Monday, December 17, 2012

Holiday Home Tour

I DON'T live here!
'Tis the season for touring homes to view the elaborate Christmas decorations and "ooooh" and "aaaah" over the homes we wish we had.  The first tour I ever took was of historic homes in Ft. Scott, Kansas, with my mother-in-law.  The 100+-year-old homes were gorgeous and, of course, elaborately decorated.  

When I moved west, stately Victorians were tough to find.  The west end of Kansas lacked trees for lumber, and the wealthy businessmen who could afford to ship it in.  Home tours in our area tended to be less about the history of the homes and more about bragging on who could afford the newest home or elaborate remodel - or just plain nosiness.  I skipped them.  

A couple days ago, I was visiting with a fellow blogger and Twitter pal about the craft/decorating projects we found on Pinterest and tried in our own homes. She didn't want to post pictures of her creations because people would see her home and it didn't look like the pictures on Pinterest.  That struck me as kind of sad.  No one should be embarrassed by their home - few of us actually live in the grand houses we see online.  So, I decided to start my own Holiday Home Blog Tour.  It's fun to get to know the people behind the blog, so I'm hoping some of you will join me in posting pictures of your home decked for Christmas - regardless of size, age or legos in the carpet.

Our house is a 1950's ranch-style - living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, one bath, unfinished basement, and an enclosed breezeway between house and garage.  Plenty of space for the two of us.  We gladly sacrifice space indoors for the space outdoors.  Being a rental home, we don't put money into updating (and neither does the landlord, obviously) so we have outdated carpet, wood paneling in the breakfast nook, and ancient linoleum in the kitchen and bath.  But did I mention that OUTDOORS we have 2 acres, a huge garden plot and cattle for neighbors?  Welcome to Green Acres!
Come on in.  We have 3 trees this year . . .
The traditional...
the miniature . . .
and the retro aluminum.
The stocking are hung . . .
 by the coat closet with care?
My Santa collection mixed with my favorite Christmas books.


My newest addition: The Polar Express.
Still searching for house and figurines in proper proportion, but it's a start.
In the kitchen, there are some pretty dishes, knick-knacks, an Amaryllis . . .

. . . and some ornaments and book page trees in the window.
That concludes our home tour.  Thank you for visiting.  If you want to add your lovely home to the tour, just post a few pictures and leave a link in the comments.  I hope that more bloggers will give us a peek into their holiday decorated homes.  It's not about the cost of the decorations or the size of the house - it's about home, family and Christmas traditions.

12 comments:

  1. OH, I just love your tour!! I may have to take pics of mine, too. Although, I don't have near as much as you. Once our kids became die-hard teens, they lost their Christmas spirit, but this year, it seems to have come back with making gingerbread houses, seeing Christmas lights on weekends, and doing Advent once a week. I love your decorations! I think too, my spirit was never really high. I just never knew where to store everything each year, so I've been buying this year ;) But, my kids are loving it and my 3 year old little girl seems to be the red ribbon that tied us all together more tightly and made us stop to enjoy the season :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great decorations, Tami! I especially love your Santa and book arrangement. Great idea to use the books to make different levels. If I have some time tomorrow, I'll try to post a few pictures of our decorations. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love peeking into people's homes so I guess I should join in! I'll try and do my photographs some time this week and get them up within the next few days. It was fun seeing your home and your three trees!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for inviting us into your lovely home. I really liked the last photo of the paper trees hanging in the windows. :)
    Rosemary

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh wow I will try to do the home tour when I have things put together before the family arrives. Right now I am sweaty from the treadmill, crap all over kitchen, bed is unmade, yikes, how many days til Christmas?? P.S. You always manage to make whatever home you are in a beautiful, comfortable, inviting place to be! One of my favorite places in the world - your house.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Everything is so lovely Tami! A holiday home tour is such a neat idea, we all have a little voyeurism in us:) I don't really do any decorating so I won't join in this year but maybe next year I will!

    ReplyDelete
  7. We had that retro aluminum tree when I was a kid with the rotating multi-colored wheel light. I hated that tree, but now it is vintage cool. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  8. That home is amazing! I love your decorations, your home looks lovely inside. Merry Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My sister left a link to her Holiday Home Tour, and in an attempt to correct a broken link for her, I somehow deleted the entire comment. My apologies, Teri!

    Here's the link to her blog so you can see her lovely home and Christmas decorations. http://www.henningsenhappenings.blogspot.com/2012/12/holiday-home-tour.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I want to tour your home every year! My new Christmas tradition!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love the decoration and that white small santa love it. Great holidays tour.

    ReplyDelete