Christmas Tour of Homes at Our Home

When I first heard about the Christmas Tour of Homes that BooMama hosts every year, I was very excited to join in the fun.

Then, we put up all of our decorations and I hesitated a little bit. You see, our house is in transition this year since it is on the market. We began the process of painting, removing pictures, taking down drapes and curtains, etc. over the summer. So I felt the house didn't look as nice as I wanted it to because it was a little too sterile.

However, as I sat by the tree last night, I realized that our decorations were simple this year and a perfect reflection of our current stage of life. I want to share how our house looks right now, white walls and all, because it's ours. And if you were to ask our kids, there is no better decorated house anywhere! That's what's most important.

So...Welcome to our home!

Most of our decorations are concentrated in front of this window this year. It's grown on me over the past day.
The top of the cabinet holds many of our special decorations. See that empty space on the middle shelf there? That is where our Christmas cards are supposed to be displayed. But I guess the running and playing of 4 busy children means that they won't be standing up this year! The bottom shelf holds 2 of our 3 nativity scenes. I like the differences of each one, and displaying them together is a nice juxtaposition.I am very sentimental about this Santa. My grandfather hand-selected him for me while he was in the hospital shortly before he passed away.Every year my mom has a fantastic display of Dicken's houses that she sets up. One year, I decided I wanted to do the same thing. I've long since given up that idea and decided instead to let her keep the title of best display in the family. But, I still have my 3 houses that we put out every year.This ornament was given to me by the kids last year. It is my new favorite, of course.Isabelle chose these decorations from our stash to display in the kids' room this year. She painted that snowman 3 years ago.Because I spend so much time in the kitchen, especially this time of year, I always try to make it as festive as possible. These same decorations have gone above the stove for the past 4 years or so.A few of the Christmas cookbooks in my collection get displayed on the counter. They definitely count as art in my book!This is a plate of salt dough ornaments the kids and I made this weekend. We are going to paint them Monday or Tuesday this week. A few will go on our tree and a few may end up as Christmas gifts from the kids.Eric and I both love the simplicity of this picture. At the moment, it is on a bookshelf in our bedroom where it may or may not stay for the rest of this season.This quilt wall hanging is another favorite of ours. We are not sure where we are going to hang it this year. In previous years it has gone above our bed, but we are considering putting it on the wall in the family room this year. There is a lot of empty wall space and it would be nice to have some kind of decoration there. You may have noticed a snowman theme throughout our decorations. I have to give my mom all the credit for that. Every year she and my dad send us a package for St. Nicholas day. Along with a few toys and treats for the kids, she always includes a decoration of some kind for the house. Our family gets snowman decorations and my sister's family gets Santa Clause decorations. I think it is a great tradition, and I hope to do something like that when our kids are grown.

For now, I am busy getting ready for my turn hosting the Bloggy Progressive Dinner tomorrow night when I will be serving up lots of tasty appetizers. Stop by for drinks at Joy's today.

Thanks for visiting! Make sure you stop by BooMama's place to visit lots more homes on the Christmas Tour of Homes. Also visit Southern Hospitality for even more homes. Personally, I just can't get enough of seeing all the beautifully-decorated houses!