Welcome to my home! It’s a wonderful time of the year, and at our house this time of the year we ALWAYS have Christmas music playing and Christmas cookies in the cookie jar! 🙂
I enjoy decorating for Christmas each year, but I also strive to keep things simple and quite traditional. The decorations that mean the most to me are the ones that are family heirlooms!.
So please come on in, we had a bit of snow. But it just added to the beauty of the season!
Here is my tree, and I must tell you it has a story behind it. I actually bought this 7 1/2 foot tree for $5 at a yard sale 12 years ago!!! I was only going to use it for a year and get a real tree the next year. But we loved it so much we have been using it for 12 years! Sorry for cutting the top of the tree out of the picture, didn’t want you to think I was going topless! ( Ok, I know that was bad!)
Under the tree I place my collection of children’s Christmas books. Being a teacher and a smart mom, I thought it best to books under the tree! 🙂 And over the years my kids look forward to reading them each year since that is the only time they see them.
My tree is decorated with so many sentimental ornaments here are a few of them. The first ornament was my grandparent ‘s ornament from their first tree in 1931!!! The second ornament is my daughter’s special ornament. We got an ornament for each of my kids the year they accepted Christ into their hearts. So each year they hang “their” ornament on the tree and they are reminded of the significance of that decision in their lives. The date has also been carefully inscribed on the ornament, thus they never forget that day.
These simple angel Christmas decorations. The two smaller angels were purchased from my grandparents hardware store. The one angel still has the name of the hardware store, Fairmount Centre Hardware, plastered on the bottom, the original sales tag. The store has long been gone from the streets of Cleveland, Ohio, but it’s name lives on each Christmas in my house.
I also like this fun little lit village. It uses those battery operated tea lights. It really makes my foyer of the house so much more cozier.
I also love this wreath that hangs high on the brick backdrop for what used to be a chimney for our coal stove.
And Christmas would not be complete with out our infamous countdown jar. It’s not really a decoration, but it’s a part of our Christmas celebration! On Dec. 1st we start picking a piece of candy from the jar each night after dinner until Christmas day. On Christmas Day the jar is empty! When the kids were little it was a great way to visually see how soon ’til Christmas…..now that my kids are older they just like to eat the candy!
Another wonderful tradition we have been doing for years is our “special angel” tradition. The day after Thanksgiving each family member picks someones name and does special things for that person through out the month. It’s fun to find a Reses Peanut Butter cup on my nightstand, or toothpaste on my toothbrush already to go, and the dinner table set one night. It makes for a lot of fun and keeps the perspective of giving back in the season!
Thanks for visiting our home. Merry Christmas to all!!!
Jesus and Dark Chocolate 
Love the idea of the Special Angel tradition! That’s something I wish I could have done with our kids.
I love your little village and the ribbon around it is a neat idea! I like the candy countdown jar, too. Knowing my guys, they’d be sneaking candy and rushing Christmas! Lol!
Your house looks lovely!
Very pretty. I love the books under the tree.
Merry Christmas!!!!
I love your special angel tradition!
Your home looks cozy and lovely. I can’t believe you got that nice tree for $5. How awesome is that? We bought a fake tree one year too. It was at the Wally Mart on clearance after Christmas, regularly $150 on for $30. We nabbed it thinking if we ever couldn’t afford a real tree we’d have it for backup. Well we’ve used it every year since because we like it! :v)
Your home looks lovely! We also have a collection of Christmas books that we only get out at the holidays~my kiddos love them! Oh, and I’m so jealous that you have snow:)
Merry Christmas!
What a neat idea to pick someones name out to do nice things for. I love that. Your tree is beautiful.
loved your tour…and i have those same books on our coffee table and in a wicker basket…i LOVE the idea of placing them under the tree….even as I type this my almost 11 year old dancer is reading One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham….one is never too old to read the beloved Christmas and Winter books. My girls even still read The Snowy Day (sh…don’t tell anyone 🙂 ) I think I might steal your idea and place them under the tree until xmas eve……
enjoy your week…do you guys have to teach next week? we have school/work until the 24th…..argh…I WISH our district gave us the 23rd off…and I am not allowed to use a personal day before a vacation day 😦
hugs to you….
Just love the lolly jar idea – Christmas in winter just looks right – you can make you house so cosy – whilst we are sweating away in summer heat!!!:) The books look so at home around the tree.
Christmas cheers Jo
Thanks for inviting us into your home! I’m not even decorating my home this year since we are in the middle of a remodel. Plus I am decorating my 80 year old mother’s home since there will be 22 of us there on Christmas day. I’m using my tree and many of my decorations on her house so there won’t be much left to use on my house anyway! So, thanks for sharing!
Love your home…Love the title of your blog even more!!LOL
what a great tradition the special angel is! Sounds like you’re teaching your kids to serve each other with joy. 🙂
What a steal on your tree! I love that you put the books around the bottom! Kelly
I love the Christmas books under the tree! Thanks for having me over. Come on over to my place when you get a chance!