Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love it all. The traditions, the food, the celebrating, the giving and the decorating . I came from a family who believed in celebrating it all out.
I love decking the halls. I decorate each room in a different theme. Today, I’d like to share our living/dining room. The themes in this room are nativity and snow. I used the colors white, silver, gold and shades of blue with splashes of red tones.
This is one view of the room. Snowy trees are peeking out from every corner and nook. I like to bring continuity to a space by repeating items…in this case trees. Lighting is also a key element. Christmas is definitely a season known for its lights. I love having them twinkle where ever I can. I used all white lights in this room.
This hutch is right near the front door. It’s decked all in nativity for this season. The nativity and most of the angels were painted by my mom. Here you also see two snowy Christmas trees which carry them into this corner of the room.The sign above hutch lights up (hard to see in this photo.) It reads, “For unto us a child is born” (Shopping source: Kirklands. I got the sign last year, but I saw it on their site this year, too.) The smaller sign on bottom shelf is a quote from Charles Dickens and reads, “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all year.” The photo is of my Aunt Donna and I. She loved Christmas and always celebrated it big. Many of the things I have for Christmas are from her. Much of how I celebrate Christmas also comes from her. This quote really captures her love of Christmas and how she lived it very day of her life.
Next to the door is a big window and this little area. We have our main tree here. It’s dressed in flocking picks I put in myself each year. Snowflakes big and small also cover it’s branches from top to bottom. Snowmen also are prominent on the tree.
Our tree holds beautiful ornaments my mom and aunt made. My mom is a painter and she made many angels and snowmen for this tree (two are pictured above. Many of her paintings are in the tole painting style. She buys the kit design then paints from there.) My aunt designed each jeweled ornament. She started with blank forms of color and added pearls, jewels and settings by hand. I have over 30 of these! She made many each year for family, friends and loved to give them to her favorite motel guests. She and my uncle ran a motel in Lake Tahoe for many years. Pictured here are two blue beauties (one is a cameo.) These are sentimental favorites.
Next to the tree is the perfect place to read. Resting on the ottoman (how I love ottomans! My hubby can attest to that…we have two and I want more…lol) are two of my favorite magazines for home decor, entertaining and creating. Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion is no longer in print, but I’ve saved all my issues and I put out the current season issues to look through and be inspired. Phyliss Hoffman Celebrate is another one I really love. It’s full of wonderful entertaining tips and party themes. On this chair, I have a beautiful pillow with the words, “May All Your Christmases Be White” from a wonderful Etsy store called, Porter & Lane. It captures the theme of the room so well.
Besides the chair is the wet bar area. I love this spot, it’s decorated for a cocoa bar. I will be sharing this in more detail soon, It will be featured in a Christmas movie night in my next blog!
The fireplace is styled in a lit snowflake garland. We got it from a wonderful shop called, Canterbury Gardens. They design custom garlands, swags and wreaths. I was able to pick out the ornaments, the ribbon, and the garland base. The winter trees I got at Crate & Barrel a few years back. The quote, “Baby It’s Cold Outside” is surrounded by snowflakes completing the winter wonderland theme. My dog, Lady is wearing her Christmas sweater in the spirit of the room.
Our dining room hutch has a matching swag to the garland on fireplace mantel. It rests on a flocked garland that leads to trees on each side, The dining room table has a centerpiece designed with a plate that says, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.” I filled it with ornaments and “snow.” One of the ornaments is from my childhood, a bell, that I made as a craft project with my mom and brothers. I’m a sentimental girl and I love having things around from all times of my life.
Here is a close up of the hutch. “Winter Greetings” sign was painted by my mom. It has a jingle bell garland behind it and on each end little felt skates. The little snowmen quartet were also painted by my mom. I came up with the idea of having these here and changing them out seasonally (these are attached by velcro.)
This is our buffet. In a future blog, I will share the contents of the drawers and their organization. I have all my seasonal dishes and Disney dishes in these drawers. On the counter, village pieces that represent my husband and I are on display here, There is a school house because I was a teacher. There is a robot factory named Robbie for Bob, my husband, it’s a small nod to him being in IT. There is a chapel for us being married in December. Santa’s boarding house represents our love of hosting family and friends all our married life. In the middle is an ice skating rink. My Aunt Donna bought us one village piece a year for many years. We have the vast majority in our Disneyland room, this will be featured in the next blog. On the shelf above, a snowman and his wife flank our sign that says, “We Open Our Home In Love and Grace and Ask God’s Blessing on This Place” ( Snow couple bought several years ago. Shopping source: Lowe’s. Sign between them was purchased from Hobby Lobby.)
Lady and I hope you enjoyed this merry little tour. She’s ready to dream of a white Christmas herself.
Come back later this week and I will share more rooms of our house including our Disneyland family room themed in Mickey Gingerbread; our office themed in Santa; our bedroom themed in White Christmas and a few other little nooks. Decorating for Christmas is one of the things on the top of my list. How do you decorate for Christmas? I’d love to hear!
