Week 2: BlogMAS 2019 - “...but the prettiest site to see is the holly that will be on your own front door!”

Welcome back to Week 2 of BlogMAS! 

(Ya'll I apologize for the delay in posting...I've been trying to upload since Monday morning but have been having technical difficulties!)

This week, I wanted to share with you all my Christmas decor and the meaning behind it all.

As I may have mentioned already, Christmas is my favorite time of the year! Aside from the music, festivities, etc...decorating is my 2nd most favorite part of the Christmas Season. I wait until the night of Thanksgiving or the Friday after Thanksgiving to begin decorating and it usually takes me all weekend to get everything finished. Each year, I try to do something a little different than the year before or add something new. This year I did quite a few things differently than in years past and I am excited to share with you all. Enjoy!

Outside Decor:


Since I was a little girl, I have always loved Christmas lights. I remember my parents riding me and my sister around our small hometown every year just to admire the Christmas decor and lights on each home. 
Now with a home of my own, I love to decorate the outside of my house in hopes that others will ride by and enjoy the sight. Not to mention, now that I have a child of my own who this year has shown a love for Christmas, Christmas trees, and lights, I just had to light up our house more so than in years past. The inside of my house has a rustic, farmhouse theme. So I wanted to keep that in mind when decorating for Christmas. Here are my must-haves for the outside decor:
-DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional decorator nor am I professing to be! ☻-

⇩Links can be found at the bottom of this post for the items mentioned⇩
  • Each front window, along with the gate entrance at the end of our driveway is adorned with a wreath. I was lucky to have been able to buy my wreaths super cheap from a man who was moving out of his home. They are great quality and have held up now for several years. This year to add something new... a little 'razzle-dazzle' if you will...I purchased 2 sets of 4-pack 50count battery powered lights from Amazon (link at the bottom of this post). I added those to the wreath. The lights have different settings to choose from. The best part is that the lights run on a 6 hour on/18 hour off timer. The lights are indoor/outdoor and so far have held up well! I love the way they twinkle at night and my daughter just "oohs and aahs" over them. 

  • The front of our house has an adorable rocking chair front porch with iron railing, which I fell in love with the first time I saw it. My husband's grandmother passed down to us, two beautiful, oversized, wooden rocking chairs. They sit on the front porch all year long and a few years ago I painted them black which really made them stand out. From Amazon (do you see a pattern here?...) I purchased slipcovers for my rocking chair pillows rather than spending a fortune on more pillows. Most of the slipcovers come in 4 packs at a reasonable price and they offer numerous themes. I actually did the same thing for my fall decor. Along with the pillows I traded out the black and white buffalo plaid accents that I had for fall and replaced them with a red and white buffalo plaid layering rug, as well as an outdoor blanket which I draped over one of the rockers. I felt like the Christmas red in the buffalo plaid just added a pop of color. On the railing and the 4 posts that are on the front porch, I wrapped prelit garland and added a few bows for a little sparkle. In years past, I usually just line the railing with the garland but this year I decided the posts could use some lights as well. I wanted to make the porch feel welcoming and cozy. I am super happy with the outcome!



  • The front door received a new garland this year, purchased from...surprise!...Amazon. I also added two small prelit Christmas trees around the door and added another on the opposite end of the porch beside the rocking chairs. This year I decided to give the trees a frosted look by spraying fake snow on the trees. (I honestly did this for our Christmas pictures, but loved the look so much that I decided to keep it.) Finally, I completed the look by adding lanterns and a crate full of firewood to stick with the rustic, farmhouse theme. 







Christmas Trees:

All together I have 3 Christmas Trees that are decorated each year, not including the 3 small trees on the porch. Each tree is unique and special to me, as well as holds a special meaning and purpose. 

  • Tree #1: This is the very first tree that my husband and I had together when we first moved into our small apartment. At that time, I was obsessed with the colors blue and green due to blue being my husband's favorite color and green being mine. So I decided to use blue and green decorations to decorate our tree. I also added brown decorations just to add a more neutral color. Those colors ended up being the colors for our wedding and to this day, 10 years later, I still put up our tree. It stands 7.5 feet tall in our dining room and can be seen from the dining room window. This year I had the idea to flock the tree after falling in love with a tree I saw at Lowe's. However, I wasn't quite sold on the idea in the event that I didn't completely love it. So I decided to take a simpler, cheaper, and easier to clean up route. I used the can of fake snow that I used on the smaller trees on the porch and sprayed the big tree. I ended up falling in love with the way the tree looked when it was finished. It has just the perfect frosted look and makes the blue, green, and brown ornaments stand out even more. I dress my table up each year with fine china (that I only use at Christmas time). The china set was a wedding gift from my husband's grandmother (not the same grandmother who gave us the rockers). It fits perfectly with the Christmas decor because like the ornaments, it is accented with blue and green, with just a touch of silver (which is perfect to match the tin metal accents in this room). 





