‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…….

And all though the house… Well , of course not many people were stirring because we are empty nesters, but we bribed our son who is local to come and stay with us and help put out the Christmas treats for Santa.  He’s 25 so he only said OK so as not to hurt our feelings. And I secretly think he’s afraid of getting coal in his stocking 🙂

And speaking of stockings….

 

 

 

 

 

I add  a bow and fresh greens to ours.

 

Christmas is very low key at our house. You might look at my decorations and think otherwise but I only decorate three rooms – my foyer, family room (where I have one tree) and dining room. We are not extravagant, we buy each other one gift, add a few sweet treats to our stockings, my husband makes an awesome brunch which we usually try to eat at our coffee table in front of the fireplace, and then I make dinner which consists of homemade pizzas.  We are almost always joined by my daughter’s best friend Becky, who is part of our family.

There are a few important reasons for our laid back Christmas day.  On December 12, 2011, I had a heart attack. Due to some major complications, I ended up in critical care for four days.  I came home to a different way of life.  I had not shopped; had not planned anything. I used to have Christmas dinner for 13-14 people every year. Trying to get everything done on time and make everyone happy had just about taken over this holiday. I will not go into the details on this post but needless to say, we made a change in our lives because of this. That year, we did nothing. We had virtually no gifts because as the one who does the shopping I was home bound healing for a few weeks.  The kids were home from college (of course Becky was here too) and we made homemade pizzas, listened to music, and played games.  It was totally awesome. That year we vowed to never make Christmas Day any different.  At first it was very hard for me because I felt tremendous guilt for not having everything perfect.  But the important part of what happened was how it affected my family – in the most positive way possible.  I am so thankful for the tremendous support from my husband and kids.

So on to my very first Christmas House Tour!  My favorite thing to decorate is my foyer.  I put out my vintage Santas and bottle brush trees that I have been collecting for almost two decades.

 

The painted brick above that acts as a doorstop was made by my son in preschool.  It’s one of my favorite Christmas decorations and I leave it out all year long.

 

I purchased most of my trees and Santas from eBay. I have a few that are mainly primary colors but I don’t get them out and will be selling them soon in my Etsy store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like to add minimal decorations in my dining room – a nice table centerpiece, and preserved boxwood wreaths tied to the back of the dining room chairs with a pink ribbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like to dress up my vintage ironstone pitchers by adding santa hats.

 

 

The one thing I like most about my dining room is no matter what decor I have, it looks different every day. The light changes, the view changes. That’s the appeal of good home design and decor.

 

 

Next on to the Family room where I have my Christmas Tree with a zillion lights.  Yes, a zillion.  You can feel the heat from the tree. It takes about three days to put up and decorate.

 

 

 

These photos are from our family brunch last year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View from the kitchen.

I try to add a bit of cheer to the small things in our home.

 

 

 

 

 

This year, I wanted to find a way to celebrate our daughter Julia who is deployed on the USS Makin Island and will not be home for Christmas. So first I hung her ice skates from when she was 7 years old on my favorite cabinet adorned with a bow and fresh greens.

Then I decided to make Gingerbread ornaments in the shape of an anchor, to celebrate ALL of our sailors who are at sea during this holiday season.

 

 

They smell amazing!  I will be posting a tutorial later on how to make these amazing ornaments (in any shape you want).

 

And of course the best part of the season, spending each day with this cutie pie.

 

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy Hanukkah. And never forget this wise saying (which is my favorite):