Preparing for Christmas at the Cabin

This will be our third year spending Christmas day at our family's cabin in the Adirondacks and it has become our family's very favorite tradition. This is pretty much how we all feel when we run away to the mountains after such a hectic holiday season! :)

We will spend time with our extended families before we leave and then spend a snowy week in the woods. Today I thought I would share some of the Christmas decor we added to the cabin this year. We set up one of our older artificial trees in the family room earlier this month. Then we will cut down another tree from the property on Christmas Eve to put by the kitchen fireplace.

Nothing fancy here. Every Christmas Eve, we make some ornaments to add to the tree. This year, I bought this kit from Paper Source and I am looking forward to putting them together. My boys will groan and make fun of me when I pull this activity out, but then before you know it, they will all be gluing ornaments together and laughing along. Another thing we enjoy is the Trader Joe's Test of Caramels. We had so much fun with that last year!

I added a scarf and hat to Jim, the deer head above the fireplace. My stepdad likes to tell the joke that he wonders how fast that deer must have been traveling when he ran into the side of the house and got his head stuck right above the fireplace. :)

To us, this house is the most comfortable place in the world and we have made the best memories here. We are so grateful that Billy's parents have shared this cabin with us and allowed us to use it as our own. We hope to provide the same for our boys and their families.

I added an Adirondacks pendent and a couple of strings of lantern lights that were Target Dollar Spot finds this past summer. I wish I had thought of using them on the Christmas tree sooner and bought more! A buffalo plaid ribbon as garland adds to the camp style.

We painted the small kitchen island red, and it still needs at least another coat of paint (although we already did three coats on top of primer) so this has not been our most successful project to date. Hopefully, we can put another coat on and call it done but I have to admit that I am a bit nervous to return to the cabin and see how it turned out fully dried. I took this picture quick just before we left in the pouring rain on Sunday. Red can be such a difficult paint color to choose!

I will be sure to share more pictures of this space when we are there for Christmas. Finally, I saw this picture online the other day and I thought - YES! - there is not a thing I want for Christmas but this.

The silence part probably won't be happening, but I will sure be grateful for the rest!