Christmas with the Bayles

Welcome to our Christmas tour!

If we don't get around to sending Christmas cards this year, consider this your Merry Christmas from the Bayles!

Now for the fun stuff...

This is what you see when you walk in the front door of our house: straight ahead- the dining room!

To the left, we set our keys down and have this jolly guy waiting to take our mail for us (if only he actually made the trip to the mailbox also...)

To the right is our formal living room, which houses some of my most favorite Christmas things...

The mantle all decked out

Probably my absolute most favorite Christmas things are our stockings. It's a tradition that everyone in the family gets one when they join the family (through birth or marriage) exactly like these made with their name on it. My Granny made mine and my mom made Ben's. I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Of course, they are not used at all- I barely let people touch them!

Another favorite of mine is this ceramic tree that my Granny made. It used to be hers, and then it was my mom's and now it's mine :)

I found this adorable Santa for a steal at a cute, cute store at Bracken Village in San Antonio over Thanksgiving

The breakfast room...I usually don't have so many fresh flowers in the house, but since my birthday was Saturday and my sweet friends and husband sent me some, they were everywhere!

Kitchen cabinets...I collect snowman cookie jars

The family room -with brand spanking new built-ins- I'll do a whole before and after on those! and yes, the Cowboys game was on when I took this :)

Close up of the Nativity scene on a shelf. I got this at Hallmark a few years ago. I think it needs a little something with it- maybe some trees or something?? I guess pine trees weren't really native to the area though...ha!

And, finally, the grand finale!

THE TREE

I could stare at my tree for hours. I love it. It makes me smile. I don't do a theme tree in the family room (or anywhere, yet) because I love collecting ornaments through the years and looking at them and remembering the special times that they represent. I got a new ornament every single year since I was born from my Mom and I think it is so neat that each of my ornaments represents a year of my life. Some of my choices might have been questionable (like the year I got a Mr. Potato Head...don't know what I was thinking), but I always got to pick out which one I got. And now that I'm married I make it a point to get an ornament from every place that Ben and I travel to so that we always have that memory. Ok, enough cheese. Here are a few of my faves:

I got this Santa last year at Berings- no special reason, I just thought he was so pretty

I also try and get Ben a new ornament every year so that he is represented on the tree...here is a hunting snowman- perfect for my hunter :)

A present from my oldest sister last year

Getting married the week after Christmas definitely had its perks! My mom actually had this made for my "holiday" shower and I think it is so cute and perfect!

Oh, Mickey has had some tough times. His foot has fallen off and been glued back several times and his hat has also come off. He is the first ornament that I actually remember picking out.

Gingerbread Hawaiian man from our trip last May- I searched every single gift shop on Maui for this guy!

Another cute find in Bracken Village over Thanksgiving

And, finally, what the Bayles' gifts are looking like this holiday season...all 3 of them that I have bought so far. I have my work cut out for me in the next week!!

That's all! Merry Christmas and happy decorating!