Christmas Home Tour 2024

Merry Christmas! 

Here I am with my annual blog post. :) 

I hope you've been enjoying all the hard and rewarding work of December just like I have!

Here's a quick look into our home this Christmas. 

The buffet has been used as a hot chocolate bar this year, since we hosted several Christmas gatherings. It has been put to good use!

 

I discovered that my little Jadite mugs hold just the right amount of rich, homemade hot chocolate.

 I think I'll be bringing them out every year!

So glad to have the new shelf up this year so we can hang stockings here

 and I can have one other safe (high up) place to decorate!

Vintage Christmas at the front of this cabinet staying safe from small hands.

Cozy Corner

My favorite little neutral things. "New" this year were the handmade vintage lace trees - love em!

Beloved snowflake collection

My larger white tree died last year (got tipped too many times by a little boy) so it was replaced with a bit smaller white tree. 

Part of my doily collection was put up on the plate rack above the cabinets, and with adding the bottle brush trees for Christmas, it almost gives a snowy feel.

One of our biggest, thickest trees right from the woods.

Little shelf in the kitchen decked out

Another "New" item this year was this set of 4 vintage santa mugs. When I got them they had just the tiniest amount of red paint left on them, so I decided to wash it all completely off (and use a bit of nail polish remover to speed things up) and now I'm loving them neutral! 

I was hunting for the perfect spot to put this little nativity scene silhouette, and finally the bathroom windowsill appeared! It fits perfect - I may just put it here every year to add a touch of Christmas in the bathroom.  

 

With more bottle brush trees to the entrance of the bathroom. 

And that's all! 

Merry Christmas to you - praying you find wonderful and special ways to celebrate the birth of a savior. Such a gift we've been given!

Blessings,

Olivia

Christmas Home Tour 2023 - At the "New" House!

 Merry Christmas from the new home! 

Well, one that had tons of wonderful memories for us already when we moved in this September.

It was my grandparent's home - we're so grateful to keep such a special place in the family, and it was fun to have a "new" space to decorate for Christmas this year. With a bit more living room and dining room space, we don't feel as squished when all the Christmas décor is up.

I have a "before" home tour I hope to someday post. And also an "after" home tour of our first fixer upper house, but we'll see when I get around to that... life is busy growing and raising little humans! 

So, without further ado, the annual blog post... 

A Christmas Home Tour!

In the dining room I went with mostly neutral décor and tried to stick with a lot of my fancier, sparkly stuff, because I think of it as my "fancy" room.  

It's probably the room in the whole house that's most my style. hehe!

The buffet table doubles as the coffee area - now that I'm a bit of a coffee drinker! 

It helps save some counter space in the kitchen which is nice. 

The nativity up high so it's safe and sound from the tiny hands.

It will probably live here for a lot of Christmases to come...

Beeswax candles in my thrifted, brass horn candle holders make me smile and also feel cool and trendy! Ha! I'm not usually but sometimes it just conveniently works out that way.

Not much to show in our 1980s kitchen, but there is this little shelf that shows my style a bit.

For time's sake I just stuck some Christmas stuff on top of/in front of what was already on there. 

There's even a different smaller plate left behind the Christmas plate! Kinda genius. 

Calla Lily in her Christmas bandana looking sweet and peaceful...

I hung the kid stockings separately from the mom and dad stockings this year because it conveniently worked out that this shelf had three hooks. 

Next Christmas we'll have to figure out something different, for a total of 6 stockings to fill! 

I added faux white pine to the stockings and, new this year, picks with red berries. I then stuffed the stocking toes with newspaper so they hung a little nicer, and I love how it turned out! I'm not sure why I just now thought of the newspaper thing, but it helps them look more apart of the décor until they get filled for real tomorrow night. Yippee! 

A tiny little Santa baby (well, quickly turning to big boy) working on sneaking a sip of coffee while mom is distracted with photography.

The mom and dad stockings ended up here and surprisingly Mr. toddler has been very good at leaving them alone or setting them back up if they get knocked off. 

A few new things on the end table that are very my style.

 The nativity with Bible that is also a music box was gifted to me this year. 

