christmas on my mind

i know we haven't even made it to thanksgiving yet, but i've been (not so secretly) dreaming about christmas for weeks months. it's my favorite time of year and i want to make it really special for azalea. nevermind the fact that she won't remember it ;) also, it doesn't help that every time i log into pinterest, i am bombarded with beautiful pictures of trees, mantles, crafts, and lights. i have all of these ideas swimming around in my head, but not a ton of time or money to do them. but here's what i've schemed up so far: 

i knew i wanted to get a stocking for azalea with her name on it. so when pottery barn had an offer for free monogramming and free shipping, i jumped on it. azalea's stocking came in the mail, and i love it. this is the stocking i ordered: 

i got her the bigger size. it looks great!

i also decided i want to start the tradition of giving her an ornament every year, so she will have 18 or so by the time she moves out. pottery barn won me over again with their frame ornaments. again, free monogramming and free shipping! 

i got the red square one with her name.

this past weekend i went to michaels to look at some wreaths. we haven't put lights outside for a couple years (since we took down the 2 bushes in front), but this year i really want lights again. So i got a plain pre-lit wreath for outside and then spent entirely too long looking at all of the decorative "picks" to add to it. We also found some pretty pre-lit twig-trees at target that we will put in front of the living room window. 

don't worry, we'll probably wait until thanksgiving weekend to put everything outside.
 we now return to our regularly scheduled pre-thanksgiving musings.

*no, pottery barn did not pay me to write this post. they don't even know i exist :)