Christmas Home Tour 2014

Welcome to my Christmas Home Tour! Last year was an exciting time to share my holiday home but little did I know that would be the last tour from Missouri!  We are now nestled up on a hill, a steep one mind you, in Alabama.I’ll be sharing my tour at Jennifer Rizzo’s Holiday House Walk.  If you would like to peer into some beautifully decorated Christmas homes, then this inspirational linky party is for you! Click on the image below to join the House Walk.

Welcome, y’all come on in. There’s plenty to see. I’d make you a warm chai tea latte if you were here.

I noticed on our second walk through of this house during the house hunting trip that I’d still have plenty of bannister to hang all of my holiday garland. Yes, I love Christmas decorating that much.

I had a new design planned for our Christmas tree this year so decided to hang the chalkboard “Joy to the World” banner here this year instead of the tree. I’ve had this quality garland for several years, now and I add sprays to the places where I tie it up to give it extra fullness.

The dinning room table is adorned with a mixture of fresh greens used throughout the house, magnolia leaves, holly sprigs, Leland cypress cuttings from my yard and free Christmas tree cuttings from Home Depot. Home improvement stores generally give away the cuttings from the bottom of the trees for free. Just make a point to go in the evening before they recycle them.  Try to get a variety of sizes of branches and types of trees.

Around the outside our house we have an interesting variety of plants and trees, but the front garden beds are filled with numerous holly bushes, several different varieties in fact.  It wasn’t until a question popped up in my bible study this fall, that I learned that my name, Leslie, means garden of holy.  After I discovered this little fact, I have to believe this is the home God intended us to live in and gratefully we plan to do so for a very long time!

The dinning room is just a bit beachy.  I combined the southern elements, magnolia leaves and cotton sprigs to compliment.

On the buffet, my slightly tacky tinsel tree and a collection of memorable photos of the children from a Christmas Eve past and photos with Santa shine.

While my tinsel tree lacks the vintage charm of an antique version, with lights and ornaments, it shimmers with undeniable iridescent light.

I love filling my holiday home with moments that bring back the joy of Christmas past. While our children are teenagers and we are still making memories, I get very nostalgic this time of year.

Through the arched opening and into the kitchen you will see the open shelves have been adorned with the mixture of fresh greens and festive snow scene.

I’m obviously totally embracing my return to the south and was inspired to create a magnolia wreath for the kitchen window. I love the subtle texture of my modern interpretation of the traditional magnolia wreath.

The holiday dishes come out of the cupboards now and are conveniently displayed on the kitchen island cart we built for the center of the kitchen.

I was looking for a new way to display our Christmas cards this year, wracking my brain on how I could go vertical somewhere in the kitchen.

Then I remembered this old house post the previous own left in the master bathroom.  While it was an interesting approach to a towel rack, it didn’t quite work for us.  But as a way to display Christmas cards, I think it’s clever. Festive mini clothes pins secure each card to twine tied around the post.  Topping the post with Christmas greens and a bow finish off the festive look.

In the living room, the chalkboard mantle sings “O Holy Night” through the returning printable from last year.  I still love it and with my computer crashing last week, there was no hope of creating something new.

This is the first time I’ve displayed antlers in my home, but I thought Christmas was an appropriate time to do so.

Next to our Christmas tree is our Christmas village.

It is a bit unconventional, but I adore it.

You see, Legos were a huge part our children’s lives.  Living in Missouri during the cold winter days and hot summers, much of their time was spent sprawled across the floor in the game room constantly changing and building new creations for their Lego City.

When they decided they were too old to play with Legos and were ready to pack them away, I must admit I had a stroke of genius. I asked them build me a Christmas village.  I figured all the money we invested in Legos should be put to good use, but most importantly having a Christmas village filled with familiar scenes brings back fantastic memories.

Truth be told, I think they look forward to setting it up for me each year and that just makes me smile.

Every year at Christmas time, we would pull out our collection of Christmas and holiday story books.  The little piles of books around the house are a nod to those treasured times.

The last stop on our Holiday Tour is the screened porch.

I was so thankful to find this chalkboard as I unpacked the Christmas decorations.  I had used it on the front porch last year. Surprisingly, even after being shoved in a box by the movers, it had only a few smears that were easily fixed! It’s a nod to our Louisiana heritage where just about everyone is a Breaux or Boudreaux and people are born in places like Thibodaux. Ha, Ha!

If you’d like read more about my perfectly decorated tree and why I’d rather it not be so perfect, click here.  It’s a post inspired by Nesting Place.

Thank you for taking a tour of my Christmas Home.  As always, I hope you were inspired to try something new your home. I wish you a wonderful Christmas Season and may the joy of Christmas be with you all year too!

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