Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Tour of Homes: Come see Our Christmas Decorations!

Once again, BooMama is hosting the Christmas Tour of Homes. I'm so excited to join in this year! We keep things simple but we always enjoy the decorations that we've put up. We're glad to share them with you!

Come on in! I know you are just miserable standing outside in the 60 degree weather!

Upon entering the room, your eye will be drawn to the mantle where our stockings are hung. The fireplace is not in working order, so no need to be afraid for a fire hazard! Yes, those are gifts set up all pretty on the mantle. We have limited space for items that will be out of reach of little ones and the dog. I used my $1 set of Cat's Meow village as part of the decorations this year. They were already up there; I just removed the fall trees and we have ourselves a winter village! I made the Names of Jesus garland new for this year. We love it!

We like to cut our own tree at a local farm. This year, we wanted a table top size. Again, out of reach of toddlers and pet. Also, small house! We got this child's tree for $5!!!

Every year, we add a new ornament to represent something for that year. We haven't yet received this year's ornament: a dog similar to ours sitting in front of a gingerbread dog house. I can't wait to get it and hope it's as cute as it looked online! We got our dog on New Year's Day so it seemed fitting to add a dog ornament this year.

Because of the size of the tree, we only used our favorite ornaments. And I bet you couldn't tell that the tree skirt is really a tablecloth! It covered the tree stand as well as the dresser on which the tree is setting.

Every year when we go to the tree farm, I admire their fresh wreaths that they've made from clippings. But I usually can't afford both the tree and a fresh wreath. But with this year's $5 tree, I was able to splurge on this beautiful wreath. It was too fat for our front door so it hangs in the living room instead. It smells wonderful! My husband spotted this music-themed Christmas ribbon in a free box while yard-saling this past spring. It made the perfect bow for our wreath!

On a bookshelf stands our nativity. One of my favorite memories from childhood was setting up the nativity each year. It was one of the only decorations we had in our home and we greatly enjoyed it!
The forest of tree candles you see here and on the mantle are handmade beeswax candles from Andy's mom and grandfather.

Isn't it funny how even without collecting, I can end up with enough snowmen for a themed display? These snowmen items have been given to me from various people. I thought they'd look cute on the desk in the dining room this year. My mom has given us some Christmas books which you see held up by snowman salt and pepper shaker "bookends".

Last,we make a stop in the kitchen where you see my intricate method of displaying Christmas cards. They're hung on the mini blind. I got this idea from my mother-in-law. No matter where I hung the cards, they'd always fall down. This solves that problem! The kitchen is a great place to look at pictures of our friends' cute kids, too.

This is the end of our Christmas tour. Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed yourself.

Merry Christmas!

Be sure and stop by BooMama's for a complete list of the Tour of Homes.

6 comments:

Wendi said...

Love the wreath on your front door! I really wanted to go to a tree farm for a fresh tree this year. When we found out they were selling around here for $10 a foot we decided that money would be spent better elsewhere. Maybe next year! Thanks for the tour.

Carol said...

The mini blinds idea is great! Everything looks so festive. Glad you joined in the tour with us.

Merry Christmas from She Lives!

momstheword said...

Hello! I followed you over from Darcy Lee's blog. I enjoyed touring your home for Christmas! Love the snowman display. I love snowmen!

DarcyLee said...

Thanks for the Christmas tour. I love to see how other people decorate their homes. It gives me lots of good ideas.

Also, Mary Ann, thank you for the sweet words you left on my blog concerning my grandma. We will always miss her but feel very blessed to have had her in our lives.

Lesley said...

I love your ideas....the cards...fabulous...and great job hubs for finding the ribbon...fantastic...

Virginia Janet said...
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