  • Tree #2: My husband purchased this tree for me after we moved into our new home in 2016. It was going to be our first Christmas in the new house and I knew that our original tree was not going to match the wall colors in our living room. Our living room has high, vaulted, cathedral ceilings with wooden beams. I knew that I wanted a taller tree and decor to match the living room. So off we went to the one, the only, Hobby Lobby! There, I saw it. Standing a full 12 feet tall...the most beautiful Christmas tree ever. I just knew that it would look perfect in our living room. After some pleading and a puppy-dog look, my husband caved and we picked out the ornaments for the tree. It was a few minutes before closing and we realized this tree was not going to fit in either of our vehicles. The tree came in 2 full-size Christmas tree boxes! Luckily, my parents were nearby at the gym and at that time, my dad owned a truck. The store manager of Hobby Lobby, who also just happens to be related to my husband...(#winning) said he would hold everything there for us and meet us at the door once we returned with the truck. Now 3 years later, despite the work it takes to put up and tear down my 12-foot tree, I adore it. If we ever move...our new house MUST fit my Christmas tree! The ornaments consist of gold, red, brown, and copper. Which matches perfectly with the copper accents in my kitchen and the wall color in the kitchen and living room.


  • Tree #3: This last tree is a newbie. It arrived last year in 2018 for my daughter's very first Christmas. I wanted to put a cute, little tree in her room that would match her nursery decor. Standing at just 4.5 feet tall this cute tree is perfect for my daughter. I added beautiful blush pink, pearl, and navy ornaments and just made this tree girly. The end result is stunning, in my opinion, and I absolutely love this little tree. This year, instead of putting the tree in my daughter's room, I placed it just outside her door, in the small hallway. She is 17 months old, walking, and into everything so I knew that putting it in her room this year was a disaster waiting to happen. I am proud to say she has done very well. She does touch the trees some but for the most part, just admires them and keeps to herself. 


Other Decor:

I purchased the same garland that I purchased for the front door for my mantle as well. I love that when fluffed the garlands appear thick without the big price tag. I also love that the lights are battery powered and on a timer just like my outdoor wreaths. I kept my fireplace simple with golden stockings, golden ball ornaments added to the garland, and golden trees placed on the hearth for some added sparkle. Beside the hearth is a sweet, twine-wrapped, rustic reindeer and on the other side lanterns. 




Around the house are pictures from Christmases passed. Most are from last year as we celebrated our first Christmas with our sweet baby girl. Others are of my husband and I before we were parents. In other parts of the house, I've added little knick-knacks passed down to me by my mom. These were things she would set out in our home when I was growing up. Putting them out now brings back so many sweet memories and adds an antique feel. There are also some other things gifted to us by friends and relatives. 





The last little touches are the "special" ornaments that I place on my main tree in the living room. Some are for my 3 little dogs and placed low so they can see them. Others are to signify our new home and other special milestones. Of course, most recently we've added special ornaments for our baby girl. A fellow teacher friend of mine gave me the sweetest idea last year for our baby's first Christmas. She told me that her mother had added a special ornament each year to signify either a milestone or something special her grandchildren had done that year. She did it every year until they were grown and once they had a place of their own, she gifted all the ornaments to them as a keepsake. Talk about bringing tears to my eyes!! I loved this idea and last year I started collecting little ornaments for my daughter. Last year was the "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament, along with a few others. This year her special ornament is an ornament we purchased while on vacation this past summer. It was our first vacation as a family of 3 and our daughter's first time at the beach. So we purchased a palm tree ornament with Santa hanging lights from it and engraved on it was Hilton Head, SC. I now look forward to keeping to this tradition and making sure to add at least one special ornament to the collection each year that signifies something special that took place that year. I don't want to rush time, but I hope one day my daughter will love receiving all of these ornaments to showcase on her own tree and to hold onto our sweet memories. 

Links to purchase items mentioned:

(If you purchase items using the links above, I will receive compensation through the Amazon Affiliate Program. Your support means a great deal to my family and I!)

I hope you enjoyed gaining an insight into my home and Christmas decor. I enjoyed sharing the little details that make my Christmas special, as well as the meaning behind it all. I hope that your Christmas is a special one for you and your family. Please feel free to comment and share how you make Christmas special for your family! 

Thanks for reading! 
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xoxo

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