My Christmas Home

So, it is completely obvious, from the pictures, that our house is still a work in progress. Try to focus on the decorations only, because if you look at the nasty fireplace which I didn't have anything with which to cover it (I think the Nester would be ashamed of the lack of decorating the fireplace) you may think that I have absolutely no decorating sense, which is completely untrue. Most everything is still in boxes somewhere between here and Timbuktu, which made decorating this year slightly interesting (Christmas and otherwise). So, without further ado, here is my "Christmas tour of home." I am going to start from the outside, in.

This is the garland that graces my front porch. When we got our Christmas tree, I got a much larger one than I needed, because I love to use the pine boughs everywhere, as you will see from my decorations.

I have three wreaths of varying size on the portico. These are two of them. I just made them with boughs and wire. For my first wreaths ever, they turned out wonderful!

Yes, more boughs and plaid fabric. I couldn't get enough this year, as you will see when you continue to scroll down.

This saying is up in my kitchen year-round. The little houses used to be in the nursery at church, but they decided to throw them out. Thank heaven Paula (my mother-in-law) salvaged them. I thought they went perfectly together.

So I absolutely love my Christmas tree. It is so quirky and fun that it reminds me almost of a Christmas tree you would find in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (which happens to be Lydia's favorite movie right now) with a Country twist. The tree is having a hard time holding up the weight of the lights--slight pause for a laugh--so I had to go minimalist on the decorations. The dried grapefruits and apples have made it through four Christmases, and they are easily my favorite decorations. There are also rusted tin stars (I love everything rusted) that I stumbled upon while up in Idaho last summer.

I love this picture, because it shows the door with the wreath. I think it makes the Christmas tree wonderful. And I have never liked tree skirts...this burlap has been used since we got married to grace the bottom of our tree.

Now we are getting to my favorites. Paula had this cool old frame in her garage (it is a treasure trove) just sitting there. I knew I wanted to put it in my tree, and that dictated the theme of the whole house this year (antique-y doors, windows, mirrors, etc.).

I do not know if you can tell, but I used clothes pins to hold up my fabric garland this year. I think it would have turned out better if I had a more full Christmas tree, but I needed one to fit a small space, so sparse had to work.

We were so excited to get a fireplace in our new home. My problem was trying to make the wood look nice. Well, after using a little innovation with hat boxes and a no-longer-used plant stand, I think it works nicely.

I think my mantle is my favorite part. There is something about grape-vine wreaths that are happy, and they made the mantle wonderful.

More garland...this is my dining table. The flowers are a perfect touch...I love that my husband gives me flowers!

And last, but certainly not least, I promised pictures of the drapes I made out of burlap a few months ago. I did not forget! So here they are! I need to make four more panels for the room with the fireplace (I don't know what to call it yet) and then I think I will never make a curtain panel again, or until I get the itch to do so, which ever comes first!