Christmas Tour Of Homes

You can have a lot of fun today touring decorated homes when you visit BooMama's. She is hosting a Christmas Tour Of Homes at her site and I'm joining in the fun, so welcome to my home:

Here is our tree in our living room. In the past we would have the presents already under the tree, but we have a 1 yr old puppy who would find endless entertainment shredding the packages. The good news is that he's no longer trying to "water" the tree. We used to have a really big fat tree, but I am short and as I get older, it's getting less and less fun trying to reach packages faaaaar under the tree, so we now have a taller (9') thinner tree. Please ignore the tray table you see in front of the left curio cabinet. Austin was working on the laptop doing a report while watching football. The dog pillows to the right of the tree (our right...not the tree"s right) are put there on purpose. They hide a couple of cords so the above mentioned puppy doesn't chew on them.

I collect holiday village pieces and have them on display during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. My mom started the collection by giving me a few pieces. I put most of them in the curio cabinets you see on either side of the tree.

Jay and I bought the porcelin angel tree topper when we took a trip the year we were married and she's graced the top of our trees every year since. Notice the rubber reindeer on the tree. One of our girls got that in a gift exchange in Preschool and she declared it to be the most beautiful reindeer in the whole wide world. We continue to put Mr. Reindeer on the tree because it makes us giggle every time we remember back.

Both of my girls collect village pieces as well and they rotate between one having hers on a table we set up, and the other puts her on shelves in our living room.

This old fashioned Santa Claus was made by mother and she recently gave it to me. She claims to have no creative talent, but I believe he proves otherwise.

I have several Christmas teddy bears that I set on top of our dogs' crates. Yes, that is a strange place for them, but they don't seem to notice them up there, so they leave them alone...so far. The little animated Santa & Mrs. Claus was from our first Christmas 21 yrs ago. They cost $10 each at K-Mart. I can't believe they still work, although I don't turn them on anymore because they make a creaking noise when they move and that resembles noises my body is starting to make and that freaks me out. They make me laugh because one of our girls has always loved them and she said to me recently "When you die, can I have those?" as if they are some rare priceless treasure.

I collect Nativity sets and this one is my favorite because it was a gift from my Grandparents who have both passed on. I don't add straw or anything to the stable I bought for them, because when I did it once, it took away from the delicate ceramic figures.

On to our kitchen and dining area. This mistletoe hangs between the living room & kitchen. I hang it every year because it brings back such funny memories from when the kids were little. I used to stand there with my lips puckered knowing they had to go under there to get where they needed to go and they'd dare each other and try to see who could run through the doorway the fastest without getting a kiss from me.

This is above my Kitchen sink and there is a small Nativity set at each end of the window ledge. And no, we don't have a blinding UFO light outside...lol.

We have another Nativity set on a kitchen counter. This one has an "adopted" shepard because the original one that came with the set had a tragic accident. The poor man lost his head, and all the best surgeons at Super Glue Hospital tried their best, but he couldn't be saved. Wal-Mart has replacement pieces so I snagged a new man for the job. He seems qualified, but by the looks of things, the sheep is unimpressed so far.

This is our dining table. The chair that has the Nativity set in front of it, is a seat that we never use since there are only 5 of us, so it became known by the kids several years ago as the "Special Chair", and We each take a turn sitting there when it's our birthday. During the Christmas season we place the Nativity set there to remind us that it's Jesus' turn to be in the special chair, and on Christmas Day we remove the Nativity set and put a place setting there, because he is our special guest joining us for our Christmas meal. We also bake a birthday cake and set it there while we sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

This is behind the dining table. The ledge holds our little tree, and all my small village pieces. The tree used to be used to hold home-made decorations, and popcorn garland. When the kids were little they loved doing crafty things so we made new decorations for each year.

Moving along, here is our guest bathroom. I decorate it for each season, so that's why there are snowmen instead of just Christmas decorations. The bathroom stays this way from November through February.

I don't put any Christmas decorations outside (except for a wreath on our front door), because whatever is put in the ground is there until at least mid-March when the snow is finally gone and the ground starts to thaw.

I did not include a recipe because if you have ever been here before, well then you already know why. If this is your first visit, I do hope you stop in again and I'll be happy to serve you a bakery made item. Trust me, you will be much happier (and so will your stomach) than if you had to eat something I attempted to make.

Well that's it. I hope you enjoyed seeing how our home is decorated for Christmas this year. I look forward to going around and seeing everyone else's homes as well.

Thanks for stopping by!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!