Home for the Holidays

Are you gearing up for the holidays?  I’ve been busy baking cookies (tons and tons), but I thought I’d pause for a moment to share what it looks like in our home for Christmas.  Some decorations are new and some are from last Christmas (or past years).

This year marks the third year in our home.  Every  year my husband and I get our tree on Thanksgiving weekend.  That was a tradition that started with my family when I was kid.  Nothing beats that smell of fresh pine.  Every ornament has a memory or story associated with it, even the ones I drop and break by accident.  Oh well.

I added pops of red to the coffee table in our family room.

I also added a touch of red to this cozy corner in the family room.

Speaking cozy, I pulled out my fur and sparkle pillows from last year.  I’m obsessed with these pillows.

I recently bought this accent table from Home Goods so I was excited to have a new area to decorate this Christmas.  I used wintry decorations to  coordinate with the decor that was already there and because not everything can have red in it at the same time.

The mantel is one of my favorite places to decorate because I think it’s the highlight of the family room.  I do it up differently every year.  This year I adorned it with candles and a faux garland from Michael’s craft store.  It’s so warm and romantic when the candles are lit and there is a fire going in the fireplace.

I added small wreaths to our kitchen chairs.  These were originally slated for the kitchen window but due to spacial considerations they ended up on the chairs instead.

Usually I make fresh flower arrangements for the formal dining room but I decided to use an evergreen centerpiece (and of course candles).  This follows the theme of not using red everywhere because I usually make something with floating cranberries in it for the dining room table.  Also, so no one worries about me burning the house down, the candles next to this real pine centerpiece will be LED ones.

I try to keep the special ornaments away from the tree where they can be easily knocked into and broken.  (Again, usually by me.)  Plus, it adds a nice holiday touch to the bar area in the dining room.

There’s no place like home, especially around the holidays.  Decorating gets me in the holiday spirit.  I love creating a warm and inviting feeling for our family and friends when they visit us this time of the year.