A Little More Christmas Cheer

I am ready for Part 2, there are not a lot of changes, just a little rearranging to accommodate a new purchase or 2.

Our dining room is to your right as you enter and the living room to your left. 

This room is so great at Christmas.  Green rug and red sofa, all of the accessories are red and green year round in here.  All I do is add a few Christmas pillows, and bring out some of my German Christmas collection.

My aunt did the cross stitch about 30 years ago, she is gone now, so I treasure it all the more.  The little angel pyramid was my first purchase of German decorations.

I only light it for a little while when the grandchildren are over.

My new addition this year is the large pyramid I purchased this summer.  My sister lives near the Kathe Wohlfahrt shop in Minnesota.  This is the only US location of this German Christmas store.  I have been to their flagship store in Rothenburg on der Tauber and all I can say is WOW.

This little music box plays O Christmas Tree.

This little nativity is Italian.  I finally found the 3rd wiseman on Ebay last year.

The mantel is simply decorated and I haven't changed it in the 5 years we've been here.

These windows are in hall across from the library.

The library tree is our family tree.  The one with the collection of ornaments going back 35 years.  The first Christmas we were married, we bought a real tree and did not have one ornament.  I bought 12 candy canes and a box of balls that first year.  I have been collecting ornaments ever since.

That little Santa and the children on the rocking horse were bought that first year I believe.  They are still 2 of my very favorites.

The bottom of the tree holds the ornaments my girls made.  

This is a newer collection.  The classic FP toy ornaments.  I was so sad to hear that they are not going to have these anymore.

This little section is devoted to sports.  Does anyone else group their ornaments in a certain general area?  I have always done that on this tree.

My Santa carolers are in the bookcase here.

And favorite children sitting on Santa's lap.

It's a very cozy {small} room, but I do love to sit in here at night and read.

And here is our family room tree.  But this will just be a teaser, because this post is getting to be a book!  So I will try and show a bit of this room and the kitchen tomorrow.

I love this old sleigh I bought up at the cabin.  A trio of Santas fit nicely into it.

Have a wonderful evening ~ 

Joining in the Better Late Than Never Party.

And Richella for her Grace at Home Party.

Sherry's Open House Party.

And the Holiday Housewalk Party with Jennifer.

and the Inspired Room and Cottage Magpie.

Welcome to our Christmas Home

Welcome to our Christmas home.

I've been busy decking the halls, and boy is it taking awhile.  It seems like I don't do things quite the same each year, and so it seems to take forever ~ yet looking at these pictures the changes are always small.  

I guess I'm just slow.

But come and in and visit our entry and dining room.  Tomorrow I'll try to have the living room and library.

We have no foyer, you enter right into our living room.  I always put the tree with the glass ornaments in the living room.  You can probably tell that from my 3 year old header!

{ you also get a glimpse of the new floors that I am still recovering from}

This is at the top of the stairs.

An old cross stitch I did back in the day, but I love it and the hand painted mat and buttons so I was glad to find a place for it.  

A new little do on the newel post.

I changed the way I arranged the hutch, a change only noticed by me.  I always add the red toile dishes at Christmas and some red gazing balls ornaments.

My nativity remains unchanged ~ the manger is from my childhood, and plays Away In A Manger.  The figures are resin, Fontanini.  All but the sheep that is, I think those were my grandparents too.

Our tree remains the same too.  We have had this tree for about 7 years.  It is our only tree that is not prelit.  I use lots of silk poinsettias, tucked in deeply, and then add about 3 or 4 dozen red and green balls, also tucked in.  The hard part for me is next and that is the gold beads.  They can be a pain to hang, but I love the sparkle they add.  Then I add my Radko ornaments and a few others that I love that are glass.  The sparkle of this tree is just wonderful.

Of course that doesn't show up in the pictures.

I want to highlight a few of my special ornaments. 

This stack of books is not a Radko but I love it.

Another, non Radko representing our cabin.

I got this one to represent the millennium.  1999 on one side and 2000 on the other.  Very few of the Radko ornaments are dated so I like this one a lot.

I got the Chicago to commemorate the year Bob was president of his professional organization.  The conference was held in Chicago.

And, lastly, I've shared this one in previous years, but I think it's my favorite.  And it is granddaughter Elizabeth's favorite too.

So, that's it for the first tree.  I'll be back soon with tree 2.

Joining Kim for Wow Us Wednesday.

And Honey We're Home's Christmas Tree Party.

And the perfect party for me, The Better Late than Never Party at Housepitality Designs.

The Holiday Housewalk at Jennifer's.

On a Cold and Snowy Day

Ha!

It was 82 here in Texas today.

It's December 1st.

For a girl from Wisconsin and Minnesota this is still hard to believe.  But, I'll take it! 

So instead of working on my inside, which I really should do as I host my Book Club on Thursday and I haven't done my house or read the book, but 82 degrees made me work outside.

I just used white, greenery, and pine cones in my decor and I plan to leave it up till it dries up and blows away or Easter.  Whichever comes first:-)

I'll just go in a circle and show you the details.

First up is the view:-)

The main reason we added this room.  We love to sit out here and listen to the fountain.

Here is my dollar store craft.  This is incredible on several levels.  First of all, I rarely shop the dollar store and I really rarely craft.  That gene skipped a generation as both of my daughters love to craft as do both of their grandmas.

Me, not so much.

I bought a few of these large snowflakes with the intent to use them on the mantel, but I didn't care for that so I just used them for table decor.  A little epsom salt on the candle and done.

I tried a few different looks on the mantel, but I like this one the best.  Plain pine wreath, pine garland, pine cones and snowballs and snowflakes.

My epsom salt snowballs, and dollar store snowflakes.

On the hearth are 3 little birch logs we brought back from our cabin.  We don't have much birch on our property so I really had to hunt for these.  I really like using the logs so we will look a little harder this summer.

More of my snowballs.  And a few little pieces of birch leftover and made into risers for my votives.

I tell you, for me, this is a lot of craftiness:-)

I just clipped some boxwood to put around my pillar candle.

On the counter I filled my tool box with clippings and pine cones and snowflakes.

Our little table got the left over decor and a few candles.

It's magical at night.

And I think with that I"m done.  I love that I spent very little money.  Just a few dollars at the dollar store, and I have decorated until Spring!

Next up, the playhouse needs a good scrubbing and then I'd better head indoors!

Merry Christmas!

I'm joining Kim at Savvy Southern Style for the Homespun Christmas Party.

And Richella for Grace at Home.

Joining Pamela at From My Front Porch to Yours.