You guys, can you even believe that Christmas is right around the corner?! I am such a kid when it comes to the joy and wonder of the holiday season and we have been giddy with anticipation over here. I warned you that I started my holiday decorating pretty early this year and when my girls went to bed on Monday night they were grinning and giggling because they were going to wake up to DECEMBER.
It is so so easy for me to get caught up in all that I have to do and everywhere I have to be that I forget the reason for our celebration. I could tell you that our focus is always on Christ, but in the midst of elf antics and wrapping paper and credit cards, it is easy to turn our hearts and minds away. It seems like such a silly thing (and I know the Thanksgiving police might disagree with me), but one of the ways I keep my heart in tune during this season is to deck our halls in advance of December’s first dawn. I want to wake up on the first day of advent with sense of calm and rest. I don’t want to be digging in the attic and scrambling around at the Christmas tree lot, I want to be snuggled on the couch between my people. I want to be piling into the car for Christmas services and enjoying evenings wrapping presents.
Don’t get me wrong, there is joy to be found in the decorating. I spent twelve uninterrupted hours with the girls last Friday, fluffing garlands and resurrecting lights. We ate take out and watched at least eleven Christmas movies. We talked about Santa Claus and Christmas lists and Heaven’s brightest star. It wasn’t quite December, but we were already preparing our hearts for the memories and lessons and celebrations to come.
The house is clean, the twinkle lights are burning and almost all of my holiday shopping is done. Who wants to join me for coffee?
The very first year we lived in the Rock House, we had a canopy bed and I fashioned garland and lights to hang over us. Josh dubbed it the “Christmas Spirit” and we’ve had some form of it every year since. He never complains about the faint glow when we are sleeping and I love laying in bed at night by Christmas light. This year, Ella (9) was a HUGE help during the decorating. She helped with the garland on our mantle, adding gold ribbon and glass balls until it was just right. the bows and stars on our windows are from the original “Christmas Spirit” and I couldn’t leave them out of what is sure to be our last holiday season in this house.
Just like last year, I hung a wreath on our bedroom door with some of our favorite Christmas cards of years past. There are a few missing, but these are all of our cards since Sophie’s (5) first holiday. The kids argue with us over the placement of the tree every year, but the grownups veto their votes so that we have the perfect view from bed. We might all complain about the proximity of the living room to the bedrooms eleven months out of the year, but everyone loves being able to see the tree from their room during December!
My girls opted to share a bedroom shortly before Sophie’s second birthday and we’re still going strong. They mention occasionally that they can’t wait to have their own space again, but neither of them fall asleep until their partner in crime is tucked in, so we don’t necessarily believe them. We replaced their bedside lamps with these pink trees and added feather wreaths to each of the valances in their bedroom. I made these wreaths for Ella’s first Christmas and although we’ve updated the ribbons several times, she loves having these in her room.
Their trees are covered with my collection of Barbie ornaments, vintage ballerinas and glass balls collected along the way. The trees are different, but we have enough duplicates to share. Instead of tree skirts, we love layering the girls’ tutus for a fun and girly touch.
In the playroom next door, we opted for a mantel display because Christmas trees just get in the way of our play! The felt manger scene is one of our favorites and the metal gifts have appeared in numerous holiday and birthday vignettes over the years. Hot pink and green are always appropriate in a house full of girls.
Although I try to freshen up our holiday look every year, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I am also a huge fan of tradition. When you find something you love, sometimes it’s best to stick with it. The garland around our archway got new life this year — it needed all new lights, so I took it all apart, ironed the burlap and added some new ornaments. After a few days, I decided she needed some fresh greenery, so I attacked the magnolia trees again and added it everywhere I could.
In case you missed it, I shared a quick DIY on the blog yesterday showing you how I put the window garlands together. Part faux and part real, these wild and crazy arrangements are my favorite decoration yet. They look so pretty flanking our front door and along with our tree, they smell SO VERY GOOD.
A few years ago, we hung our Moravian star lantern above the tree and it’s our go-to tree topper these days. It looks so pretty after dark, casting fun shadows and sparkly light all over the living room ceiling.
This Lenox Santa and Reindeer was actually a wedding gift, thirteen Christmases ago. It was packed away while we had babies and toddlers, so I was so excited to pull it out and enjoy it again this year. Please pray there are no errant balls thrown in the house to bring them crashing down! The sparkly trees have also been around since our first year of marriage and I always find a new place to use them each year.
We use an older version of the Advent Calendar from Naptime Diaries and just clip the cards to an empty frame with sparkly paper clips. The girls’ artwork hangs here the rest of the year, but this is a nice (much less chaotic) change of pace for the holidays!
I love hanging our Christmas cards above my desk so that I can enjoy looking at them every day. I must confess that these are all from last year, but I hate having a bare frame for the first few weeks of December! As we get new cards from friends and family, I switch them out one by one. I always tie up our cards from the previous year with baker’s twine and a dated tag so that we can look through them and see how much everyone has grown and changed. Ella and Sophie love going through them every year.
Since we use our table more during the holidays, most of our art supplies got relocated to the chest in our dining room. We did leave out some crayons and colored pencils because you all know how much we like a weeknight craft project!
When I bought stockings after Ella was born, I made sure to get girl and boy options for future children so they would all match. When we found out Sophie was a girl, Ella was three years old and insisted that Sophie get a stocking with a ballerina, too! Pottery Barn had changed their design in the meantime, so Tazzie’s is a little different from everyone else. She asks me why hers doesn’t match and Ella asks me why hers isn’t as pretty every. single. year.
ur kitchen is tiny, so the decorations here are minimal. I added burlap ruffles and wreaths to the kitchen windows and a small tree and cookie jar to the counter top. Just enough festivity without getting in the way of our three cabinets.
Fortunately we have a great view of the rest of the house from the kitchen, so we aren’t lacking for holiday cheer.
I’m pretty sure I say this every year, but this is my favorite tree and my favorite home tour and my favorite year ever. It’s pretty easy to say that when you have the greatest people and an amazing reason to celebrate!
Want to see more Christmas in the Rock House? Click these links for previous years’ holiday home tours: 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009. I also shared some photos of our home a few weeks ago if you’d like to see how she looks the other ten months of the year.
For more holiday inspiration, visit Blogs by Christian Women for their first holiday blog tour. Ally started us off yesterday with a beautiful post about Reclaiming Christmas and there will be new posts every day for the next few weeks. I would love it if you hopped around and said hello!
