.  Or how I want to decorate the mantel (because we have a house now!).  Maybe it's a combination of our first Christmas married, and our first Christmas in our new house & my not working in retail anymore.  I even find myself thinking about Christmas decorating and it's not even Thanksgiving yet!  Yikes!  I used to hate when people would do that before Thanksgiving and now I'm one of them! haha.

So in the spirit of preparing & getting excited for the holidays this year, I thought it'd be fun to dream a little about what a homemade Christmas would look like in our new home this year.

This year I want to focus on making some Garlands...

             

The paper garlands would be fun projects to do when babysitting.

lots of Ornaments...
(both made by my husband and I if we can organize an afternoon to do some crafting :) and I'm sure the kids I babysit would love to make some ornaments with me)

     

 Painted ornaments (Local Craftstores have these ornaments kits)

   

Can you believe these are crocheted? Where do I find a pattern to do this.  These make awesome Christmas gifts, too.

Ornaments made from origami. Now I have another reason to hang out with my dad.

I don't know how I could replicate these, but I just LOVE the colors!  If I went with tradition ornaments, this is what I'd get.

Wreaths...

This would go well with that silver tree skirt (below).

My favorite, traditional & simple wreath.

Stockings...
(I've been wanting to knit our own but with all the gifts I still have to make, I doubt I'll have enough time to get them completed for this Christmas.  Maybe next year)

    

I'm a sucker for the traditional with only a touch of new.

and since both my husband and I are really excited to have a real Christmas tree, we'll need a tree skirt of course!

This tradition red & white skirt is what I had envisioned.

I didn't even think about knitting or crocheting one.

This one would be very sophisticated for those holiday parties.

What are you planning for the holidays?  Or are you too busy like I used to be in the past years?