Christmas House Tour

It's time for Julia's Hooked on Holiday House Tours. Thank you for hosting us, Julia!

My husband and I were having lunch together today, and, remembering that Christmas this year is on a Friday, he asked, "Is Christmas three weeks from tomorrow?"

No, sweetheart. Christmas is TWO weeks from tomorrow. Just two short weeks and Christmas will be here. Can you believe it?

I love decorating for Christmas. I also love having the house decorated for Christmas. I'm not sure which one I enjoy more--the fun of decorating or the wonder of having things decorated. Let me show you some of what I've done.

As you approach my house, the first thing you'll see is my front porch. I love this space, which I've tried to make into an outdoor living room. So it seems only natural for it to have a Christmas tree here:

Now come on in--it's chilly outside! We're blessed to have a nice big foyer. Just off the foyer is my husband's study. It's a very masculine room, complete with stone fireplace, leather club chair, and antique nautical prints. So I've kept my decorating to a minimum--a garland for the stone fireplace and a couple of candles are enough to add a touch of Christmas.

To the right of the front door is this antique dresser:

Here I have some of the magnolia leaves that remind me of my mom. I also love to display these little angels that spell "Noel." I'm not sure how old these are--they belonged to my mom's mom. Aren't they darling? My youngest son, Lee, likes to change them around to spell other words, like "Leon." And one day he said, "Too bad you don't have a 'B' and an 'R.' You could spell 'Lebron.'" It's not just Christmastime. Basketball season is upon us.

Just beyond the dresser is the doorway to the dining room. My favorite Christmas decorations in the dining room are on the china cabinet:

Our oldest son was born in 1991, the year that Lenox introduced its "Trees Around the World" series of plates. I bought one of these plates in 1991, 1993, and 1997, the years our sons were born. I love them displayed here.

And at night, it's fun to light up the china cabinet:

To the left of the front door is the staircase, where I like to hang another garland:

As you can see, the foyer leads straight into the living room. I've shown you my wall of crosses. Right in that corner is where we put our Christmas tree.

Our tree is definitely a sentimental one--it's covered in all kinds of ornaments. My husband and I got married in 1985, so this is our 25th Christmas together. We've added at least one ornament to our collection every year. We've bought our sons an ornament every year, too. So the tree is filled with ornaments belonging to all of us.

Across the room from the tree is the fireplace.

Our stockings are all hung here. It's funny that one of our stockings hangs with the toe pointing to the left; the others all hang with the toes pointing to the right. Luckily the odd one belongs to our oldest son, so it belongs in the middle. (Do you hang your stockings in order? Ours go Dad, Mom, Son 1, Son 2, Son 3.) I love the candles on the mantel, along with my homemade topiaries and fresh greenery.

As you can see, the dogs love that chair by the fireplace. But that chair is a hot commodity on Christmas morning, when the boys will argue about who gets to sit there. I don't really care where I sit, as long as I get to be with all of them.

Come back on Monday for Nester's Tour of Homes and we'll poke around a bit more!