Wow. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and basically Happy Valentine’s Day?! Time is cruising! We’ve hit mid-January in the blink of an eye. 2026 started off so well, and I want to credit the Christmas weeks for that. Those beautiful Christmas weeks – the days leading up to Christmas, the big day, and the nearly 10 days after of pure-bliss ignorance. What day is it? What time is it? Nobody knows and nobody cares. That lax time is healing, isn’t it? The human soul needs time off from life. If you think about it – at least in the life of a mom – the Christmas weeks might be the only time in the entire year when life truly stands still.
I pulled my camera out in the beautiful bustle of our Christmas Eve to cement some memories. Claire made a mega batch of the yummiest gingerbread dough, and we spent forever decorating them all together. I had to photograph the Christmas tree, too, since it’s a new addition to the house this year. She wasn’t fully decorated – she was close! – but I took the photos anyway since we all know that if you wait for “perfect,” well, you might be waiting for forever.
Our elf was a new addition this year, too, and her last perch was on the tree, so lucky little Cherry was also in these pics!
I have faux Christmas tree hunted for the two Christmas seasons that we’ve lived here, and when I found our tree from McGee & Co. right after this Thanksgiving, I knew she was it. She’s tall and full with branches that extend in all the right places for ornaments. Her petite twinkly lights look like North Pole magic and her green shade is spot on. My exact tree is out of stock, but the flocked tree is in stock and since I was this close to getting the flocked tree, I’m sharing it! I went with the evergreen color in the end for the sake of contrast between the tree and my white walls, but that flocked tree is as perfect as a flocked tree can be. I hope someone will get it right now for next Christmas! January is actually the time to shop for Christmas decor items, like hello, that flocked tree is 70% off!! Christmas is in 48 Tuesdays from today (!!), so we actually all have permission to work on our Christmas decor.
I linked all of my 2025 tree items below! I can’t wait to outfit my tree more next year. The first item on my list: a perfect star!
CHRISTMAS TREE SOURCES
Christmas tree (the flocked version)
Vintage red baubles (similar – this is the exact shop I bought my small baubles from)
Red, dusty blue + khaki velvet ribbon
Specialty ornaments (gold baubles, gold bee, beaded trees)
Here are a few more shots of what life looked like on our Christmas Eve afternoon…
I have to add this last pic from our Christmas Sunday. What a beautiful day! I loved worshipping our Savior at church. I’ll say it a thousand times in my lifetime: I believe in Christ! I believe that He came to earth as a humble, vulnerable, trusting baby. I believe that He grew through life like we do, and that He learned how to follow God’s way like we get the chance to. December is wild, and as the CEO of this family’s schedule, I keenly feel the deficit between everything that December is – the deadlines, the parties, the shopping, the event planning – and the true reason for the season: our Savior. We do so much, but how much do we do in His honor?
Does the guilt there ever set it in for you, too? I was feeling the guilt one day when I was shopping for yet another gift for yet another person when a happy thought come to mind: if Christ lived in my world right now, He would be shopping for this person, too. He would have sincerely thought about them, too. He would have figured out what would feel meaningful to their personality, too, and He would have traded some of His own money for their gift, too. I can’t change my world’s culture, but I can see Christ in it, and I really felt Him in the gift-giving sphere this year — that He would think about, plan for, and shop for all the people, too. Our thought-out gifts given to others in love represent Him! I love that truth. I love Him!
How I love these babies, too. Our Christmas was simple and sweet and the magic was there that Christmas morning. I’d relive again this second, if I could! Thank goodness Christmas is in 48 Tuesdays from today. Time will cruise!! The magic will be back in the blink of an eye.
