our black and white "FamilyTree"

 So my family is really into family history.  We tell our kids stories about their great great grandparents and call them "ancestor stories".  So I had the idea this year to include our heritage on our tree and call it a "family tree"  We went back 5 generations from our kids on both sides. 

                                              

                                               

I used a toile background for my side,

...and polka dot for my husband's side to distinguish between them.

 For a FREE printout of your own family tree go to familysearch.org and create and account, it is so    very amazing to see names of people appear on your very own family tree!

I added an over-sized monogrammed ornament for each of my own kids to make them know they are a special part of our family tree (i modified an idea I found on pintrest, YES I did paint these white, they were formerly gold and I added a black vinyl sticker.)

 Here it is: our family tree

kind of a switch from last year right?

Keeping old favorites

I found I couldn't part with old favorites; things we have used every year in decorating for Christmas.  This is especially important for the kids who anticipate having things a certain way during this special time of year.

Spray paint makeover!

The next thing I did was to spray paint my decorations black and white so that I wouldn't have to spend money buying all new decorations.  The hat box was a bright floral which I sprayed black and covered with vintage-style black and white paper.