Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Christmas Home Tour: Den

I'm doing my home tour SO out of order this year. But y'all, ignore the porch and the foyer and come on into the den! :) Our den is small cozy so it doesn't take much to get it decorated. I started by doing LESS this year and I think I wound up putting more out than in previous years. I really don't know. I honestly had a TON of fun decorating this year. Hope I enjoy packing it up just as much.

I mentioned to Eddie that I wanted to collect a Christmas village and because I'm VERY mature {ma-TEW-er as my mama would say} I decided I wanted EITHER the Christmas Vacation village OR the Christmas Story village. Either one would do. Eddie must have mentioned to his mama that I wanted a village {and let it be known that he didn't want to pay the price tag of the other two} so she gladly passed one along to me. I got it here and started unpacking it and HOLY COW those things are HUGE. Also, I didn't realize that it wouldn't work on a dining room table. First, you cannot USE the dining room table AND there are cords ev.ery.where. So I put the little pieces away and moved the buildings up to the top of Grandmommie's desk in the den and I love it. Clark and George loved it, too. {Clark and George have since been asked to go back to the North Pole, but that is a story for another day...}

The desk is also home to three Christmas canvases that were painted by the boys, a hand-carved-by-my-dad Nativity, and a hand-painted-by-Eddie-circa-1980 Santa boot. I'm nothing if not an eclectic decorator.

My tree turned out PERFECT this year in my eyes! I love, LOVE it. We got this one last year at Lowe's and I have decided I am a huge fan of the slim tree. I may get another to go in the dining room next year to replace my smaller 12 Days of Christmas tree {which I didn't put up this year and have been told that was a mistake...}. I opted for burlap ribbon in the tree this year and just put all of our family ornaments on. I don't have a color scheme for ours. All of our ornaments either have meaning, were given to us, or were made by us. No color coordinated balls here!

On the shelves behind the tree you'll see a few things...Top left is a cross-stitch Santa that I *think* my mama made. Under that is another canvas from preschool and my pajama-clad carolers. I started collecting the same kids for Halloween a few years ago and Mom found the carolers a few years ago for me. She gave me one and I bought two on Zulily a few months ago. On the right side of the shelves is an angel balance toy. We have several of these and they're cute. I put this one away after Christmas every year and I always like pulling it back out.


Over on the other set of built-ins we have our "real" Nativity {my main one} and then another canvas and a bowl of ornaments. I love, LOVE Nativities and this one was bought in Israel. If my house burns down I want to grab this one as I run out. Sonny bought it for me either when I was in college OR when I had just graduated and I've put it up every year. It's one of my favorite Christmas things. Bought in Bethlehem! Just so neat!

My canisters are always on my mantle and I just switch out what's in them based on the seasons. The only time I have trouble coming up with something is in January-March. WHAT should I fill them with? At Christmas they are full of ornaments and this year I added battery operated LED lights to make them sparkle. I LOVE them.




I never, ever, ever have my coffee table "styled." Why? Because it doesn't STAY that way. But I made an effort here and I've liked it so far. Antique/Vintage/Eddie's old books on the side over there {don't tell him I called them antique!}, our Advent devotions on the center, and a bowl of old and new Christmas cards on the right. Also, a precious little nativity that we got about a year after we got married {as a wedding gift!}. It's the same brand that my mama had when we were growing up and she ALWAYS let us play with hers. Mine is hand carved from Israel and it is a don't-touch piece so this is the one I leave where little hands can play.



So there you have it! Our cozy little den! I still have the outside, the foyer, the dining room, and the kitchen to share of the decorated spaces!

2 comments:

Simply LKJ said...

Beautiful Lauren!

Meggie said...

I love it!! Where did you find the battery operated Christmas lights? I need some of those!