I have been pondering how to decorate our new house for Christmas for longer than is probably normal. I definitely scouted each house we toured during the house hunt for the prime Christmas tree location, that’s for sure. (And our house had a vote against it solely due to its lack of mantle!) Once we moved, I started warning Dan that the lights were going to be crazypants this year. I mean, it’s basically required, with a staircase like ours!

Dan says having two trees turns our house into a department store; I have too strong of a sentimental attachment to this little white tree to keep it packed away. (I’ve had it now for five years, and love it a little more each year, even though I bought it as a joke. The year before that I had a very, very sad Charlie Brown tree.)

But the exhaustion of early pregnancy took away a lot of my steam. Suddenly, the idea of buying a real tree seemed insurmountable and full of even more to dos – we’d need more lights and a stand; we’d have to vacuum the needles and water it… And since I’m trying to be easier on myself, it seemed like buying a fake tree wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Even if I have historically been EXTREMELY snooty about fake trees and certainly never intended to actually own one. So we bought a 7.5 foot white tree; if it’s white, it certainly isn’t pretending to be a real tree.

I have to be honest here, because truthfully? Other than the tree, “decorating for Christmas” to me means lights. In as many locations as possible. So many that you can avoid using the room’s real lamps. I didn’t use all of my lights this year, because I could tell Dan was hitting his limit… but not before I achieved the desired lightsplosion.

I have two favorite areas this year:

The fireplace – because I adore our stockings (and the tiny plaid one I bought for Luna) and because I absolutely love how our Christmas cards look hanging on the blank wall above the fireplace.

And the staircase up to the second floor. I wrapped the bannister first with silver tinsel garland, and then with colored lights. It’s impossible to photograph, but the tinsel+lights go all the way up the stairs, along the hall, and around to the wall right above the front door. It’s so freaking happy.

I leave you with some extraneous bokeh, because what’s the point of having so many lights without taking too many photos like this?

And lots of wishes for hot cocoa, sitting by the lights, watching Christmas movies (…or James Bond movies, if you’re like me and think only of 007 at this time of year) and lots of coziness. Even if it’s going to be record-breakingly warm here in NJ this weekend.