Christmas Home Tour

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!  I hope its not too late for a quick Christmas home tour...I know that's the thing to do around blogland this time of year.  If you've been visiting my blog for a while, then you may remember our home tour from last year.  This year, everything in our house pretty much looks the exact same. I swore I would not put this tiny tree up again in our tall-ceiling house but alas, here it is again.  I even re-used last year's bow.  What you can't see in the picture below is how all of our presents actually spill over onto the other side of that chair to the left.  Our pile of gifts is bigger than our tree.

The mantel looks the exact same too.  I had big plans to do a burlap-theme Christmas this year, but I never got my act together.  When it came time to decorate, it just seemed easier to put everything back exactly where it was the year before.

I did buy a couple new things this year, like this stocking burlee.  I bought it for our front door and then remembered that I already had the big ornament to hang there, so the stocking hangs on our back door.

I moved the bowl of red and white ornaments into the kitchen table so that it'd match the stocking.

Another new addition this year is this fun little tree.  I actually bought it on major sale this summer and threw it in the attic.  It was a fun surprise when I started pulling out decorations; I'd completely forgotten about it!

It has colorful beaded ornaments on the branches.

Also new is this little tree I won at bunco.

When I told my mom about my plans to do a burlap themed Christmas, she bought me these two jute twine-ish trees.  Since I was too lazy to follow-through on my plans, I just placed these on a table in the upstairs hallway.  Maybe next year I'll carry out my idea.

Well, that was hardly a home tour.  There wasn't much to take pictures of at my house since I only halfway decorated.

To make it up to you, how 'bout we tour my parents' house?  Might as well show off someone's hard work!

The ornament wreaths on the doors are some that Mom and I made a couple years ago.  Hers are still going strong; mine didn't survive the attic.  The front door is guarded by these two guys.  Don't worry, they're friendly.

Let's go inside!  In the entry way, you'll be greeted by the first of several trees.

This tall, skinny tree is my mom's angel tree.  It's full of all angel ornaments, like this one that my grandmother made...

...and this one that I made way back in the day.

Also in the entry way is a small lit-up Dickens' Village house.  My mom has a whole village of these little houses.  Growing up, they were always placed under the tree and I loved to help arrange the town.  Now, with so many little people running around, they have to be strategically placed around the house in out-of-reach places.

To the right of the entry way is the dining room.  Its decorations are subtle.  On the table sits this bright blue bowl full of ornaments.  I love it because its festive without being traditional red and green.

The dining room is also home to these three wooden trees (you may remember them from this post).

If we'd gone left from the entry way, we would found the big family tree in the living room.

This tree has all of the sentimental ornaments on it, like the ones we brought home from school when we were little.

    

    

These three gold trees sit on the coffee table in the living room.

There are more houses from the Dickens' Village scattered around in here too.  This one didn't quite make it out of reach of little hands...I walked by at one point last night and saw that Santa was laying down taking a nap on the bench.

In the den is the third Christmas tree.  It's the smallest of the three.

This one is Santa themed.

    

In this room, the side tables are adorned with even smaller Christmas trees.

Even the chair has a Christmas tree throw pillow.

The kitchen is where we spend the most time and it has Christmas decorations everywhere.  There's no way I got them all, but here are a few.  On this hutch, some year-round knick knacks got switched out for more festive ones, like the Noel sign...

...and these sparkly trees.

On the walls are holiday wreaths.  The one on the left has interchangeable pieces for other holidays, and the one on the right is a gumdrop wreath that Anna and I made a couple years ago.

    

This cookie jar also has interchangeable pieces.  Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus are on it now for Christmas.  It's not unusual to walk into the kitchen to find a 3-year-old climbing up on the counter to get to this jar of goodies.

Speaking of goodies, there's always a bunch of yummy treats for the holidays.  Last night, we had gingerbread cookies that one of my friends made for us.

This time of year, my mom serves dessert on these ornament plates.

And if you need something to drink with your dessert, the mugs and hot chocolate are ready to go.

I'm ready for a warm mug of hot cocoa right now!  Hope you enjoyed the holiday tour!