I'm not one to go nuts over Christmas traditions and generally like to keep things low key and simple. It is one of the only holidays I actually make an effort to decorate for though. It just seems like a little festivity and a few twinkling lights really cheer things up when it is cold outside and the days are so short.

Sometimes I find it hard to decorate around the unfinished projects. Our front door is still unpainted and not fully trimmed out, but I finally added a wreath anyway. There is always a pile of boots in the entry- especially now that the puppy needs accompanied outside to do his business several times a day.

I reuse the same decorations every year, but I'll add to it if I see something that catches my eye. This year we made a crude little star from some leftover trim scraps and wrapped a few lights around it. I also bought this pretty pine plant off of our local Facebook yard sale site for $10. It will stay all year, but looks especially nice for the winter!

I found this adorable pair of vintage children's wooden skiis to add to my collection this year also. They were a steal ($5) at a holiday antique show.

There is a darling little place called Virgelle (named for its founders Vigil and Ella) on the Missouri River that opens only about twice a year to sell their wares. They are open as a bed and breakfast in the warmer months. It was a bit of a muddy trek to get there, but well worth the drive.

I could have easily dropped a few more pennies there if I'd had the pennies to drop. Our new puppy sort of ate a hole in my pocket.

I love getting everyone's Christmas cards in the mail this time of year. As usual I display them in this vintage card carousel. This was our Christmas card this year:

I mentioned before that I let my kids decorate this year. It was fun for them and stress free for me.

They filled this bowl with silver pine cones and garland, and I loved it. You can see that I hung some art on the wall in our living room. I've had these New York prints and really like them, but had intended to use them somewhere else until I saw how nice the metallic frames looked against the gray walls. I would like to find a pair of mirrors to flank them since there is a lot of wall left on either side.

I like playing Christmas songs this time of year. This year the girls were asked to carol at the local nursing home with the 4-H club, and I got to accompany them on the piano. It was a grand time and was especially fun to see the joy on the faces of the tenants!