Holiday Home Tour

Can you believe Christmas is just a few days away?  
Soon 2013 will be over and a new year will be greeting us!

I shared our Christmas table with you last week so, now it's time to show you the rest of our holiday decor. 

Since we are in a new home decorating this year was a challenge.  
New surfaces to cover and decisions on how I wanted to have the decor look had to be made.

Although I am happy with how it all turned out, I have decided that since I have bins of decor no longer being used, when I go to pack everything back up, only sentimental and favorite pieces will stay and the rest will be sent off to be re-loved in a new home.  

Until then, Let me take you on a tour of our home for the holidays.

First up is the mantel and fireplace area.

Pretty much everything here will stay. I love Santa and the mantel is a perfect place to display my favorites. You can see the Santa picture above the buffet at our previous home here. 

At night, the lights I used on my New Year's Eve tablescape come on and add the perfect amount of holiday sparkle! I love that they are on a timer so they turn on and off on their own.

There are four stockings hung, mine, Mr. B's, Max's and one for Mr. B's mother who will be spending the holiday with us this year.

Next up is the space above the TV.  It divides the living room/ kitchen and the dining room and is pretty deep.  I decided to split down the middle and decorate one side for the living room and the other for the dining room. 
This is the living room side and my angels keep watch over us. 

The angels usually sit up on the top of my china cabinet but the space isn't as tall in this house and I like that I can see and enjoy them here.

On the dining room side I have my small collection of nutcrackers, a stuffed snowman and the Joy sign.  I'm not sure what, if any, of these items will stay or be re-loved. 

Sorry for the poor quality of this photo.  4 months in and I still haven't figured out the lighting in this house LOL! We had to buy a new tree this year as our old one blew out a string of lights and after a few days of trying to fix it, Mr. B gave up and bought a new one. Only one tree will work in this house so no more fun for me in decorating our white one (seen here and here). Mr. B is in charge of the tree decorating and he loves a warm homemade feel and I think he does such a great job placing all of the ornaments and other decor on the tree!

On to the buffet. I kept it very simple this year.

I did change out the lampshades to the burgundy ones for the season.

I purchased this sweet Gingerbread piece at my very first trip to a Christmas Tree Shop when I was visiting my grandson in CT.  My friend Kathleen always finds such cute items there that, when I found out there was one near my son's home, well I had to make them take me there LOL! The ornament is a gift that is becoming a yearly tradition from my son and his fiancee.  It is from a glass shop in RI and is hand blown. 

I received the yellow ornament as my gift this year! It sits between a tin sled filled with holiday picks and the little winter church I crafted a month or so ago.

The doors to my office are one of the first things you see as you enter the front door so, of course, they had to get into the holiday spirit!

I purchased a pair of white wreaths and picks on sale at Michael's and hung them from the doors with ribbon held on with Command Strips (Command Strips are my new BFF's! There isn't a spot in the house that doesn't have something hung or hooked with one!).

A little pillow with a shout out to Santa hangs from the handle.

So there it is, a holiday tour of our new home all decked out for Christmas!
Mr. B and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I look forward to all that the New Year brings!

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