2017 marks our second Christmas here in Virginia. But because we had just moved in last year, I would say this has been our first year that we have really been present for the holiday season.
We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home with a sick little one but it ended up being really nice. After many years of bouncing house to house on the holidays, a little quiet in the country has been really refreshing.
Of course we miss our family but we are learning to function and create memories as a family of three. It's been something many told us we would gain from being on our own but it wasn't until just recently that I personally started experiencing the benefits.
The exterior house decorations are pretty identical to last year's (with a few new additions/changes). But after years of dreaming of a little farmhouse with wreaths on all the windows, I had to repeat this beautiful look.
The wreaths and red bows are from Walmart. I think the wreaths are around $2. You get what you pay for - they aren't super fancy. But for outdoor decor and buying many, it really is an inexpensive way to create a unified look.
I then also put out these little trees I already had to add to the front door focal point. I am really happy with how it all turned out and that my few new additions seemed to complete the look.
I would love to one day have wreaths that look a little more fresh and real but honestly, with how much money that is spent during the holidays, I just can't get myself to do it. The frugal girl in me runs deep. Plus I really want to be content with what I have. It's a bit of a battle I have had this month on using what I have and decorating with less. I will share more on this topic when I post about our indoor decorations.
Then when the sun starts to set is when the magic really happens. Last year we bought an automatic timer that turns the lights on at dusk and stays on for however many hours you set it to. We have been very happy with it!
My husband was sick with the flu when I took these pictures. So trying to be a nice wife I did not make him turn the TV off while I photographed the house. :)
And here are a few pictures of our sweet boy playing outside while I took pictures. But in all honesty, he was super fussy that night. Just keeping it real friends. Total melt down that lead to a time out came moments later. But these photos help capture how much he loves being outside as well as the Christmas lights. He points at the lights all the time making it so fun to see the magic of Christmas through a little one's eyes.
Then the sunset came. I am not out much these days during the sunset so it was especially breath taking to see it set behind our holiday lit house.
After years of vintage multi-colored lights (ones that were on my parent's house when I was growing up), I finally decided that I wanted to give white lights a try. My husband was very pleased because this meant he could finally put up LED lights instead of our old school electricity sucking ones. We were both quite pleased with how they turned out (LED has finally come along way in making warm lights!) which I would say is a marriage win for the day!
And there is nothing like driving up to Christmas lights on the house. Anyone else swoon over their lights like I do? It really is a favorite part of the season for me. We probably only have three neighbors who actually see our house and we don't have many guests come by very often. So the work that goes into this is for our own desire and satisfaction! And thankfully having a blog also helps!
I hoped you enjoyed my little tour of our exterior Christmas decorations this year! I will be back next week to show you what I did inside the house. Happy December friends!
