Christmas at Our House

I took this pic last weekend (above) during the beautiful little snowstorm we had. (It was the perfect time to remove the pumpkins!- ha how terrible am I?!) I made poor Ashby sit in front of the doors for pictures. (She's a wimp & really isn't that into the snow unless she's wearing her winter jacket- no joke.) Anyway, I'm so glad you all convinced me to keep the door orange! I even like it at Christmastime. There are intentions of adding a white bow to the wreath, but it most likely won't happen. We can't find any electrical outlets outside & might not have Christmas lights this year either. :( Christian really wants them.

But let's go inside! Below is the entryway & I just hung a few simple unadorned garlands around...

I kept it easy in the kitchen too & figured that plates full of cookies & a garland would do the job for us this year with the baby coming...

The problem is that they disappeared WAY too quickly!! --- into my already stuffed-to-the--max belly!! (Note to self- cookies on cakestand on kitchen island WILL NOT LAST.)

We put a fun letter to Santa on our fridge (which is now gone) but will be back for Christmas Eve:

I don't have the energy I usually do right now so I didn't change the bookshelves much, but I did switch the books around so the reds were more prominent, and putting the turquoise ones in more inconspicuous spots. (I just realized that if you're not into switching your house around all of the time that probably sounds insane... but i know most of you get me &/or are like me ;)

In the dining room we did a little tablesetting: My best friend came into town so we actually used it! ha

I wanted to keep it simple & green & natural like the rest of the house... No frills really, except the tiniest bit of sparkle from the crystal & the floral plates... I love a bare table...

I scored this urn at Lucketts a couple of weeks ago & they were on sale for only $35!!! (They might still be and there are tons of them outside.)

It's the same urn (except in white) that I have on the sideboard in the background. They are SO heavy but I just love how sculptural they are & what a huge impact they make in a room. It's too big to actually keep as the center for a tablesetting so it gets replaced by food when we eat.

I paired my vintage Camellia plates with some of our platinum-banded Bernardaud wedding china. The silver chargers I found at Walmart! (i would LOVE pewter ones & will never stop thinking about the set I found for a steal & passed up at an antique mall!! argg) I used little wine corks for the name cards (from a good friend's wedding - they weren't keeping them & I knew they'd come in handy one day!)

My friend Amazing-Amy helped me set up for the pics & she also did this beautiful winter greens arrangement in the dark urn (below). She is a landscape designer & her company decorates homes for Christmas & she had so many great ideas & an awesome eye!!! The huge white bottle in the background was a recent Lucketts find & I'm slightly obsessed with it. I need to find the perfect spout for it! How awesome would a drink for party be in it?!

I'm still so happy about the $165 sideboard & it so awesome to have tons of extra storage!! (below)

And, like I've said before, we always have nuts around during the colder months:

We used sticks from the yard throughout the house (Amy is full of ideas!!!... the sticks can be seen on right of pic below) and they have that same kind of wild feeling that the chandelier has...

Here's a view (below) of the living room from the dining room. (Rearranged again!)

The bright green of the sofa is perfect for Christmas! (I'm putting that slipcover way further down on my list!) I am SO loving the feel of the velvet this time of year!

I wanted something kind of crazy natural for my tree & told Amy we wished there was some way to incorporate branches in the tree. No problem she said!! And out went our husbands into the yard (this is the same night we did the 30 entryway prints) to find some suitable branches for the tree. I watched as Amy just started shoving the branches into the tree!!

And I LOVED it!! (I think this will have to be a yearly tradition... I know it might not appeal to everyone... when I sent pics to my dad in Illinois he goes, "Where the hell'd you find a scraggly tree like that?!" he thought the branches were dead pine branches hee hee. I guess to each his own! :) But I do like it when things are a bit "off" and this is perfect to me!! Thank you AMY!!!!!!

And we finally got the mirror for the mantle fireplace box (below)

For the mantle, I created the worst fire hazard you've ever seen: A magnolia wreath hung only inches above an insane amount of pillar candles!! WOW.

But don't worry, most of the time it's like this(below) or we just light the outer candles. It's still pretty to me unlit... I love my house too much to be this crazy ;)

And here's a pretty little shot of Dave's stenciling peeking through the magnolia wreath:

Here's a gorgeous arrangement Amy did in a moss pot! (oh my, they have those?!!)

I am CRAZY about the magnolia wreath but must warn you that they don't last long -or stay fully green for long- inside. Ours stayed pretty green for about a week to a week and a half & now more & more brown leaves are appearing. (It's still beautiful but is developing more of an "Autumn" look & actually will be perfect for next Fall once it's fully dried.)

And here's a little close-up of my tree with our sentimental ornaments:

We love sitting by the tree at night... (These pics were taken before the branches arrived) Christian had so much fun helping to decorate the tree & it's awesome now that he's an an age where he "gets it."

We're finally relaxing in our new house & I just can't believe it! (I don't know if it's harder to believe it's ours or harder to believe we're relaxing! haha) The Carpenter's Christmas is playing practically nonstop (I can't find the rest of our Christmas music... although I still usually play nonstop Carpenter's Christmas anayway) and Christian has been trained to put it on himself. First thing in the morning, he runs in & turns it on. (ps- there's nothing wrong with "training" your kids for your own enjoyment ;)

With a new baby on the way any day, now this kind of "relaxing" might not last for very long, but we're going ot enjoy it while we have it! Wishing you a VERY Merry Christmas & happy holidays & lots of snow!!

xoxo,

lauren