Celebrating Advent

I'm joining Katie at NFP and Me for her Christmas Decor Link-Up! Join me as I document my first attempt at truly celebrating the Advent season in all its glory, Catholic convert style!

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Brian and I spent the first two years of our married life in a tiny 500sq ft apartment - and while we were happy to have a little home of our own, it wasn't until we moved into our townhome that we realized how little our apartment really had been! As we began to put up our decor around the new house, it struck me how bare everything looked, even though our apartment had been decorated from wall to wall! The amount of space was a little intimidating.

Slowly but surely we've been adding onto our home here and there with little touches, and it's been a great treat to buy seasonal decor for the first time. I managed to decorate a little for Halloween and for Thanksgiving. But, as the Christmas season rolled around, I knew that I wanted to take it a step further. While we did have Christmas decorations set up in our apartment, we could only fit a very small 4ft tree and some stockings. And getting the tree to fit was quite a struggle! I feel so blessed this year to have an opportunity to make my house homey and warm for the holidays.

Things are feeling very merry around here in the townhome, let me show you:

Our tree, just to the right of the entrance, in the corner of the dining room. The tree skirt was a new addition this year! We've been accumulating ornaments since before we got married, though we only add one or two a year. Plenty of room for more!

And I adore our Christmas tree topper - it's an angel that softly changes color. 

I was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest, and decided to try the ornaments hanging from the dining room light. Trying new things is easy now that we live near Dollar Tree - I think it turned out pretty cute.

You can also see our advent wreath and our seasonal candle holders in the center of the table. The only thing that's missing is a Christmas tablecloth!

Our first Advent wreath! It took us quite awhile to find one - we tried so many different stores, but I guess that's just not the sort of thing most department stores carry in stock. We did manage to find Advent candles at Jo-Ann's, but our wreath was purchased at a Catholic gift store 40 minutes north of us. I also added a Christ candle in the center.

I also updated our hurricane candles. They're filled with mini pine cones and apple cinnamon candles, tied with a snowflake ribbon.

The most wonderful part of decorating this year was putting up my nativity set for the first time. This set has been in our family for such a long time, I'm not quite sure how old it is. It belonged to my great-grandmother and I grew up playing with it every Christmas season. If I remember correctly, not only is it handmade, but it was crafted by my great-grandmother's brother (though maybe that's just a family rumor). My Aunt had it for many years after Grandma Marge passed, and then she passed it down to me after I got married.

This is the first year we had room to set it out. I was very close to my great-grandma, and it makes me so happy to see it in use again. She babysat me for the first two years of my life, and I spent the night at her apartment every weekend as a kid. She was the only other practicing Catholic in my family, and I look up to her to this day, ten years after she passed. RIP Grandma Marge!

Here are some other decorations around our home:

Jingle bells on our front door.

Holy Family statue we got this year.

Decorations on the stairwell. The wooden angel is a gift from my MIL. The cinnamon scented pine cones are delicious. And there's a picture my favorite little man in the corner!

Stockings hanging on the bar. Two for us, two for kitties, one for baby.

Christmas card display. Still more arriving - I love it!

Some of our favorite ornaments:

Husband got me me this Willow Tree angel last Christmas, as a promise we would start our family. Can't believe our baby is almost here!

Our first ornament after we got married.

The first ornament we got together. Disneyland memories. 

One of my favs - Jim Shore nativity star. 

Football Santa - you know you jealous!

I've been meaning to get this link-up done earlier, but we keep making little changes throughout the home, and I end up taking more pictures! But I guess that's the fun of decorating. I hope you enjoyed this little tour of our home - I'm sure I'll have far less time for decorating (or cleaning) when our first baby makes his arrival. Just two more weeks!

Thanks again Katie for hosting! I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!