Hi folks! Well, as it turned out I wasn't able to post a pre-Christmas house tour as I had hoped. So like I have done in the past, I am publishing an After Christmas tour today. 2020 has been a very rough year for all of us but the last few weeks have been especially hard for my husband and me, as well as our family. I hope to share some of the details of our year soon but, for today, I want to focus on happy thoughts and fun decorations!
Even though the year has been pretty awful, I have had the best time sharing my Christmas decorations with my grandchildren. Their excitement has been total joy for me. My grandson, Finny, went from display to display jumping up and down and shaking with excitement when he came for the first time after I had finished my decorating. For someone who has been decorating for Christmas for many, many years, I can't tell you what happiness seeing this reaction has brought to my heart. But, my real affirmation came when my daughter told me what my grand daughter, Kylie, had told her; "I like how Gramma decorates EVERYTHING!!" Hahaha! That is true! I will show you what she means with a big smile on my face!
Of course, like practically everyone, I decorated the entry hall but, unlike some people, I also decorated the front hall table...
and the hall painting. You can see in the reflection of the mirror I decorated a basket next the the front door, as well.
Moving into the living room/dining room area is a little piano alcove. I have changed up the furniture a bit in there this year. On top of the new surfaces I added these displays.
I found this miniature Nativity scene in my stash and was so excited to use it here.
For the other table top in the area I decorated it simply.
It seems as though I am always showing you lots of photos of my living/dining room. I tried to cut the amount of pics down this year but as you can see I still have quite a few :). I hope you enjoy them and that they are not too repetitive.
This is my living room Christmas tree. We paid more for this tree than we ever have before and it turned out to be the shortest one we have ever decorated. My kids would not stop laughing at it because it was so short, which kind of hurt my feelings :). I still think it is pretty...and it is still drinking water so maybe it was worth the extra cost. (Beauty in the eye of the beholder and all of that!)
Even though she was small, she was still mighty when lit up at night~
This is my fireplace and hearth. I tend to share pics of this quite often. It hasn't changed too much over the years although I did go with a rustic mountain cabin look with the antlers and fur wreath and owl in the mini trees.
At night this was the view overlooking the dining table onto the side deck.
And this was the view of that same deck after a snowstorm. It was beautiful and the reflection of the trees was pretty amazing. My husband and I enjoyed looking out the windows every night.
More of the dining table centerpiece
I plan on leaving this centerpiece up well into January. I think it will work.
This ↑ was the view into the dining room from the archway of the kitchen.
Here ↑ I used the matching fur wreath to the one on the fireplace wall.
The kitchen archway incorporated a garland of welcoming Santas. The kids loved this garland.
I am sharing some photos of my kitchen. My husband painted the cabinets white last winter during the shutdown. I wanted to share one of those before-and-after stories at some point but, I have been waiting until we installed wood floors, something that has yet to happen.
We love watching the birds from outside the kitchen window.
I do love the white cabinets and the paint, so far, has held up well.
On the opposite wall of the kitchen is an open Ikea shelf that I always have fun decorating with all of my Christmas knick-knacks.
More of the kitchen
This guy ↓ resides on the Ikea shelves. He plays music and has twinkling lites!
Somehow I even got in a bit of baking this Christmas. It was actually a lot of fun! I made cranberry orange bread and some cinnamon bread too, one loaf with nuts and one without~
On another wall of the kitchen is a set of shelves my husband made for me several years ago. We were going to replace them this Christmas season but, ran out of time. So, I decorated the old ones for one more year.
Another case-in-point, I even threw a candle ring on this hook to add a little more red to the room. I think maybe Kylie is right. I DO decorate EVERYTHING. Maybe I have a problem!
I think Kylie said what she said because I seem to have decorations in every room. I remember my daughter, Amanda, going into a room and exclaiming to the kids that Gramma even decorated the bathroom! She hadn't visited the other one yet. That one was decorated, too!
I found these wooden signs at Homegoods. I loved the look and the simplicity.
This is an old wreath I made years ago but, I still love it. You should always use things you love. That's my motto anyway.
This is my other bathroom. I even decorated the back of the toilet.....and a basket holding toilet paper but for decorum-sake I will withhold showing you that 😉!
This is the family room. I have this big, fat pole in the middle of the room that I have to contend with. So....I decorate it!
Luckily, this side of the family room is pole free!
I save all the photo Christmas cards of my grandchildren from year to year. Since physical access to the kiddos has been limited this year I decided to use the cards as decorations over my computer area. That way I can look up and see their beautiful faces whenever I am working.
Here is the hutch my husband painted two winters ago.
To be honest I decorated it again almost exactly the same way I did last year. I loved the look of it so why change?
Well, that concludes my After Christmas Christmas Tour. I hope you have enjoyed it. I certainly enjoyed decorating my house and even though this has been a very, very hard year, my husband, Tom, and I have thoroughly enjoyed every decoration in every nook and cranny of the house. To be honest, there are many more vignettes I could have shown you but, I didn't want to wear you out!
It appears my grandkids enjoyed the decorations, as well, and that does, truly, make me smile.
****I have not been compensated in any way for writing this post.
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