Holiday Decor

This post is part of Jen on the Edge's Holiday Homes Tour.  Thanks for hosting, Jen! 

I participated in 2008 and 2009 as well.

I'd like to start by welcoming you to my home in sunny Southern California!

Come on in!

As you step through the front door, you find yourself in the living room/formal dining room.  Make yourself at home!

Our Christmas tree is to your right, positioned in the front corner of our house, by the windows. 

We have a lot of ornaments, and we love our bedecked tree! 

So many ornaments are associated with a particular memory or vacation!  One of our more recent acquisitions is this ornament from Crater Lake.

As you can see, in the living room portion of this big room we have two areas: a sitting area/fireplace and a console table along the wall.

The nativity was a gift from The Hubby's grandma, and the Nutcracker art pieces on each side of the mirror were made by Middle Girl and The Boy at their after-school art class.  I made the stockings years ago, for each child's first Christmas.  I made The Hubby's one of the in-between years.  My stocking was made for me by my Great Aunt when I was a baby.

 

 

The end table is holding our toy nativity set.  When the kids were toddlers, they wanted to play with all of the decorations and ornaments.  I got them their own nativity and their own little tree with safe ornaments, so they could decorate and re-decorate to their hearts' content, leaving my things alone.  The kids are old enough to be careful with the "real" decorations, so they don't need the toys anymore (sob!).  I put the toy nativity set out anyway!

The little tree, however, is serving a new purpose on the console table.  I got lights for it this year, and we decorated it with some of our small, special ornaments. 

Also on this table is Big Girl's advent tree (more on this later), our Christmas card holder, and each kid's little "matchbox"-style music box.

 

 

In the dining area of the room, the Santa-hat chair covers catch the eye.  They were a gift from The Hubby's grandma many years ago. 

We also have a table runner made by my mom, and some green glass pillar-shaped candle votives given to me by a friend.  The aesthetic I'm going for here is "bright and cheery!"

The kids love to play with the checkers set. 

In the main bathroom, I put a few small touches.  Our little snowman family, which I just love! 

The ornament towel goes well over my new striped hand towel!

This is the kid art wall!  We are enjoying this display of the art they've done at school over the years...

We have lots of decorative items that "Countdown to Christmas."  This is helpful, because all three kids want to be the one to change the day every day!

We've had the snowman countdown for many years.  The kids love to hang the numbers on!

The kids have been asking for chocolate advent calendars for years.

The Santa circle was a party favor last year at Middle Girl's friend's birthday party.

The "hands" one was made by The Boy at school this year.

I gave the tree to Big Girl as a gift last year.  It's a music box as well!  Each day you take an ornament out of the drawer and add it to the tree.  On Christmas Day you add the star on top.  She cherishes it!  It will decorate her own house someday...

This year, Middle Girl and The Boy each made a ceramic gingerbread house in art class.  I love them! 

Thanks for visiting!  It's been lovely sharing holiday decor with everyone!  As we leave, I see that it's gotten dark.

I wanted to put another string of lights on the garland over the window, but I didn't find the time this year.  Maybe next year, it'll look like this:

(photo edited as an homage to Bossy.)

Multicolored or red & green?