Skip to main content

A Christmas Open House

BooMamaChristmasTour


Welcome! It's an open house! BooMama is hosting a lovely Christmas Tour of Homes today, so please join me in the festivities. Come right on in, won't you?

Let's start at the front door... Here's the entryway hall tree~I love how the Christmas tree is reflecting in the mirror.
And here is the tree.

My vintage Santa keeping watch by the tree~he's looking good for being around 40+ years old!

A little tray table in the living room~I love this little carolers music box.




Here's a detail shot of the garland over the windows.

My large nativity set is here.

The dining table is also in this room.

I love the way the chandelier turned out.

This is a close up of the centerpiece wreath and runner.

My sister made this runner for me last Christmas~I love the toile!!

Here is a little *MERRY CHRISTMAS* banner that The Princess helped me make.

Now let's move into the family room. My little elf (a gift when I was 3 years old) is keeping watch.

The stockings are hung by the chimney and all of the kiddos Christmas toys and books are gathered here. Some of those toys are from when I was a kid. They love them!

We love our collection of Christmas books.

Here is our advent calendar~also from my childhood.

Last year I found this great Christmas card *wreath*. It holds a ton of cards and it's fun to be able to see them.

I love this grouping on the side table here.

These are my vintage Christmas postcards.

Here's a detail shot of my mini tree. This one has all of my mini ornaments and the vintage foil garland that my grandparents used to put on their tree. I remember it well! I've never seen any more, but I'd love to know more about it~if you can tell me anything about this type of vintage garland, leave me a comment!

The coffee table has a grouping of nutcrackers and a little music box with characters from The Nutcracker ballet (I picked up the music box for .50 at a yard sale!).

Our family room bookcases and entertainment cabinet has my Dicken's Village across the tops.

A wall candle holder all decked out for the holidays.

My new (and only) pair of Byers' Choice carolers~thanks, Mom!

Now on to the kitchen! Here is my kitchen sink window. I made these JOY letters last year.

This mini tree has all vegetable and fruit ornaments on it. I was so sad~this year I broke the asparagus. This picture also shows the Susan Branch Christmas cookbook, it is so wonderful!

And here is my snowman cookie jar~isn't he handsome?!

Now for a quick peek down the hall into the bedrooms....

First, Mr. B's Christmas tree and little village.

And next is The Princess' room.

On to the hall bath...I love this little framed print hanging the bathroom wall.

Here's the master bedroom. This *peace* garland is one of my favorite decorations.

This is what I call my *vintage village*. I love it!! The snowmen are just random ones I've picked up here and there.

The vintage-style feather tree has all antique mini ornaments on it~just little finds while "junking".

Well, there you have the tour! Now let's swing back into the kitchen for a little snack before you go.

Amish Sugar Cookies
(from my friend Sandy)

2 cups sugar
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups margarine, softened
2 cups cooking oil
4 eggs
9 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cream of tartar
2 tsp. vanilla
~~~~~
Combine sugars, margarine and oil in a mixing bowl. Mix well; add eggs. Mix again. Combine flour, soda, cream of tartar; blend into the sugar mixture. Add vanilla and mix well. Roll dough into small balls and place on cookie sheets. Flatten balls with a cookie stamp or a glass bottom that has been dipped in sugar. Bake at 375F for 10-12 minutes. Makes approximately 10 dozen cookies. I always make these to give away at Christmas because it make such a huge batch and they are absolutely delicious!! Enjoy!

Thanks for dropping by for a visit~don't forget to head over to BooMama's to see more lovely homes decorated for the holidays.

Labels

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...
Read more

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while.  It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it.  However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it.  Plus it's a little bulky.   When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it!  It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make.   I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course.  They  have these little wooden door hangers for .79.  I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each.  I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing.   I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had).  Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...
Read more

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...
Read more