It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - year 2

How we've been decorating:  It's no secret that Christmas is my favorite time of the year.  Here's my blog post from last year.  This year I wanted to get more creative in my decorating.  I was on Pinterest for awhile looking at different ideas.

I came across this adorable washi tape fireplace.  I combined it with this reindeer.  We added the red nose all on our own.  It is one of my favorite parts of the apartment.

Over half of the apartments in our complex have Christmas lights.  We like to think we inadvertently started the trend with our Halloween lights because at the end of October everyone else had their Christmas lights up.  We strung my long chord of lights on our porch and wrapped it around the curtain.

We used this cute example to create our own Christmas garland above the couch.  We didn't have super pretty ribbon, like their example, but we used gray and green yarn.  My mom and Christin's mom both thought the garland looked like sugar cookies.  I layered and combined it with a chalkboard banner that my mom sent.  

We found some fun window clings that we put in Christin's classroom/our kitchen.  

My bedroom is still a work in progress.  I loved my desk from last year because it looked so nice.  This year I have four cork board squares to work with.  I tried using the same "Joy to the World" signs I made from last year.  I'm not loving the result, though.  Any ideas or tips?

I'm trying to decorate my classroom for next to nothing.  It's one of the rooms I spent the most time in during the day.  I want it to be festive and fun.  I hung another garland, and I added some snowflakes to the chalkboard wall.

I didn't have any green and red construction paper, and I can't really afford to buy more, so I watercolored white paper to make a countdown chain.  Each morning the boys chop off a rung.  Only 18 school days left!

I love making snowflakes.  My friend Lyndi is a professional snowflake maker.  We made some at a Christmas party last week, and we placed those on the doors.  We had thought about wrapping our bedroom doors to look like presents, but I don't have the money to buy all that wrapping paper.  This week I taught the boys how to make them.  They make the chalkboard wall look much more festive.

Here are some other glimpses of Christmas around the apartment.  The weather has been cooler, so it really has felt like fall/winter here in Santiago.  Last night it was in the low 70s and there was a huge thunderstorm.  Not quite sure how I am going to survive the 30s when I am back in Oregon for two weeks.  Only one month left until I head to the US for the holiday.  Not that I'm counting the days... :)

Con mucho amor.