This is our first Christmas in our new home. It is larger than our first house, so all of the decorations are spread out a little more. I started Thanksgiving week putting out the nativities and other tabletop decorations. After several years of leaving it in the boxes, I pulled out the Willow Tree nativity that Bradley’s grandparents gave us. I split it between the two bookcases flanking the fireplace. My other nativities also went on the shelves of the bookcases.
The bookcase also holds the brass deer I found at Goodwill one year and a gold mercury glass tree. The FaLaLa sign hangs from the back of the same shelf to help fill it out.
This is our nativity from South Africa given to us by Bradley’s dad.
My aunt gave me this nativity as part of our wedding gift.
My best friend gave me this miniature nativity from Peru.
On the mantle, I layered two faux evergreen garlands. I tucked pheasant feathers and magnolia leaves from the yard into the garland. I found the fabric-covered ‘Merry Christmas’ signs at Michaels. Not knowing what I was going to use them for, I thought the plaid pattern was cute, but in the garland it makes the sign hard to read, so in hindsight I wish I had bought both in solid red.
Below on the hearth, I added my collection of antique ornaments to the blue glass jars with a little faux snow in the bottom to cushion them.
On the breakfast table, I removed the bow from a red bead wreath and set it under the orchid bowl to add color. I also brought out the snowflake plates that came from Target several years ago.
In the dining room, we use our table as a buffet almost weekly for our small group, so I kept it simple with my porcelain one-piece nativity under a glass cloche nestled in the feather wreath I got from Tuesday Morning a couple of years ago.
In the living room, the decorations are sparse, including a couple of mirrored trees – one from Target and the other from Bealls, and the ornament I made years ago from large Christmas string light bulbs. I picked up two of the red and white knit decorative pillows from Target this year to go with my green houndstooth pillows – mine are handmade using Robert Allen fabric, but Target is carrying similar ones this year.
A few years ago, we made a system for displaying Christmas cards we receive using metal cords and loop from Home Depot and clips from Radio Shack. I hung them on a big empty wall in the dining room.
View part 1 of my Holiday House Tour HERE.