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*** UPDATE: Please go HERE to help us spread the name of Jesus this Christmas! :)

I adore Christmas.

My poor husband has to tolerate my obsession starting in August, (okay... July if I'm being honest) each year when I start counting down. So it is with much excitement, that I give you my tips to get your home looking merry and bright for Christmas!

Merry Christmas, my blog friends. Come on in my house and take a look at how we roll at Christmas time...

If you are struggling with where to start in your decorating adventures, let's start with what you have on hand already.

I like to decorate with fabric scraps and cookbooks. Christmas puts me in the mood to bake, so I think it's only fitting that all my favorite cookbooks be put on prominent display in the china cabinet. After all, who wants to look at fancy dishes when they can ogle Paula Deen's guide to cooking with butter instead?

Just cover some baskets with pretty Christmas fabrics and stick some cook books in the mix. And if you feel up to it, fill up some random glass candle holders with miniature glass Christmas balls.

Again, just use what you have. Make it work. It's all about what makes you feel the Christmas spirit, right?

I like to leave out some of my regular pictures during Christmas. I just add a few things around them. The red plate you see below is a sparkly charger I found at the dollar store. Ten minutes and my trusty sharpie turned it into a prominent message of "Celebrate Christ at Christmas and Always" for my dining room. This picture doesn't even do it justice. It's very shimmery and catches your eye when you walk by the china cabinet.

Centerpieces are important for every dining room. I used my favorite serving tray that I mod podged with pretty papers. I added a few clearance candles and threw some pine cones and extra glass balls on the tray. Five minutes and I called it done. It makes me happy!

Another way to make your home festive is by adding Christmas colors in unexpected ways. Below you will see my favorite yard sale find EVER. It's a cream colored chair that was sitting out in the rain. I grabbed it up for $20 and did a happy dance all the way home!

As much as I love my darling little chair, it needed something to make it feel more like Christmas. So I picked up a table runner at the dollar store. YES. The dollar store. And I just added a couple of stitches to attach it to the chair. I threw on a pretty red pillow and it looks like the perfect place to sit and drink hot chocolate by the fireplace!

Everyday objects become ready for Christmas when you add in the right colors. Give your lamp some holiday spirit with a red shade, courtesy of Walmart. I added my little Christmas card holder and a flower arrangement to make it complete. The arrangement is cradled in a cardboard box I covered in black and white damask scrap book paper with a little mod podge action.

As the decorating continued, I noticed a rustic theme happening. Between the burlap table cloth pictured above, the plaid table runner turned chair cover, and some awesome ornaments that felt kind of log-cabin-cool, I thought I'd just run with it. I found a jingle bell wreath and a stand to hold it on a clearance rack. Then the "Noel" sign somehow leapt into my shopping cart too. It wanted to be mine. I just couldn't tell it no.

The stockings are hung by the chimney (on the firescreen) with care...
In hopes that my husband will actually attach them to the mantle someday.

My fireplace is the absolute best part of my home. I adore having a mantle to decorate with the changing seasons. This Christmas, I wanted Christ to be at the center of all we do. So it was only fitting for a nativity to sit on display on the mantle. Lucky for me, my in-laws gave us a beautiful one last year! I added a barn star and some garland. What do you think?

Baby Jesus is sitting on some gold fabric, wrapped with twine. I didn't have a manger, so I improvised. I mean, I figure Mary would have laid him on gold fabric instead of a manger if she had that option, right?

For those of you who are home decorating gurus, you might be gasping in horror that I used cheap artificial greenery on my mantle. You should stop reading here because my tree is fake too. Don't judge me, ya'll. I have two children with asthma and I'm pretty sure Christmas trees and asthma don't mix. At least that what's the allergy doctor told me. So I try to make the best of my garland and I think it looks alright. I added in some pretty flowers and berries, found on clearance at the mecca of all craftiness, Hobby Lobby.

I threw in some leaves too. You would be amazed at how a little floral action can soften up anything in your home. Just start playing with it and watch the magic happen right before your eyes.

This angel has a special place in my heart, so it sits at the entry table to my home. This girl was given to me when I was pregnant with Walker. I was actually on bed rest, very early in the pregnancy. I was bleeding and begging God to spare my son. The baby Jesus that the angel is holding is the same size that my Walker was when the angel was given to me. I used to spend hours looking at that baby in the angel's arms. I believed God gave me that angel as a promise to hold my son. And sure enough, now my two year old Walker likes to point out the baby in the angel's arms. God is good, isn't He? And Christmas is all about celebrating His faithfulness.

I also added a wreath above the angel's table. I just love wreaths. I'd hang them everywhere if I could. But I'm pretty sure my husband would kill me if I put anymore nails in our walls. I have a bit of a problem with nails. I don't usually hit a stud, even with the stud finder. Then I have to make four more holes before I get it right. Which equals a crabby husband. Which equals just one wreath in the Benge house this year.

In my kitchen, I filled my little baking wrack with goodies. I painted a sign to hang above it (and I only made 2 holes hanging it.... ha!). The "Cookies for Santa" plate is another dollar store find that got a little love from my sharpie. The basket holds candy canes which I use to bribe (I mean coerce) my two year old into doing all sorts of fabulous things, like eating vegetables and picking up toys.

Decorating for Christmas is all about adding small touches. I adore my little Christmas salt and pepper shakers so much that I keep them in the kitchen window above the sink. That way I can look at them while I wash dishes.

Finally, here is our tree.

Yes, we love colored lights. No, I'm not sorry that we do. Yes, I know white lights are the "trendy" way to decorate. But white lights are boring. I want Christmas to be colorful, and well... bright. I have a whole different post coming about the ornaments on my tree. Wait for it, ya'll. I know... you can barely contain your excitement.

Finally, I leave you with Ally's tree. It's pink. Just like everything my little princess owns. And she decorated it all by herself. She added real candy canes, some snowflakes her Mamaw brought her, and various other treasures. She even hung her dress up bridal corsage on it. It's that big white blob on the right side. I adore Ally's tree because it captures everything about who she is at four years old.

So there you have it. That's how Christmas is getting started at my house.

We have pink trees, cook books galore, table runners turned chair covers, mod podged boxes and trays, artificial garland, colored lights, and a whole lot of Christmas spirit.

So how did you decorate? Leave a link in the comments so I can come over and see your decorations! Merry Christmas, ya'll!