Christmas Home Tour - Part 1

I cannot believe the holiday season is already here again.  To be completely honest, life has been so busy lately, it has been hard for it to all settle in for me.  But whether or not I comprehend the season, it is still going to come and go pretty quickly.  For this very reason, I started my Christmas decorations earlier than usual, in hopes to get ahead of the game, and find some room to breathe in the midst of a busy season.

I am splitting up the home tour into two parts - mainly because I forgot to photograph all of the house!  Scattered brained and running from one thing to another!  Anyone relate?!

This year's decor is pretty simple.  I used all my greens - green wreaths, trees, and garland - as the main decor.  To change things up just a little bit, I used red stripped ribbon to accessorize it all (last year I used black and white). 

Since moving our TV above the fireplace I am losing out on decorating the mantel but I am okay with that.  A few little decorations seem to be suiting the simplified space well.

On the silver garden stool, I have a small kid friendly nativity scene that my nephews play with.  After a day of watching them I like finding where they landed at the end of day when I am tidying up.  It is so sweet to see that they like them so much.

While it has been established over time, I am still surprised to see myself leaning towards more traditional Christmas decorations.  Gone are the days of drastically changing things every year or filling the house to the brim with Christmasy stuff.  But it is so much easier to embrace the simple.  I can't go back.

But I realize that it all comes in seasons.  There was a time where I loved decking the halls for days.  Now I like to get it out of the way so I can just enjoy myself.  The more I type, the more I am beginning to think that maybe I am just starting to get old!!!

These little wreaths are one of my favorites and are relatively newer to my decor (only have had them for a few years).  They are too cute and look all dressed up with a simple bow.  I would take ten more if I could find them again.

When I decorate our home for Christmas I don't just think of myself and our family.  I like to think about our guests and where they might wander when in our home.  Having a welcoming tree in the bathroom is always a little detail I try to remember.

I usually have two trees up in our home.  One in our upper living area where we spend the majority of our time, and one downstairs that you can see outside from the window.  It allows me to use one tree for our personal ornaments and another for a more decorative one.  This way I am never in conflict over feeling nostalgic or wanting a simple tree.  I can have both!

I used to be obsessed with nutcrackers but have since grown out of that phase.  I have just the one now that we bought at the San Francisco Nutcracker one year when Brent and I were dating.  This little guy offers a sweet memory from those fun dating days!

Our nativity is one that I hunted down for years.  I finally found one that I liked while visiting Brent's out of town grandparents and his sweet grandmother bought it for me!  Not only is it beautiful but I love that it has a family story.

I am happy to have the home decorated (and blogged about now!).  I am going to go put my feet up now with some hot cocoa and enjoy this lovely season (Oh yeah, and blog part 2 of the home tour!  Can someone remind me!!!!?).  Happy Christmas season friends!