Home for the Holidays

I'm going to pass on Friday's photo challenge since the prompt is 'hippo' and I haven't a clue. It's also time for the annual Holiday Blog Tour of Homes hosted by Kelly's Korner and Nesting Place so I thought I'd join in there today instead. I love to see all the different ways people decorate their homes for Christmas. Grab a cuppa and come on in...

We had the idea that we might hire one of those lighting companies to do the outdoor lights this year since hubs back has been giving him fits. Ha- when he saw the quote it was his heart that nearly gave out. I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you the estimate but it was ka-razy!

We don't do a lot of outdoor lighting plus we have a rather large gap in our landscaping thanks to losing a huge tree during that insane October snowstorm. fyi-If you've never visited my blog before you should know that I have trouble posting pictures without a lot of words to go with. ahem.

I posted this picture of my front staircase the other day-

Here's my Colonial Soldier all decked out for the holidays standing guard in the foyer. Ordinarily he's quite serious and doesn't wear a big red bow. He's one of my most favorite keepsakes from our years spent living in England-

My house has high ceilings and a somewhat open plan which makes taking pictures a little bit challenging. Or it might just be my lousy photography skills but whatever, it's hard to find an angle that isn't awkward.

This little snowman sits on a half wall between my foyer and family room...he says Willkommen. Allow me to translate-that means Welcome in German. My talent for languages is impressive, yes? A tea light sits in his back but I couldn't capture him lit. I bought him at a Christmas market in the old walled city of Nuremberg.

Our main tree is in the family room. I'm still tweaking my mantle but so far I like it-

I bought new brass stocking hangers this year and also new stockings from Pottery Barn-

They refuse to hang with their toes aligned which only bothers me a little bit. I'm thinking if I put something in them they'll straighten up. As much as I'd like to obsess about this I just don't have the time.

I like to take a picture of my family room from the upstairs bridge looking down. It's not really a bridge but I don't know what word to use...it's the piece of hallway that connects our Master bedroom to the rest of the house. This portion of the hallway is open on both sides so you can look down into my family room or the main foyer.

If you look really closely you'll see my pup curled up in 'her' chair.

We have a second tree in our sunroom and because this is the front of the house you can see it from outside. I took this picture thru the glass doors looking in from the living room.

Our living room is not actually all that lived in but the sunroom is maybe my favorite room in the house.

I changed things up a little bit this year with my Snow Village. In the past I've had it on top of my kitchen cabinets but a. it's a pain to get it up there and b. hubs thinks it might be a small fire hazard with the way the chords are put together and c. you cannot see every adorable little detail in the buildings at that distance. Look at these little skis that sit in the ski rest at the Smokey Mountain Resort-

Normally I put my nativity set on the side table but since that's home now to my Snow Village I moved the nativity to the coffee table. I actually really like it here-front and center.

We've had this nativity set since our first married Christmas-1984. It has only suffered one casualty in all that time and that's Joseph. The original broke somehow and I found a replacement that kind of fits. Hubs says this Joseph has a bit of a pituitary problem but I don't think it's too noticeable.

Moving on (told you I like words)...I have three glass jars on my kitchen island year round and I like to change out the contents with the seasons. Right now I have red, green, and gold jingle bells and small ornaments in the two smaller jars and a candle surrounded by cinnamon scented pine cones in the bigger jar. I always have a lot of candles around here. I don't think a house can ever have too many candles, case in point, my kitchen table-

and one of my favorites in my family room-

I bought this basket filled with pine cones, gold beads, and blue fairy lights at our women's club auction one year-

My dining room is navy blue and white so it sits on my server beside my German pyramid. I know some people think a dining room is wasted space but I'm not one of them.

Thanks for stopping by today...since this post is kinda long I think I'll wrap it up with one of my favorite nativity scenes-

Wishing you a Christmas filled with JOY!

'Twas the Saturday before Christmas

So I live on the East Coast and they are calling for something blizzardy here today. I like snow... I love to watch it fall and I love the way Christmas lights sparkle against it and I love how it makes the trees seem frosted. But not today thank you anyway. Daughter1 is due home this evening, coming by train, and then of course we have to get out of our little town and down the mountain and into the train station to pick her up and that takes almost an hour on a good day. And of course she can stay put for a day but WHAAA...we want her home. Okay, done whining for the moment.

I was going to write a little something about my two days in England but I'm so caught up in all things Christmas that I think I will just say this...you can go home again. A fabulous two days spent catching up with friends...a luncheon at the magnificent Stoke Park Club, a walk down the village High Street, a browse thru Marks and Spencers, those wonderful accents, Christmas bunco fun, and then on Monday... a morning spent with the ladies from my former Bible Study group which made my heart hurt just a little for the missing...then lunch in a local pub and then I was headed home. Which is here. NJ. But its still a little bit there too. And I'm okay with that.

Now...how about some Christmas cheer? I'm very late to the party but I'm going to link up to the Holiday Home tour over at The Nesters anyway...

We are celebrating our first Christmas in this house and it has been fun to decorate and especially to see some of our Christmas ornaments and decorations that went off to storage 6+ years ago. Like my snow village....

Nearly impossible to get in a photo because we set it up on top of our kitchen cabinets this year and if you read down a bit here I mention my ineptitude at picture taking...you'll have to trust me when I tell you how cute it all is...I love it. You can't fully appreciate all the detail (like the teeny tiny skis propped up on the ski lodge) in the way you would if I had it on a table at eye level but I have a lot of pieces now and they require lots of space. In fact you can't even see the whole village in this picture...it continues around a bit further. I especially love the way it looks all lit up when you come into a dark kitchen early in the morning. I need to adjust some of the 'snow' so it doesn't look quite so boxy but I'm enjoying having it all out again.

We have two trees up at the moment and when Daughter1 arrives home later today she will decorate a small tree in her room. It is all things ballet and so adorable. We have a 6 foot tree in our sunroom

and the main tree in our family room.

I absolutely love all the windows in this house but it does make for slightly tricky photography. And if I had waited a bit to take this photo you'd most likely see two feet of snow behind the tree. Sigh. The family room tree holds all of the homemade ornaments and all of our travel ornaments. We tried to buy a little something for our tree on every trip and there were many many trips so I will not post them all...here are a few favorites...

Venezia

Scotland

Paris

and of course England...the British taxi is my favorite of all our travel ornaments

This ornament was sent to me by my sweet blogger friend Valerie and it is absolutely beautiful

Of course there is nothing like seeing the smiling face of your four year old on a Christmas tree

or in your kitchen making fudge

and yes it is approximately 7 degrees outside and Miss Sweetness is wearing a short sleeved tee...she only arrived from South Carolina on Wednesday and hasn't quite gotten with the weather program yet.

It almost makes me teary eyed to see the sweet expression on the face of my kindergartner...

which for sure should not be stuck in a snowstorm in D.C. today

This soldier sits in my foyer year round but we've made him more festive for the holiday season with the big red bow. He may just be my favorite souvenir from our years in England and he makes me smile every single time I walk by him.

And finally, a tour wouldn't be complete without a picture of my nativity set. I bought it the first year we were married and I still love it. My husband likes to say Joseph has a bit of a pituitary issue as he is just a little too tall for the stable. He's the only piece that is not original but he's okay I think.

Thanks for visiting today...May you experience real peace and joy as you celebrate this season of God's greatest gift to us...the babe born in a manger so long ago. Merry Christmas!