Christmas with [Half of] the Family

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! At this point, the holidays are over (well, not really – I still love and celebrate Valentines Day! ), but here are some of the decorations we had around the house for our celebration with Brandon’s side of the family (his mom and dad, brother and sister-in-law, their adorable baby boy, Noah, and their friend, Justin).

The menu consisted of a mishmash of finger foods, ham, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes (made by Emily – the sister-in-law – the best I’ve ever had in my life), cheesy potatoes (which turned out horribly because I tried to get creative and use fresh potatoes instead of the frozen hashbrowns that the recipe called for), rolls (which only took three tries to get right), cranberry sauce (not the kind from a can, but real, homemade goodness), apple pie (also handmade) and an array of cookies. Aside from the cheesy potatoes, I think the evening was a success!

I’d been wanting to make a banner, so I tried one out (the first picture in this post). I will do a separate DIY post about that one.

Our Christmas tree was a tiny one – four feet tall (and that’s being generous). We wanted to keep it small for a number of reasons, but I shant go into detail about that here. To match the tiny tree, we got tiny red and green ornaments, and I thought they looked great against the white of the tree! I also made a tiny tree skirt to coordinate with all the other handmade decorations. [Side note: I don't even know what everyone was watching on TV, but how did I hit such a perfect frame in the movie for that middle picture?!]

The table was simple, but bright (I tend to be attracted to things that fall into the “Bright Christmas” category). Our everyday plates and flatware, with some Target napkins. I had made some red napkins to coordinate with the table runner, but a last second change in the guest list left me one napkin too short.

I also made stockings for everyone, but I don’t have a good picture to share. A total bummer considering that these were my favorite decorations!!