CHRISTMAS IN THE KITCHEN

Our family spends a lot of time in the kitchen. For one reason or another is where we always gather, even if it is just for a cup of coffee, so, every year, I try to add a little Christmas decor to make our gathering space a little more festive.
I don't do much, mostly little touches here and there and we decorate the island.
Here is how it looks like this year.


Since we use our kitchen table so much, I just put some red pads on the chairs, added a center piece and my Lenox Christmas placemats that I purchased last year.

We decorated the island with Christmas decorated place settings

And, at the last minute, added a glass bowl with some sweets.
Got to have sweets!

I keep my Fleur de Lis candlesticks on the island all year and I just change the candles with the seasons.

This year I also added a little holiday decor to the lamp over the table, just some garland, ribbon and a few ornaments.

I normally use white candles for the table centerpiece, but, this year, I went with red for a little more color
and added to it two small Christmas trees.

On my other side of the kitchen, I decorated my metal chest with poinsettias and Christmas picks and added a Christmas mat underneath.

And, when all was done, my daughter and I did a small Christmas table scape.
Ok, we were bored! LOL
The weather has been terrible and we have not left the house in days now.
Here is what we came up with.

Sorry, ladies, I didn't mean for this post to be so long. The sun better come out soon or our home is going to look like a Christmas explosion! LOL
I hope you are all enjoying your Holiday decorating. Have fun!

FRONT DOOR CHRISTMAS DECOR

The moment I saw this picture in the Lowe's Creative Ideas magazine, I knew it was going to be my holiday copycat. I just loved everything about it and the best part was that I already had everything I needed to create that same look.
The garland is the same one I have been making for weeks for our stairwell, so when you open the front door, you also see it inside.
I am just glad I took these pictures last week before we got this bad weather. Nothing like a little sunshine to make everything glitter!
Here is my Holiday copycat!

This was my inspiration picture

And this is what my front entrance looks like

I already had the tree from last year, so I just added a little bead garland, mesh ribbon and some poinsettias to make it look more festive.

 And I added a little ribbon and ornaments to the pot for more color

 

I wrapped three boxes in pretty Christmas paper and tied them together with some red wired ribbon

And added a pretty poinsettia battery operated candle to my lantern.

I bought this wreath new last year, so I am using it again this Christmas. I think it goes well with all the colors on the garland.

I also made some new pillows for the bench and bought this cute snowman. 

Isn't he adorable!!!

Here is the whole finished copycat!

Side by side

I hope you guys enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed getting ready for the block party.

Debbie, thank you for this Holiday Copycat Challenge!

Merry Christmas!

OUR HOLIDAY MANTLE

I think, decorating the mantle for Christmas, is one of my favorite things to do.
I really, really enjoy it.
This year, I spent so much time making the new garland for outside and the stairwell, pillows and other Christmas projects, that I did not have much time left to change anything on our mantle, so it is pretty much decorated it like it was last year.
This is what it looks like

We found the gold trees, red glass candle holders, flowers and reindeer at Kirklands last year.
The garland we bought at Lowe's.

I love the way the reds and gold colors look against the light rock on the fireplace.

I put little bells and ribbon around the reindeer's to dress them up for Christmas and give them a little more color.

I made some extra pillows for the hearth to match the ones I made for the bench on our front porch

And I added a small flower arrangement to the other side.

This is what it looks like together

Another view of the mantle. I always try to decorate around the clock. I just love the way it looks up there and I hate to take it down.

I hope you guys are having as much fun as I am getting your homes ready for the holidays.
Big hug
Maria

Christmas tree is up!

Slowly, but surely, I am getting all my Christmas decor up.
Today, I want to share with you guys our tree. The weather has been pretty miserable in Texas in the last few days and we have not see the sun in about a week now, so please, excuse the quality of the pictures. It has been so gloomy, getting a good picture inside the house has been very hard.

Our tree is very traditional and it has been about the same for many years now. Our ornaments are all reminders of past Christmas and things that really mean a lot to us. Ornaments that our children made when they were little and the ones we bought in different places around the world during our military travels.
Every year, when we put this tree up, we take a little trip down memory lane.

Our ornaments are very old. My friend Mary made this one for me many years ago.
We lost her to cancer in 2004.

These are ornaments our children made in school when they were little

My oldest son made this cute one in the first grade. He is 26 years old now, so that tells you how old this ornament is.

Our friends bought us this ornament the first Christmas we spent in our new home

We had these little wooden ornaments for many years.
We bought these when we lived in Germany.

Again, I apologize for the dark pictures. I hope you guys enjoy this post anyway.
Moving on to decorating the mantle!
Thanks for visiting!