Monday, December 15, 2008

Christmas House Tour

Welcome, come in, so nice to see you.....

Now before we start, I have to apologize for the mess, I know the walls need painting, the back yard needs landscaping and the carpet is not the greatest, but this house is a work in progress.
This is our first Christmas in this house, so am still finding my feet as to where to place the decorations.

I have put out a few items to get us in the mood, but it has also given me the chance to get an idea as to what we need to aim to buy in future years.....more fairy lights, garland for the stairs, other little ornaments etc

We have our tree up, I don't actually have a colour theme for it, although red and gold seem to be the favorite, but I do have a few special decorations on there. I finished decorating it late at night, so the boys hadn't seen it with lights on. I was lucky the morning after to be able to get downstairs before them and switch the lights on.........Ben thought it was so special to come down the stairs and find the tree all a glow, it was lovely to see his reaction.


When you come to the front door I have my lovely santa signs showing you the way. They just give a little flavour to the front of the house. We are going to our caravan for Christmas and I will be taking these with us to decorate outside the caravan.



Of course from last year I have my reindeer and santa door hangers that the boys love to take down for me daily!


The boys each have an advent calendar that was given to them by Grandma, unfortunately I didn't get round to filling them this year, but luckily for me they do not understand or realise what should be in there, so they are just interested in knowing which one belongs to whom!


The kitchen doesn't even miss out, as I have special Christmas magnets to place on the fridge. I would love to get a Christmas Dinner Set to use through out December, I think this would be a lovely holiday starting tradition to get in to. One day I will have to watch the January Sales to see what I can find, unfortunately I have not found anything that I like, and seeing as I would like a setting for 8, then I have to make sure I like it!


I got these lovely decoupaged decorations from someone I use to work with in Auckland. This is the first year I have put them out and I think I have found the right spot for them on the bookcase, shows them off really well.


I love my flying santa over the door, although I had a few problems finding a home for this as all the door frames faced the wrong way against the wall to fit him on, but he looks great in the living room above the tv area.

For this year at least, until we maybe knock it out, we have a fireplace, so I had the pleasure of hanging the stockings in the fireplace. As it is summer here then there is no fire risk, but it was just so cool hanging the stockings up.




Now I decided to go and do something special for the boys and us this year, and so I put fairy lights in our bedrooms, sadly the pictures didn't come out too well, but it gives you the general idea. The boys love going to sleep at night with just the lights on and our room is so cosy and romantic with our fairy lights. We switch them off at night, but I think they may stay up for a little longer than Christmas.
Well that is us for this year, give you a little touch of what we have around us. So nice of you to stop by. I have some cold juice in the fridge if you need a glass as it is getting quite warm here now and if you are still here at dinnertime then you may be lucky enough to get a sausage off the BBQ or even some steak and salad.

Oh, yea, just one more little thing.......back in January I set myself a little challenge, I wanted to post 366 post for the year, it didn't have to be one a day, as I knew I wouldn't manage that, but I would aim for 366.

Well, this post is my 366th of the year.

On Thursday I realised that my next post was the winning one and so I decided to wait until you could all join me in my little celebration, so pull up a seat, get a cold juice and lets see if we can't get this party rolling.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

14 comments:

Kiy said...

Everything looks so lovely. I love the fairy lights in the bedrooms, what a wonderful idea. Our home is a work in progress too, doesn't it feel like it's a never ending process? Congratz on your 366 posts. Wow, I cannot even imagine!

Merry Christmas, Kiy

Brenda Susan said...

Thnx for the great tour! Your home looks very welcoming & warm. I love the fairy lights in the bedrooms, I recall my sons doing it themselves when they were pre-teens, what a mess! Ha!

Anonymous said...

Very nice! & congrats on 366 for the year! Woo!

A tip for photographing the lights - use a tripod, and the timer on the camera.

ashley said...

Your house looks lovely! I'd like to have Christmas dishes someday too. I always look at them at the store, but I have to wait until we move to a bigger place before getting some.

I also really love the Santa over the door! That's so much fun!

Anonymous said...

Very nice...congratulations on making it to your post goal!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Sarah

Kent and Leisy said...

my favorite decoration is the advent calendar! I have been in search of a good one for years and I absolutely love yours :) congrats on 366.

Sara said...

Thanks for stopping by my house! I love your Rudolph on the door and decoupage boxes on the shelves. Cute!

I also saw (and loved) your not-quite-finished wedding dress on your other blog. It was lovely. Is there a finished picture somewhere?

Keetha Broyles said...

Thanks for stopping by my tour!!!

I'm trying to get to EVERY home on BooMama's tour - - - I'm on entry 100 now!!!! There are over 900 entries - - - I think this will take me the better part of my Christmas Vacation from school.

Your house looks celebrational. Thanks for sharing!

Merry Christmas

Kristen said...

I like the idea of wrapping ribbon around a lampshade. Very nice.

Musings of a Housewife said...

Everything is so festive. Aren't Christmas dishes fun? Thanks for stopping by yesterday!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your 366 posts! Love your decorations, cute idea to put lights in the bedroom!
Toni

DairyQueen said...

Your decorations look great!

Thanks for visiting my blog.Stop back by tomorrow afternoon... I'm going to post a freezer paper stenciling tutorial!

Susanne said...

Love the doornob hangers. So cute. I have one snowman one but wished I had more.

Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

Your fireplace is gorgeous and I love your magnets. Merry Christmas!!!