Home Christmas Tour...Part 1

 

Our home is so cozy and bright. Why do lights make everything so much more endearing??

                We have string lights on our back patio that we leave up year round, and we also turn them on at night year round, because it makes everything feel so cozy. Earlier this week, Ryan ran into a lady who lives across the lake from us. She introduced herself and told him she loves looking out and seeing our lights each night. That made me so happy.

                Lights outside, lights inside…bring me all the cozy and warm. In fact, it is so cozy and warm early in the morning when we first get up. This picture was from a few days ago, when the trees were up but not yet decorated. It was just so sweet to sit in the quiet and low light of early, early morning.

                Now they are decorated, and we just love them. These two trees hold all the ornaments we have collected throughout our thirteen years of adventures. We’ve used nearly every branch and will need to start calling upon other trees in our home to hold memory ornaments.

                This year we added the following memories to our tree:

                This little photo ornament came from our birthday trip to Hocking Hills, Ohio. We loved hiking the trails of the huge park, seeing all the waterfalls, and who can forget our UTV adventure??

                This one represents the Mackinac Bridge Walk we did on Labor Day. Double crossing this bridge in just a few hours, spending part of a weekend with our friends…it was great!

                This one represents our bike rides on Mackinac Island. We did a tandem bike ride the first day we visited and individual bikes the second day. We loved that Island so much. We would absolutely go back.

                We stopped at Bronner’s on our way home from that trip and had to commemorate this long-awaited visit. (I may have been the only one long-awaiting it, but still.)

                Each year we choose an ornament to represent the entire year. This year we chose a church building, because the church has been huge (even more than normal!) in our lives this year. I started working at our church, we moved back into our building, post-construction…this felt like the perfect representation.

                This one was a gift from a friend. So timely. And so funny.

                While we’re in the living room, let me show you around the rest of this level of the house!

                A couple of Christmas picture frames and some flowers…

                My beloved snow globe. Mom gave us this a few years ago, and it’s one of my absolute favorite decorations.

                Look what’s back!! Merrcy Hristmas!!!

                My Narnia lamp has its Christmas decorations attached again.

                The plate was Mom’s and she gifted it to me when they moved to Swiss Village. I love this blue Victorian house that reminds me of a dream B&B. I added some tiny ornament to the lantern next to it.

                I still love my little nativity scene. I bought this about 15 years ago and have displayed it every year.

                Grandma and Grandpa’s Bible (as featured on my Advent book) and one of Nita’s oil lamps. This area always makes me feel so Little House.

                I added a couple of simple things to the bathroom.

                This year I put all the gingerbread items on our Hoosier-cabinet-turned-coffee-bar.

In the landing to the upstairs, I have a tiny Christmas tree farm. The little deer are so cute. (We bought those from some random school fundraiser back in our Kokomo days. They have been a good purchase.)

This sign was a gift from one of our WillowBridge tenants. It is dear to me.

And one of my very favorite things: mistletoe!

Ryan and I bought that the day after he proposed, and it’s made an appearance each year since!

I love our sweet living area! Thanks for taking a tour with me. Come back tomorrow for more!