Christmas Decor and a Harry Potter Tree

Right after Thanksgiving, I started to get the itch to decorate for Christmas. I went into Costco one day and found the Nativity set of my dreams. It was gorgeous with large, hand painted figurines. I have wanted one for such a long time, but haven't been able to justify the cost. I had just received the exact amount of money that it cost for helping clean Grandma's house the day before, so I decided to spend my money on the Nativity. It felt a little excessive, but it made me so happy to unpack and put out each piece of it on top of the piano. I am hoping that it lasts and brings us joy for many, many years.

We spent a fun evening listening to Christmas music and setting up the tree and other decorations. It is one of my favorite nights of the year to spend with my family. We all worked together with minimal fighting between the kids. I was so happy with how it turned out. I always buy all of my decorations at the end of the year on major clearance, so it is fun to open the Christmas box the next year and see what new things we have. There is just something magical about a home all decked out for Christmas.

I wanted to do something a little different this year, and decided to set up a smaller, second tree in our piano room with more of a kid theme. I found a new one on sale for only $20, so I couldn't pass it up. My sister-in-law, Kym, made a whole bunch of Harry Potter ornaments for Hannah's wedding gift in September. They were so cute that I decided to use that theme for our smaller tree. The kids were super excited to help decorate the HP tree.

I made winged keys from cool brass keys that I bought on Amazon, golden snitches from some old ornaments we already had, bought some cute little owl ornaments and glued on letters addressed to Harry, created a phoenix out of a bird ornament, and hand painted some glass bulbs. The painting took a long time, but they turned out adorable and were actually a lot of fun to create. Now that I have done it once, I think I could do it faster in the future.

 Ron, Harry, and Hermione

Hogwarts House Scarves