My Little Christmas Tour

I wanted to share with you a few of my Christmas decorations.

I don’t have a ton of decorations, but I have added touches of green and red throughout the house.

Here is a look at my entry way…

My mom helped me put this vinyl saying up the first week of August before our big family reunion at my house. I got it at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. I think it was less than $10.00.

Mom also helped me hang my black shelf there, and she gave me the votive candles to go with it. To make it look Christmas-y, I added some faux greenery and berries.

The candles look so pretty all lit up.

QUICK TIP:

If you want to get old candle wax out of your votives, stick them in the freezer for a while, then use a knife to “pop” out the old wax…

And they come out easy-peasy! (Mom taught me this trick.)

Now, back to my tour…let’s head into our den.

This is where our Christmas tree lives.

I am a “traditional-Christmas-tree-kind-of-girl”. I love a hodge-podge of ornaments, old and new. I have ornaments from my childhood, and ornaments that my children have made, and now I have some of Mom’s ornaments.

I love the way it looks through the mirror above our couch.

This year I got to hang something very special on my tree.

A small strand of beads that hung on my great-grandmother’s tree, my grandmother’s tree, my mother’s tree, and now my tree.

Mom has had it for seven years, since her mother passed away. She kept this small string of beads in a little Christmas tin. Look how cute she is…she wrote this on the back of the tin, and I added to it this year.

Just like Mom, I placed the beads way up high on my tree so “little hands” won’t be able to reach it!

A few other things that I now own that used to be my mom’s are this cute little Mr. and Mrs. Claus set…

…this cute little Christmas boot that Mom always filled with candy canes…

…and Mom and Dad’s nativity set that they bought their very first Christmas together…

Though I love having some of Mom’s Christmas treasures, I would give them up in a heartbeat to have my mom back. Christmas just won’t be the same without her.

But I am trying to make it special for my boys, just as she would want me to.

My sons’ favorite decoration by far is our advent calendar…

Can you believe that my mom got this for me at Goodwill several years ago, and it had all the pieces?!

She picked it up because it reminded her of the one that we had as little kids. Of course, the one that we had as kids is one that Mom handmade for us. It is the most magical Christmas memory I have. She handmade all 24 intricate little toys that we would put up one at a time in Santa’s sleigh. I absolutely loved it!

And the boys love this one!

Now let’s step into my kitchen.

I am enjoying our new kitchen cabinets. If you missed the post about our recent kitchen renovation, click here.

Ya’ll know I LOVE red, and I love the way it shows up in our new cabinets.

Last year after Christmas, I got these red dishes 75% off at Walmart. I think I paid less than $15.00 for 8 place settings!

I thought it would be fun to have Christmas-y plates to use every day!

I also got these Pfaltzgraff glasses at JCPenny’s during the after-Christmas sales. (These are not for my boys to use everyday!) :)

I also have a set of 8 glass Christmas mugs now that used to be Mom’s. I love them so much because they remind me of Mom.

It is extremely difficult to get to get a good picture of my hutch because of the glare from my kitchen windows.

I added a few touches of red to my hutch with some red charges that I got on clearance at Target several years ago.

I love these little topiary trees that I got at Goodwill this past year for $2.50 a piece.

I added a black and white gingham bow to each one, and added them to my hutch…

And lastly, I will share with you our fireplace in our Master bedroom…

I made some silhouette tiles to go above each of my boy’s stockings. You can see the tutorial here.

And my last little decoration…

My “worn out” Christmas duck! One of our neighbors made this for us about 10 years ago, and I always find a special place for it above one of our doorways every year.

I feel a little like this duck right now…

Thanks for joining me on my tour!

I am linking this to

Have a blessed day!