Christmas House Tour 2012

I know I'm late inviting you in for a house tour this year.  I don't know where the time went, but I figure better late than never.  
Our front porch is decorated with extra branches that we cut from the bottom of the Christmas tree. I put them in pots on the front porch and tied them with some leftover ribbon that a friend at work gave to me. 

The only other new thing I have on the front porch is the Christmas tree tin I bought at the thrift store and filled with reindeer moss and little berries.  

Come on in and have a visit.  Let me show you around the living room.  There are lots of little vignettes including the miniature village on the cabinet.  I added the vintage toy car with the tree on top ... along with the extra dollar store tree ... and the extra dollar store presents ... and an inexpensive snowman.  You might say this is the cheap end of town.

I try and use mostly copper and golds and aquas in the living room as those are the colours in the carpet (although as you can see I am not rigid about it).  Our coffee table is decorated with a collection of favourites, including the books we read from on Christmas Eve.

The kitchen has a few decorations on the open shelves.  The wooden Christmas trees on the middle shelf are a family craft project I enlisted everyone to do this year.  I had everyone decorate a piece of wood that was cut from a window frame from my grandmother's house in Toronto.  I painted them all white and then provided red and silver paint markers.  There was a lot of protesting over the fact that I hadn't bought green, but I wanted a red and silver palette so I ignored their moaning.  They were actually good sports about it and chocolate rewards were given out afterward for their effort.

The dining room's sideboard was decorated with the spindle Santa's that were on the mantel last year (you can read about their story here) along with the plates I decorated last year with a red Sharpie (you can read about them here).

I also put a favourite little German wooden scene that my friend gave me centred on the sideboard (you can see the tree scherenshnitte I made at art class in the background of the photo below).

In the middle of the dining room table I have a few votive candles in ruby red dishes I found at the thrift store surrounded by fake snow and a few shiny baubles.

The Christmas tree is really a memory tree as every ornament has a story from our travels or interests.  I added some ribbon this year, but I'm not sure I love the effect - maybe it needed more than I bought.

The mantel you have already seen (here), but just so our tour is complete - here it is again.

Before you go I want to offer you the most requested drink at the craft party I had last week - a decaf latte with a french vanilla candy cane to stir it.  YUM!

I also made you a little beaded snowflakes and have it all ready to wrap up in the adorable paper bags that I won from a giveaway on Echoes of Laughter - thanks Angie!  I gave the same thing to some of the teachers I work with and taped the bag closed with red tape from IKEA.  I love the look.

I still have grocery shopping to do, tourtière to make, and a few presents to wrap which I will do tomorrow.  Our eldest son and his wife are coming over tomorrow evening and then the fun begins. I want to thank all of you that took the time to read my blog all through the year.  May you have a wonderful Christmas with lots of rest, lots of good food, and time with your family.