Christmas Tour Of Homes

Today I’m participating in The Nester’s Christmas Tour of Homes, formerly BooMama’s Christmas Tour of Homes.

This year I’ve decorated more than I have in several years. Last year we weren’t going to be home for Christmas and we had a 1 year-old. The year before, Caedmon was 3 months old. So this year, it all came out for the first time in a long time! My normal decorating style can be described as follows: Comfy, casual, doesn’t show dirt, not easily broken, and a bit modern. My Christmas decor is pretty much the same.

Our Christmas Tree is filled with ornaments that are a bit off the wall. I’ve never had a “pretty” tree, always one that has ornaments with real meaning and history. It may never be “pretty”, but it has lots of memories! Also, you might notice that my tree is shoved up against the wall. It’s actually missing the back third of the lower branches. If I didn’t put it together that way, it would take up half my living room. It reminds me of, “Where do you think you’re going to put that tree, Griswold?”   Our fireplace area.I’m pretty excited about these stockings. I know, it’s sad. But last year was the first time Husband and I got new stockings since we’d been married. That’s right. We were married 10 years and still using the stockings from when we were kids. But since Caedmon needed one (He needed one the year before, but I was lazy. No, wait, I had a newborn.), I decided it was time for new ones for everyone. They came from Pottery Barn Kids, and they were priced very reasonably. I think I even got the names embroidered for free. They have some new reindeer stockings that I love, but there’s no way I can order new ones again this year.  This is a Fontanini Nativity, and our collection was started by my grandmother when we got married. It was one of the best wedding gifts ever. I’ve tried to add to it a little each year. There are so many cool things about this collection, but my favorite feature is that the figurines are non-breakable. This is a lighted tabletop nativity. It was given to us by a former Pastor and his wife. It is very special to us and will always have a place at Christmas.  I even brought a little Christmas into the kitchen this year.Here is my snowman collection. These are breakable, so they usually get a home up high, specifically on top of the kitchen cabinets. Some of these, I painted myself. Others were gifts or ones I purchased. I love that they are “winter” decorations and not necessarily Christmas decor, and I usually leave these up until sometime in February. The grapevine and twinkle lights stay up year-round, along with my silver. (The lights are on a timer so I never have to remember to turn the on/off.) My favorite new thing this year: Charlie Brown! I’d given this to Caedmon to play with, but he liked chewing on it more than playing with it. So it now sits on top of my chest of drawers. It’s a little Christmas happy for our room!These cone trees are a mystery to me. I love them, but I’m never sure where to put them or exactly what to do with them. So by default, they’re just sitting all lonely, next to the TV.I also have a tabletop tree in Caedmon’s room on top of his chest of drawers. But every time I had the chance to take a picture of it, low and behold, the boy was in his room asleep. So you can practice using your imagination. I decided to just go with lights on it this year, so it has a short little strand of multi-colored lights on it. Caedmon loves having it in his room, and wants to turn the overhead lights off so he can see the tree lights better.

Our outdoor decorations are exactly the same as last year. (I have no snow this year to take pictures in, only rain!) I’m definitely going to have to re-vamp my wreaths for next year. The silver ribbon is getting worn and the lights on one of them went out this past weekend. I’ll be perusing everyone else’s wreaths for ideas.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a Merry Christmas! If you’d like to see my decor from last year, go here (there’s a lot that’s the same as this year!). To see more homes, head on over to The Nester’s Christmas Tour of Homes.