Christmas on the Back Porch

This is the first time I've ever lived in a house that has a screened porch, and I'm SO HAPPY about it!   When we moved to NC on Labor Day weekend, the weather had cooled off, and we were able to enjoy almost every day out on the porch up until at least Halloween.  It's my favorite spot in the house, and so I just had to put something Christmasy out there this year.

Decorating the Tree, Step by Step

I'd like to share a description of how I went about decorating the Christmas tree in our foyer.

The De-Santa-fication Process Has Begun

"The de-Santa-fication process has begun. "  (Name that movie.)

New Year's Day around here most often is filled with un-decorating and football.  And maybe a little Rose Parade thrown in for good measure.  And of course the pork and sauerkraut that brings good luck all year long.

We've made it through about 95% of the dismantling, and about 50% of the packing away.  With breaks for cleaning, eating, and watching football, I anticipate that it will take both today and tomorrow, off and on, to complete. I hope to be done by dinner time tomorrow night.  Until then, these are some of the views we have around our house.

Our Family Christmas Tree

Though we have four Christmas trees in our home, there is really only one that we consider our "Family Christmas tree", and that's the one in the family room next to the fireplace.  This is the only real tree in the house.  This is the one that holds all of our precious family ornaments that have been collected as mementoes over the years.  This is the one that is surrounded by gifts, and the one that Santa visits on Christmas Eve.

Christmas 2010 Tour of Our Home

I've been posting here and there all month long with photos of our home and our Christmas decorations.   In preparation for The Nester's Christmas 2010 Tour Of Homes party, I've put together this launching point so you can see all the various things we've done this year.  Hope you enjoy!

Welcome To Our Home

We have finally finished our Christmas decorating for this year, and everything has been cleaned up and put away.  I thought I'd share the view of our home from the front door vantage point.

Entering the front door, looking to the left is our dining room.  I wrote about the tree in a previous post.

Dining Room Tree

Sharing our new Dining Room tree with you today.  You might remember that I previously shared photos of last year's tree, which was a table top tree with a "sugared fruits" theme.  I have been imagining a full height but slim tree in this corner of the dining room for quite a few years, and now it's here!

The Christmas Tree Farm

Last weekend before our son went back to college for the rest of the semester, we drove out into the country a little way to a Christmas Tree farm.

Living Room "Santa" Tree

This year our living room tree is themed as a "Santa" tree.  I thought this would be a great way to showcase all of our Santa ornaments that we've collected over the years.  I also picked up a couple new ornaments this year, just a few that caught my eye for one reason or another, nothing extravagant.  And last year in the "after Christmas" sales at Michael's, I had picked up a few Santa ornaments then.  So I figured we'd have plenty to do a whole tree.

The Kitchen in Peppermint

Yesterday I finished decorating the kitchen for Christmas.  In years past, I've used themes of red apples, cinnamon and gingerbread for the kitchen. Last year I expanded that to include more of a "candy" theme, by simply adding a garland of fake sugared candies on the small tree, and a few candy-themed ornaments.  This year walking through the crafts store, I saw cute little floral picks made of peppermint candies (fake of course), and saw cute peppermint stripe ribbon, and this year's theme idea was born!

New Dining Room Tree On The Way!

I'm excited to report that I've splurged and ordered a 7' slim pre-lit Christmas tree for our dining room.  As noted in an earlier post, I was debating whether or not to do this.  I've been thinking of it for a couple of years now, but was holding out for a good price.

Dining Room "Sugared Fruits" Tree

Last year (2009) was the first year I've put a Christmas tree in the dining room.  See, I have this empty corner, where I think it's just crying out to have a tall, slim-line Christmas tree there.  It would be so pretty, you know, with luxurious ribbon and delicate gold ornaments.  I could theme it from year to year with various food-related themes - "vineyard" one year, "sugar plums" one year, and so on.  Lovely idea, yes?

The problem with this plan is that I already do a 12' live tree, a 9' artificial tree, and a 4' table top tree in other parts of the house.  And one year we had a 6' artificial tree in the basement too.  So the idea of, first, purchasing another tree, and then, second, decorating another tree was not appealing.  Well, it was kind of appealing in theory, but in practice it was unrealistic.  

So I struck a compromise.  I found a 3' pre-lit table top tree on sale at Walmart for $20.  Score!  And then I put it on an old round accent table in the sad, empty corner.  Once I decorated it to match the chandelier, the room was now beginning to really feel festive!

The tree was pretty simple to decorate.