Friday Favorites - Christmas Comes Down, Everyday Goes Up

In an effort to be more consistent with my blogging, I am following some fun topic ideas from one of my favorite bloggers, Andrea at Momfessionals.

I'm about to take down Christmas.  Since I won't see these decorations for another year, I wanted to show some of my favorites.  I'm trying to be a little different...everyone else shows pictures in December of their beautiful decorations.  Not me!  I show them as I take them down! (Plus, I didn't get on the ball and take any photos or write a blog post about them!)

1. Will Work For Cookies - My sister gave me this little guy years ago.  I know it wasn't a gift.  I think she was simply getting rid of some of her stuff.  In any case, I think he is my favorite all time Christmas decoration.  He's just so cute.  He's definitely not the most sentimental, so I probably wouldn't save him first in a fire, but I like him up on my wall where I can see him from the couch.

2. Collection of Bears - When Eric and I met, his house was definitely that of a bachelor pad.  It is a beautiful house, but was a bit stark in the way of decorations.  His three sisters and mom tried to help by giving him all sorts of random knick knacks.  The house didn't feel like mine until that first Christmas when we bought decorations together.  One of the things we bought were these Christmas bears.  They live above the entertainment center in December.

3. Willow Tree Nativity Set - Eric bought this for me several Christmases ago.  I love it.  The first year I had it, I left it out all year.  Now it gets stored until next Christmas.

Several students went in together to buy me this Willow Tree Holy Family figurine this year.  I plan to leave it out all year.

4. Nutcracker - I bought this little guy this year, and it is the FIRST nutcracker I own!  Crazy, right?!  I want to slowly build up my nutcracker collection.  I'm also a sucker for anything gold and sparkly!

And now on to my favorite everyday stuff.

1. Wall of crosses - We saw this at a friend's house and loved it, so we started building our own.  I don't want it to get gaudy with too many crosses, so now we limit our purchases to vacations or special occasions.  I also get crosses as gifts.  We have two to hang right now.  Better get Eric on that! (I have thoughts to share about being a Catholic convert and having things like saint statues and a crucifix in my home, but I'll save that for another blog post.)

2.  Willow Tree Figurines - These are the everyday figurines that come out from January through November.  Love them all.  Can't pick a favorite.  Normally, these beauties live on the piano throughout the year.  During Christmas they move to my dresser where they live in a giant jumbled mess.  And yes, there is a Pound Puppy, a random photo frame, and a Winnie the Pooh in the background!  Time to clean up my room!

3. Red Vase - I'm not the best at home decor, but when I saw this vase in Costco many years ago, I just had to have it.  I'm a vase person in general, but I loved the color and height.  It lives on the dining room table all year.

I've got today and the weekend before heading back to school.  I need to get a few things done so I don't get to Sunday night feeling totally unprepared.  I plan to recap my mom's 70th birthday party next week.  We had a great time yesterday honoring a pretty special lady in my life!