“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” – Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas is my favorite time of year… I’m sure you may have noticed :) And one of our favorite things is decorating the house – inside and out! This is the first year in our new house, so we had to buy new lights and fun stuff for decorating – {You can see our Christmas Lights Shopping Trip at Sears here} – And I love all of the new lights that we got! Some of our decorations are super old – we’ve used them since I was a little girl. They’re getting kind of beat-up, but they bring back so many happy memories…

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” –Burton Hillis

This lighted nutcracker is one of those older decorations – We’ve got a couple big blue ones that have always guarded our doorways, at every house I’ve lived in, since I was about 5 years old.

“Christmas is for children. But it is for grown-ups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.” – Lenora Mattingly Weber

This team of smaller red ones usually line the walkways – But this year, since we picked up new lighted snowmen for the walkway, these soldiers stood guard along the house instead. They still make me smile, after all of these years.

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” – Charles Dickens

These are those adorable lighted snowmen I told you about – We bought them at Sears, and they might still be available. They have a few other choices, and I really wanted the snowflakes – But Abby chose these, and she’s the boss. I wish I could have gotten a better picture that could show you how fun they are – they light up and change colors, and are just super fun. My favorite lighting purchase in years. {There’s a great coupon code too – Use 5SCHEER on Sears Real Cheer to save $5 bucks off a $50 purchase!}

“When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things – not the great occasions – give off the greatest glow of happiness.” – Bob Hope

Here’s a peek at the front of the property – we’ve got a lighted Santa and Reindeer that move – Abby claps and giggles and says “Gooooo!” when she comes out to see them. Priceless. We’ve got two big lighted Snowmen that we’ve had since I was a kid – one of them lost his little carrot nose, so we made him a new one. You don’t just throw out a snowman, right? The whole property is lined with lights, garlands, and bright, cheery red bows.

“Remember, if Christmas isn’t found in your heart, you won’t find it under a tree.” – Charlotte Carpenter 

We decided to do icicle lights all along the roof this year – and we bought out the entire shelf of them at Sears! They look so pretty at night. We got the lighted snowflakes for the windows there too – the boys love having them on at night – like big cheerful night lights. We also got a ton of the energy-efficient colored lights for all of our trees – hopefully they’ll help lower our always-huge December power bill! Not many of our neighbors have lights up – and every day when I walk to the corner where the mailboxes are, everyone tells me how much they love seeing our house at night. I’m glad that we can add a little bit of holiday cheer to the neighborhood…

“From Home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another. The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other.” – Emily Matthews

Happy Holidays – whatever you celebrate – to you and your families!

{Disclaimer: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias}