So, I was planning to link up with BooMama’s big Tour of Homes this morning. Lydia, my almost 3 year old is at Camp Primo: The Winter Retreat and I knew I’d have some “alone” time to clean get online.
Then…uhm…well, I bought a book. First of all, I am embarrassed to say how long it’s been since I’ve read a book. I haven’t even picked one up since the pirate was born almost 3 months ago.
Until. Twilight.
Yes, I bought Twilight. I’m all about a bandwagon.
So, I’m on page 312 and haven’t really thought about the Tour of Homes in oh…two days. This morning I finally looked around my house to take pictures of my beautiful holiday decor. And uhm…it looks exactly the same as it did last year.
So, to add a little umph to my tour, I’m offering up a prize. Yes, a prize. And really it’s the fun folks at Tide who are offering it up. But, whatever. It’s a prize.
I’ve got a bea-u-tiful Christmas stocking chock full of STUFF for you! Don’t you love it? I can’t tell you how hard it was to NOT switch one of my old stockings for this one…
But wait! There’s more! Let’s see…there’s a Meyer’s peppermint soy candle (smells delish), some Burt’s Bees lip goodness (my absolute fave!), a box of Russel Stover chocolates (YUM) and something exceptionally practical from Tide: some mini Tide To Go pens. These are CUTE! So little! What a perfect stocking stuffer—or purse stuffer so you don’t get any more embarrassing stains on your clothes at Christmas parties. Not that I’d ever drop salsa on my shirt within 5 minutes of being at a party or anything…
Now, how can you hang this stocking with care on YOUR mantle? Just look at my pictures. Oooh and aaah over my tree, my decorations and uhm…blog. Then leave me a comment. A comment about…well, honestly, I don’t care. If you want to just say “pick me”, that’s fine. But if you leave me a comment telling me you have a similar ornament, or absolutely looooove my tree, I might come visit your blog. (Wow. How’s that for friendly?)
(And of course, if you want an extra entry, leave me a comment letting me know you subscribed to my feed and/or that you blogged or tweeted a link to this post!)
NOW. ENOUGH OF THE WINDBAG, let’s get to the pictures!
First. Our tree. I simply adore our tree. It smells delicious. It looks pretty and I want to leave it up all year!
As theme-y as I like to be, I don’t theme out our tree. I like to collect ornaments that go along with our life and experiences. I have ornaments we collected in Tulsa, on our skiing trip, when our children were born and inside jokes among friends.
My favorite decoration/tradition is our mini trees. When I was little, my mom bought my brother and me a mini tree. Then each year she’d give us a mini ornament from Hallmark to hang on it. The idea was that one day when we went to college or got married, we’d have our own little tree ready to go. And you know, my husband and I had that mini tree as our only tree for about 6 years! What a special piece of family and memories to have in our home! Now, I’ve done the same for everyone in our little family. (Ooops, I need to get Asa one today!!)
Here’s Lydia’s…mainly pink glitter and princesses…
My husband’s is all Snoopy. Who knew it was a 15 year series?!
And mine? Well, it’s chock-full of memories! I love it. My favorite this year is a little African girl. She reminds me of our Compassion daughter, Alizeta.
One of my new favorite decorations is actually a big pile of old ornaments my mom gave me. I didn’t really want to put them on my tree, but I did want to keep them. So, now they are sitting in an old rusty tin in front of my tree. It’s full of “my” ornaments as a kid. I love looking at them!
And speaking of tins, I apparently collect M&M Christmas tins. It was just one of those accidental things and I ended up with about 20 of them. I use them in place of a tree skirt and they double as ornament storage during the year!
Are you still with me? I’ve just got 2 more pictures to show you…Here’s my dining room table. It’s not much, but I think it’s pretty. Every plate has a different little decoration on it. (More because I didn’t have anything matching than trying to be creative…)
And last but not least my daughter’s “Jesse Tree”. It’s getting filled up, huh? (Click here and here for more info on my version of a Jesse Tree.)
And that’s all folks! If you actually made it through that long-as-Christmas post, you deserve to win that cute stocking from Tide! Thanks again, Tide!
I’ll announce the winner this weekend and oh, it’s only open to US addresses.
Merry Christmas!
Linda Stewart says
I subscribe
Linda Stewart says
I twittered http://twitter.com/NCBelle36
Michelle says
You were cute!
Your tree(s) are way better than mine…you can catch a small glimpse of it over on my blog from todays post.
Carrie says
Your tree is beautiful and should be up all year! WOW! I love the Jesse tree too. Thank you for sharing your decorations with us. Have a very Merry Christmas!
Kim@ForeverWherever says
Your home looks great! You cracked me up about the m&m tins. I ended up with a ton of teddybears, but I finally gave most of them away. They were taking over! Have a wonderful Christmas!
becky says
I love that your Christmas decorating was inhibited by Twilight. Same here! I’ve seen the movie eight times (really?!) and I’m not psycho.
But it has been a fun interruption amidst Christmas stresses.
Happy Holidays!
Heather S says
I too have ornaments for my tree from every year. My Mom still gives me an ornament every year to this day and I’m continuing that with my kids. =) I LOVE the idea of little trees for each child though. Cute idea. I’m sad to say this year I just haven’t had time to decorate like I’d like. We have our “mini” 3 ft tree on the dining table because I just don’t want to deal with the twins trying to eat it. Oh well. But I guess I should take pictures anyway. It is still Chrsitmas time right?!?! LOL!
Karen says
I love your idea of collecting tins and storing ornaments in them. Merry Christmas!
Dawn says
My mom used to put up a tree with ornaments that I made throughout my life. She gave up on it(after 30 something years, plus a brother and sister..there are alot of ornamnets!), so I look forward to starting the tradition with Brooke.
Liz says
Wow, nice pictures, and hope to winning! Thanks
Chaotic Joy says
Here from Twitter. Pick me!
Damselfly says
Your house is beautiful! I love seeing your 1st grade picture.
You know I already subscribe to your feed. Does that count? 😉