Christmas Holiday House Walk 2014

 Welcome to the 2014 Holiday House Walk tour of our home! I'm excited to be participating in the Jennifer Rizo Holiday House Walk link party.  There have been so many very inspiring holiday homes in her Holiday House Walk.  I promise - you will be inspired to make your home so cozy and beautiful for the holidays.  I love sharing our Christmas decoration pictures here to help inspire others to do the same.  I really do all this work on my home so that my children will have wonderful magical holiday memories as they grow up.
Welcome to our home all decked out for the holidays!

Okay, first off a confession.  The above pictures were from last year.  We haven't had any good snow yet this year but the decorations are exactly the same, so I figured why not? It's much more festive!! :)   If you really want to, just picture the same exact pictures without any snow, not nearly as much fun is it? 

 Welcome to the first part of our home - the entryway.  This year I went with a woodsy and natural feel throughout the house, which will make for a nice transition after Christmas to have winter decorations out that still work really well.

 Come on into the kitchen! I've been thinking of hanging wreaths on the cabinets for so many years and this year I finally decided to do it!  I love how it turned out.

My favorite wreath is the boxwood in the kitchen window, that has been living there ever since I brought it home from Target one day a few months ago.

 I love this little vignette with natural pine cones and cranberries.  I did the chalkboard drawing by just googling some ideas and getting inspired and creating my own.

 This wooden nativity carving is my favorite piece this year.  My sweet Madison brought this home for me after her summer trip to the middle east.  She bought this right on the streets of Bethlehem.  LOVE this, it's so dear to me.

 And ya'll - this soap is my FAVORITE right now. Mrs. Meyer's is always a favorite since it's all natural, but this limited edition Iowa pine scent that comes out this time of year is the best.  It smells so clean and fresh and wintery! 

 Everyone's favorite part of the kitchen is right here!! The pictures say it all.  It's hard to see but our favorite tea bags are right in the basket.  It's so nice to stumble into the kitchen half-awake in the mornings and have everything for our morning tea right in one place.  The mugs are just above this in the cabinet.

The pomegranates have been SO big and delicious this year! I love having them out on the counter, so wintery and natural!

 Another chalk drawing that I did - it seemed to fit perfectly over the nativity.

Moving into the family room now - this is where we spend most of our time.

 We've been doing an Advent Family Devotional this year and I love how simple yet profound it is.  It really is a "light" during these dark winter days, and helps us keep our focus on the birth of Christ.

Puppies under the Christmas tree.  Anytime they hear me start taking pictures anywhere in the house, they always come casually check out what I'm doing.  Cracks me up every time.  Then they just lay there like they are ignoring me. Silly dogs.

 Every year at this time I pull out the snowy winter pictures of my three girls.  I love these!! I'm so glad I made myself take those pictures that very early cold snowy winter morning so many years ago now.  It wasn't easy to drag teenagers out of bed early in the morning before the snow started to melt! 

This wooden bucket full of evergreens in the corner smells so wonderful!  I took so many of our everyday items to incorporate into our holiday decor this year.  Like this bucket - it usually has newborn babies all snuggled up and cute inside.  

(PS - I'm a newborn photographer for those new here)  I wouldn't want anyone to think I randomly shove newborn babies into buckets.  ;)

 I love this classic Christmas tartan lined basket on the coffee table to hold remotes and such.

A basket full of Christmas books is always in the family room this time of year.

 A new tradition we started last year is pulling out the Christmas dollhouse when I start decorating the house.  Boo gets so excited to decorate her own little house at Christmas.  (I'm secretly planning on this dollhouse always living here and being something my grandkids will always remember at Christmas time!).

My favorite spot in the house at Christmas.  I love my big favorite chair right beside the window so I can look out and see all the migrating robins stopping at our backyard tree to fill up on the beautiful berries as they head south for the winter.  That tree is always a very busy place this time of year.  The dogs like to scare away all the squirrels that dash around the tree.

Moving into the dining room.  I love how this room looks this year.  So wintery and blue and sparkly. My favorite is at night when everything is all lit up by the garland over the window. It makes our Swarovski crystal snowflake collection hanging from the chandelier just sparkle! 

Merry Christmas from our home to yours! May your days be merry and bright!!

You can see holiday decor from years past by clicking HERE .  Also if you want to learn how to take beautiful pictures of your own Christmas tree looking all sparkly and gorgeous - CLICK HERE!!