Party Recap, Christmas Trees, & Christmas Decor

So I must begin this post by saying that my Cookie Exchange was fantastic last night! We had a fabulous time and all my fears about the groups of girls not meshing or someone feeling out of place were completely ridiculous because everyone got along just perfectly! We had some fantastic soup, and some even more fantastic cookies (I'll be sure and share some of the recipes later). After everyone left I could honestly sit down and say...Wow, that was a huge success! Well, it was a huge success minus one little detail...I was so busy trying to be the perfect hostess that I managed to not take a single picture. Oh I got plenty of before shots of how wonderful everything looked...but no pictures of all my beautiful friends, no pictures of the food, and most importantly no pictures of all the wonderfully delicious cookies. Oh well, not much I can do about it now.

Never fear, I do have some pictures of our Christmas decor. I will let you know that I do not have pictures of our tree because we continued my family tradition of getting a real tree and we haven't had time to go pick one out yet. Speaking of picking out a Christmas tree...has anyone noticed how no one goes to a Christmas tree farm and picks out a tree anymore? Hubby & I were just reminiscing tonight about how both of our families used to go out to a tree farm and there in the middle of nowwhere was a fun hayride or carriage ride that took us out to the rows and rows and rows of Christmas trees. Each family would walk down the rows searching for the perfect tree and there was always the token picture of Dad cutting it down. Then the perfect tree was loaded onto the trailer, taken back to the little shed to be wrapped and prepared for travel. Meanwhile, each family could have some Christmas cookies, hot chocolate, etc. before they headed for home. It was such a fantastic memory and something my family looked forward to every year. Even now as Hubby & I try to find our perfect tree, we certainly still walk up and down rows of trees...but we're in Lowe's or Home Depot, or a flower shop that has moved on from Spring flowers and mums, to Christmas trees. It seems so sad that this tradition has been lost in exchange for a pre-lit tree that in some cases just gets rolled out of a closet each year. Now, for all of you artificial tree lovers, I completely understand that they are much easier to take care of and there are certainly many many advantages to artificial trees...I guess it's just the tradition and the event that I miss, not so much the actual tree.
Ok, so now that I've had my reminiscing moment and I'm off of my soap box...on to Christmas Decor pictures!!! Keep in mind that all growing up, my mom never really had a theme (except for red & green). She just bought whatever she thought was cute or neat or what she thought would look good and she managed to pull it off into a beautiful masterpiece. So with that said, Hubby & I really don't have a theme, just lots of festive decorations in the traditional red & green colors. Enjoy!

The Main Table (I normally don't have the table clothes, just festive place mats & napkins)

My sled centerpiece (my mom & I bought a little swag and just tied it onto the sled with some ribbon--I love it!)
The window in our dining room
A festive shelf display in our dining room

The other table set for all my girls

Our nativity scene and The Reason for the Season

The decor above my cabinets

Festive shelves in the living room

Our entryway table

Jolly Old St Nick

My glitter trees

Wreath closeup

The entire mantle display

Well there you have it, I also have a few little things in our bedroom and in the guest bathroom--but nothing major. Hubby also did a fantastic job lighting up the house, I'll include those pictures later on along with the tree process. Happy decorating to you all!