It's beginning to look a {little} like Christmas

Can I tell you that it's hard for this Minnesota-born girl to get into the Christmas mood with 80 degree days and snowless days? Even though this is now my 5th year in Texas, I think I have a little internal alarm that goes fa-la-la-la-la when
1) It snows
2) It goes below 10 degrees

Even though I still feel strange picking out a Christmas tree in a t-shirt, I've been learning how to better embrace the Christmas-spirit without the snow and chilly weather.

It helps to think of all the things that are unrelated to snow or snappy weather:
singing carols, drinking cider, making cookies, buying + wrapping gifts, remembering our Savior, picking out a tree + decorating it, enjoying the glittering lights on the tree, Christmas music in the shops, parties + hot chocolate, etc...

I still miss the flurries, but I'm not missing the festivities!

Onto the decorating...

Since I got rid of a lot of unused Christmas stuff after last Christmas, I opened our Christmas boxes and realized that our Christmas decor was a little lacking--oh, well :) I still managed to dress up the house a bit. I'll have to wait until after Christmas to pick up some more cute decor on sale :)

Let's take a little glimpse:

My favorites:

• A star glittering on the tree
• Vintage cracker tin in Spanish (two loves: vintage + spanish!)
• Fake fireplace crackling and cozy tree skirt (aka fuzzy blanket I rediscovered!)
• Santa in a tent
• Paper stars and hanging stockings
• Twinkling lights at night
• My sweet pup glowing in the light (he was probably waiting to snatch up a fuzzy ornament :)!) 

It's not much, but it definitely is enough to help our home feel a little more cozy and festive!