Home DecorOur Christmas Entry & Dining Room December 15, 2016 Last week, I shared our Christmas Living Room and Kitchen. We’ve been slowly, but surely decorating the rest of the house. While I did get a ton done early, I’ve had fun leisurely decking the rest of our halls and really enjoying the process. When you have a blog like this, it’s so easy for the Christmas decorating to become work. This year, I was determined to have fun, do it for our family as the total motivation, and most of all, ENJOY THE PROCESS! And I really have! You may remember from that post that my goal was a fun, vintage, back-to-basics vibe. I want something simple, but beautiful that fits our family and represents how we really live at Christmas. I enjoyed decorating our home, but nothing is perfectly styled. How I’m sharing it this year is how it will look all season long! Today, I wanted to welcome y’all into our entry and dining room. This is the view when you first come in the front door. I love that this room is a separate, defined entry, but does give you a view into the rest of the open house. I love making the most out of that cased opening for Christmas. I strung the fresh garland here last year, but wanted a little something extra this year. I first worked in some vintage-style bulb lights. I love having lights absolutely wherever I can this time of year! It brightens up our home and reminds us that what we’re really celebrating when we fill our home with light is the light of Heaven dawning on the world on Christmas Day! In my first Christmas tour post, I said that I wanted our home to be a place that our babies felt was not only magical at Christmas, but was also accessible and fun for them. In my mind, I went with an all-colors welcome approach. I grabbed all the colorful yarn I have saved from previous projects and made this little tassel garland. I absolutely love the splash of color and whimsy that it brings to this space and I love that I’ll have it for future years! And a little fresh mistletoe from Trader Joe’s is the perfect finishing touch to this “doorway” out into our house. Last year, our first Christmas in this house, I put the nativity here and loved that it welcomes you right in when we or guests get here! It stayed for sure. While the nativity clearly has so much meaning at Christmas, this one is extra special. Seven years ago, when we were engaged, I stumbled across this nativity in a shop while visiting the Biltmore House with my family. It was clearanced. I think I got the whole thing for $50 or $60 and it was so beautiful! I loved it so much. I was newly graduated from college, working my first real job, and felt so proud that I could buy this for my new family with Chris and for our first home that next Christmas. It’s so special to get out and enjoy each year. While it’s been set out like this since Thanskgiving, all of the characters are about to disappear overnight! Have any of you done the Donkey in the Living Room tradition with your kids? This was a baby gift from my Aunt and we’ve been so excited to do it! Each morning, a member of the nativity will be wrapped and out. Rosie will unwrap it, we’ll put it in it’s place, and then the book has a story from that character’s perspective of the birth of Jesus. It tells animals’ take on the story, the wise men, etc. all the way up to Baby Jesus on Christmas morning. It starts nine days before Christmas, so we’re excited to get this one going soon! The art and rug have been in here forever, but don’t they feel made for Christmas? I love Christmas so much, every single year I just don’t want to take the decorations down! So excited to be in town for Christmas this year and get to enjoy our Christmas home until after the holiday! The mudroom on the other side of the space just got a pretty wreath and bow. I intentionally didn’t style anything perfectly over here. I wanted to show how we’re actually living in our home this Christmas and this is what’s here on a daily basis. Rosie’s hat for walks and going outside, her diaper bag, and that tiny little purse 🙂 Okay, let’s venture out into the dining area. When you first come into this space on your left, we have this hutch and our family tree. I love doing a themed “pretty” tree each year. It really gets my creative juices flowing and I love creating it! But I can’t go without our family tree. It’s just filled with sentimental ornaments that each have the most special story. On one of the first nights of the Christmas season, we have a tradition to have a special dinner and decorate the family tree. We take each ornament out, reminisce over it, and hang it up. I can’t wait to do this as our kids grow and tell them all the stories. It’s moved around the house a bunch, but we’ve been keeping Rosie’s Little People Nativity at the base of this tree. It’s central in the house, so she can play with it while I’m cooking or cleaning or whatever! Plus, it’s always accessible to her, which I love. She absolutely loves all the pieces and that it plays music and the star lights up. I love having one that she can play a ton with and not worry about anything happening to it. On the dining table, I wanted something beautiful, but also something that was simple that we’d actually leave up and not touch throughout the season as we eat here. I love elaborate tablescapes so much. They’re so fun to create! But they’re in no way practical for everyday and I’m starting to feel over them just a bit when it comes to our actual daily dining space. I used this large piece of blue plaid I had stored as a tablecloth, set out a pretty poinsettia, and some candles. The little fringe garlands on the picture give just the right amount of holiday cheer to this spot. That’s it for these two little spots. I’ll be sharing Rosie’s re-arranged playroom tomorrow! We adjusted some things to make it more functional, but it also got lots of Christmas cheer! If you didn’t see our first round of Christmas rooms, make sure you check that out .
Rachel Winchester says December 16, 2016 at 10:45 pm Tassels & pompom garland forever!! They always had a festive & carefree touch! Reply
Chris says January 5, 2017 at 3:43 pm Where did you get your red runner in your home? Your decorations are simple, which makes them beautiful. Your home appears so lived in looking, and I mean that as complement. Reply
Lindsay says January 26, 2017 at 8:59 pm NO, I take that as a compliment! Thank you! That’s exactly what I want…I never want it to feel too perfect or too staged! I want it to look how it does with us living here! The red runner in the entry? It’s from eBay! Reply