I have been waiting for this post for EVER! I adore Christmas decorations and can't wait to see how everyone else decorates their homes for the holidays.
I felt like I had decorating our old house down to a science. I knew where everything went, which garland went where and had the perfect spot for the tree. When I started pulling things out this year it was like a big puzzle. Things came together pretty easily and I love how you can see twinkle lights from pretty much everywhere in the house.
So, without further ado....
In the dining room I added a small tree (used to be next to the fireplace in our kitchen), garland a few other little touches.
The kids call this tree the "fancy tree" :) and it's filled with jeweled pomegranates and pears as well as lots of picks and pinecones.
The garland on the buffet is filled with more fruit, sparkly snowflakes and deco mesh.
I filled the jars on the bookshelf with more fruit, some gold ornaments and then ornaments left from our wedding. We had a tree filled with ornaments that people took as their wedding favors and we have a couple dozen that have survived the 11 years since (they're glass). I love getting to pull them out every year and use them in our decor. I also have a thing for "one piece" nativities and have several of those our as well.
I had a hard time figuring out where I wanted to put the tree this year. There wasn't a great spot in our family room and my original plan was to put it in the living room window (straight ahead in the photo below), but ended up putting it in next to the stairs in the foyer and ADORE it!
The tree is filled with years worth of "keepsake" ornaments and we couldn't imagine it any other way. Mementos from trips, lots made by the kids and ornaments from childhood.
A big apple from a trip Dave and I took during college...
... my mom had a pair of gnomes (David and Sarah) and we used to hide them on the tree and my brother would search and search to pair them up. ;)
The "Tiny Town" train and a sandwich with a bite out of it from when Mason was a toddler and would walk around and demand "BITE" out of anything we were eating :)
The year Luke discovered his love of bacon and when I visited Ellis Island while chaperoning the Senior Trip.
The Christmas tree with pool ball ornaments was the first ornament I ever gave to Dave. I think I was 15 and we used to play pool all the time! Love hanging that one up ever year :)
I switched out a few things on the shelves in the living room and added a little garland on top.
I stuck in various gold balls (pretty sure it was a big package I got from Hobby Lobby a few years back), gold sparkly snow flakes and these gold glittery grapevine balls from Pier1.
My dad on Santa's lap as a kid...
... and a nativity that was a wedding gift. Isn't that a great gift idea? I didn't love them alone on the shelf (not enough height) and so I put them on a couple of cake stands.
Falalalala Lalalala pillows from Pottery Barn
In the office I added a garland to the console table and love having twinkle lights on while I've been working on cards.
I added garlands on the second set of railing and love that you can see the lights from outside.
The garland was plain and so I added on gold ornaments, more grapevine balls and picks with glittered pears.
These stockings! I've mentioned before that I ordered the "giant" stockings from Pottery Barn one year not realizing how GIANT they actually were and now they're a big running joke/tradition at our house :) I'm pretty sure Mason could still fit inside one. They're ridiculous and don't match anything and we love them.
I added all kinds of lights, glittery ornaments and this jeweled garland (this was part of our wedding decor, too!) to the garland on the mantle and love how the light comes through the glass beads.
The O Holy Night sign is from Vine and Branches.
This cakestand will be filled with shortbread cookies this weekend :)
The gold ornament tree on the sofa table has ornaments from our wedding and these snowflake ornaments I had made for each of the kids with a verse that has to do with their names.
The wire basket holds Christmas cards we receive. I like having them handy so we can flip through them throughout the season.
I'm still missing the kitchen window from our old house ;) but kept it pretty simple in the kitchen.
So! There it is! I was going to show y'all the playroom... but this post was already way too long :) So I'm going to save that for another day.
Link up below and share your decor! I can't wait to look through everyone's links and check out all of your decorations!
Merry (almost!) Christmas, y'all!!!
