Christmas Tour of Homes: Deck the Halls with Ribbons and Balls

In my opinion this truly is the MOST wonderful time of the year! I love Jesus--the REASON for this wondrous season! And I love the sounds, the smells, the feel, the tastes and the sights of Christmas! So I love to decorate my house for Christmas...I love the sparkle & glitter. I love to go all out & I also love the look of a simple red ribbon tied here or there to remind you of this festive time of year!

We usually get started decorating right after Thanksgiving and before our oldest's end of November birthday. But this year that did not happen...mainly because our house is on the market & we had a bunch of showings & who can decorate for Christmas without creating a bit of a mess in the process? (If you can, please don't tell me!)

Kitchen island is covered...

Breakfast room table is buried!

So here we are MID-December & I am just now finally getting everything decorated & it sure feels nice! So come on in & take a peek! I'm just barely squeaking in under the wire...

Come on in & take a peek...our front door...

We made our wreath from cuttings from our Christmas tree, you know the stuff they trim off of the bottom so it will fit in your tree-stand. We added in some other plant cuttings and some fake sparkly stuff, topped it off with a bow (that I already had)...so it didn't cost us a penny!

Welcome, please do come in!

This year we decided to go for a smaller tree in our living room right off of the foyer. We usually put up a 12 footer in the family room, but that requires moving furniture, so we decided to keep things a bit more simple this year. I am actually really enjoying the tree in its new spot (even if all of our ornaments don't fit!) because you can see it when you first come in the door and also I can see it from my study where I spend a ton of time anyway! And I followed The Nester's advice, we put the same amount or possibly even more lights on this tree and I'm pretty sure you can see it from outer space, but I LOVE it! There are few things that I like more than sitting & watching the {quiet} sparkle of a Christmas Tree!

A comfy spot to sit & gaze at the Christmas tree!

Below is our Nativity set which was lovingly arranged by our 5 year old daughter. She worked so diligently on this yesterday, carefully unwrapping each piece and placing it carefully. I love our Fontanini Nativity. We received it as a wedding gift from my aunt and uncle and each year other family members have added pieces for us. I don't know if you noticed that baby Jesus is not in his manger...we do this to remember that Christmastime is a season of expectation...waiting for the birth of the King of Kings...so we do not put him in the manger until Christmas morning when we celebrate his wondrous birth & sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Here are the Three Wise Men coming from afar...I try to put them in a different part of the room from the Nativity since their journey was quite long and they didn't actually reach Jesus until he was over a year old.

Oh, you need a little break to freshen up, please feel free stop in here...

Now come on into the kitchen...

I LOVE using glass ball ornaments all over the house. These look so pretty in the apothecary jars, this picture doesn't do them justice, but they are so bright & cheery in the center of the island!

My little bird houses cheering up the kitchen window sill. I decorated these 3 years ago & enjoy using them in new ways every year!

Breakfast room table, pretty tray holds fresh flowers & all of the Christmas cards we are receiving. Last year I hung them on a wreath, but I like that here they are easy to flip through and I like the idea of praying over them at dinnertime...but we haven't done that yet because, well, did you see the "in progress" photo above...the table has been a bit of a mess!

Breakfast room sideboard

Little plant stand

Like I mentioned before, I love to just tie a pretty red ribbon on just about anything...it's like dressing something up in its Christmas best!

The clock between our kitchen & family room...at first I kept the ribbon "tendrils" long, but then I decided they looked better shorter...what do you think?

Since I had to give up the huge Christmas tree in the family room with lots of lights, I was sure to incorporate lights on the mantle...I couldn't go completely with out a bit of sparkle!

Like the front door swag, all of the greenery on the mantle is from Christmas tree cuttings or other trees.

All lit up!

Last {thanks for bearing with me, I know this has been a looooong tour!} are a few photos from the dining room...but none of the table because it still is serving as my staging area, so it is a mess!

I noticed in this photo that I really need something on the wall above this china cabinet. I usually have something with height on top of it...I may experiment with moving the candles around...

Whew, done! And it only took 2 hours longer than I thought because blogger crashed & I had to upload all of the photos...AGAIN!

Thanks for stopping by to visit!

I pray that you find rest and peace this Christmas from the One who gives it freely!