The beautiful needle point was a score at a Christmas sale.

A closer look at the vintage needle point. Charming and neutral! 

It was love at first sight, and I was excited to spend the $10 on it!

Our real tree right from the woods - very top heavy with breakable ornaments.

The advent hanging in the window that we have not done so well reading through this year. 

Red vintage went into this cabinet... and again, I didn't even take time to move stuff out.

I moved a few things around and just set the red stuff in front.

I know it looks better when it's more simple, but for time's sake.... 

It still gives the space a touch of Christmas!

And that's a wrap! Merry Christmas - I hope you enjoy celebrating the birth of our savior. 

The best gift. 

Blessings,

Olivia

2022 Christmas Home Tour!

 Merry Christmas!

Our "theme" for Christmas at our home this year is SIMPLE. 

With a crawling baby, a three year old that loves to rehome objects, and a five year old that has a hard time being gentle, I thought it was best to leave a whole tote of breakable items in the basement as well as not put up our second tree. 

I still feel like I'm forgetting to "do" something! It's just the feeling of not fully decorating. 

So, Merry {simple} Christmas!

Come on inside... 

This poor porch pot has been blown over several times from one very windy day.

 I just didn't have the time or energy to properly fix it, so it got plopped back in and is doing its own thing. Still nice to have greenery for some color. 

The little "Joy" sign is new this year.

50 cents at the thrift store... hung in a kid safe high place.

I added the faux greenery and twinkle lights around baby Jesus to highlight him a bit more.

In this corner of the living room I hung my cross stitch I made in high school.

I never fully finished decorating under the tv and just have some lights (that were supposed to go outside) and our stockings (shoved up under the tv so the baby doesn't pull them down on his head).

    

    Our cute little Christmas pup - definitely on the naughty list. Again. 

I went with a bit of a vintage pink theme on the tree this year.

One, because I found shiny pink beaded garland at Recycled Christmas this year.

And two, because we put the tree in this corner of the living room that already had a pink floral painting and dried pink roses on the wall. 

So, I tried to make sure some of my vintage pink ornaments were hung in places they would stand out. 

But up high of course ;) 

The hutch that usually gets fully redone in vintage santas only got this {simple} touch of Christmas. 

In the dining area I put faux white pine up in the chandelier again this year, but I also added some glass snowflake and icicle ornaments in with the crystal. 

Cause you can never have too much sparkle at Christmas time, right? 

In the kitchen I really only decorated the open shelving. 

New this year are the glass mugs with a cute little winter scene. 

I've been enjoying using them and feeling christmassy every time I have coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. 

Also, new this year is this "JOY" sign I made at a MOPS (moms of preschoolers) meeting last week. 

I stuck pretty neutral with some little pops of maroon and greenery to match the majority of my Christmas decor. 

And... so exciting for me, I FINALLY have a bathroom windowsill to decorate! 

After 7 years without one, it was time. 

It has come to my attention this year that I really have a thing for these old-timey winter scenes. 

My mugs up above have a similar Currier and Ives type of vibe too. 

And I even got myself and baby some matching Burt's Bees jammies with little winter scenes and sleighs all over them. The little pictures give me such a nostalgic feeling! 

I also have some more plates and tins too that aren't pictured. 

I better keep things in check so I don't end up with piles by the time I'm 40, cause really how many cookie plates and platters can one person use... 

Well, that's all for this year!

Still plenty Christmassy around here. I just keep having to tell myself "it's okay" that things are more simple. The kids are not going to remember that not every snowflake was hung and not every santa mug was put out. IT'S OKAY to simplify when life needs it. No matter how much you love decorating. 

I'm very much looking forward to all the family time and delicious meals ahead. 

Candlelight Christmas eve service, making cookies with my kids, picking out thoughtful presents, having warm, glowey lights to look at every evening. I love it all. 

Very thankful for a loving and merciful God that would send us a much needed savior. 

It definitely deserves to be celebrated 24/7, but going all out a certain time of year to celebrate Jesus' birth is so fun. 

Trying my best to be intentional in it all. 

The most wonderful time of the year!

Praying you have a blessed Christmas!

~Olivia