Blessing #163 - Christmas Tour 2012

Today, I wanted to bring a little Christmas cheer and show the little spots of Christmas in my house.

I've already blogged about the fireplace and mantel.

We have enjoyed this fireplace so much this year.  I've had so much fun shopping for our stockings! We have never done stockings before so I would love to hear anyone's stockings traditions.

Also in the living room is our tree which I have already blogged about.

But I have to be honest.  On Monday, I came home from cleaning to find that my boys had taken a little creative license with the tree. Shad was getting ready upstairs, and when I walked in the door, I found my boys squealing with delight, ripping up tissues, and throwing them on the tree.

"Look Mommy! It's snowing on the tree" I almost got upset, but they were so proud of their idea I just couldn't do it.  I did tell them to ask permission next time they have a great idea.

I told them we would enjoy it a few days and then we could clean it up.  They were happy with that answer and were so proud of their creativity.

In the dining room, my plate wall is a great backdrop for my nativity scene and blocks I got from Dayspring's black Friday sale last year.

Also in my dining room is my Christmas fantle.

One of the things I love most about my chalkboard dresser is that it can be seasoned up so easily.

This summer, someone gave Shad a Christmas tree at a yard sale.  As soon as he told me about it, I said, "Is it prelit?" He said yes, and then I was excited.

I didn't want to buy any new decorations for this tree so I decided to use what I had.  Because of winter, I had to bring the bottles on my bottle bush inside, but they look awesome on my tree.

I found another use for my brown paper flowers on this tree.  I think I will hit up some after Christmas sales to find the right supplies for this tree.  I definitely will be using my bottles again, and that's a great excuse to collect more!

Oh! Another reason I did not fuss at the boys for the tissues on the tree is this...

Yep! Those little bows are napkins from my favorite things party.  Right when I started to say, "What were you thinking?" to them, I thought of these. I guess they saw me do it, and wanted to try.

In my kitchen, I gave my dad a shout out with this quick arrangement. Christmas to my dad is oranges, peppermint sticks, nuts, and coconut bon bons.

Right now, my absolute favorite Christmas decoration is in my pantry. Tsh, who blogs at the Simple Mom, posted on her instagram a picture of some chalkboard art she did. Using that picture as inspiration, I started working on my pantry chalkboard.

After tweeking and retweeking as I would walk by, here is what I have.

It just makes my pantry look so cute! I think I'm going to have to do this every few months. Love it! Love it! Love it!

I hope you enjoyed this tour through my home, I will be sharing this post with The Nester, The Inspired Room, It's Just Laine, and Fingerprints on the Fridge. and Cottage Magpie.