Christmas Home Tour 2016

Last year I didn’t participate in any home tours. When I decorated my house, I kept it super simple and only decorated the trees and added a little garland. I thought it would make things less stressful if I went that route but guess what…..I missed decorating more and sharing a tour with you! So I decided last minute to go ahead and do a home tour this year. I also found a few blogging friends who also decided to join me.

I have always wanted to show my whole house for a Christmas tour but there has never been any snow when I went to do the shoot. Yesterday when I took this picture, it was raining! In Utah. In the middle of December. Crazy! Hopefully we will have some by Christmas. And maybe I can instagram a shot because my house really is cute all covered in snow.

I love my front door and this year, my favorite view of it is from the hallway. I added garland to the arch and while it is prettier on the other side, I like the look of it from this side too.

I went for a snowflake theme this year but there is also a secondary theme of gingerbread. We make gingerbread houses and men every year and this time I decided to put them on display. I even made some ornaments for the tree!

You can see how I made the snowflake art that covers our TV when it is not in use, HERE.

Since the tree goes where the chair normally goes I moved the chair to the window. The blue bench is usually under the window so it is now acting as our coffee table. We sometimes pull it over to use that way anyway, so it totally works.

I got this cute Noel pillow and the star flake one on my couch from Target. Aside from a little more garland, they were my only new purchases this year.

We made not only gingerbread ornaments but also polymer clay snowflakes.

I love that the blue and grey pillows I already had fit so well with the winter wonderland theme I have going on. I added a little vinyl lettering to my gallery wall. It seem appropriate given the theme and the lack of snow outside :)

Are you a hot chocolate lover? I drink way too much in the winter! My favorite kind is Stephen’s Mint Truffle.

Christmas would not be complete without a nativity. Shane bought this for me one year when we were living in Las Vegas and he was still in college. We were so poor and this Willow Tree set was too much money for us at the time. I had wanted it for a long time. Shane had is eye out for them and happened to find one on sale and surprised me with it. I have several other sets that get set up around the house but this one is my favorite.

It is time to leave the family room and head into the dining room & kitchen area!

My dining room area is small but we manage to fit a little, skinny tree in the corner. I always add some kind of countdown to the chalkboard. This year I used little sacks and I filled them with candy.

I bought these little “Charlie Brown” trees at IKEA a couple of years ago and I just love them! They were on my mantel last year.

I don’t add a ton of holiday decorations to my kitchen because it is a space I like to have clutter free. I am the type of person that does not like things on my counters if I can help it. But I add a little bit here and there.

Christmas is the only time I hang wreaths. I bought most of these at the dollar store and then just wired on pine cones.

I bought these candle holders from Walmart last year and I have used them as a centerpiece, a candle holder, a vase (with a clear glass liner), and a utensil holder. The snowflakes make them perfect for all of winter, not just Christmas!