Christmas House Tour | 2016

Welcome to one of my favorite blog traditions, our annual Christmas House Tour! This year, I kept it pretty simple --partially because my design business has been keeping me very busy and partially because I read that Japanese decluttering book this year so I'm on a big "less is more" kick. (The Life Changing Art of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, if you haven't heard of it!) Except for our tree, as it turns out, although that wasn't totally intentional. We ended up picking out our tree at 6pm on a Tuesday. It was pitch dark and freezing rain. But I told Anthony I didn't care, I wanted a tree and I couldn't wait any longer! We picked this one for the height, not realizing that once the branches settled down it would become a full 5 feet in diameter at the bottom! This tree is a monster, and it's definitely taking over the living room but I've grown to love it's absurdity. 

I only bought a few new things, but my absolute favorite addition to our holiday decor are the window wreaths you can see hanging outside in these pictures! You can see a picture of the outside of the house on my Instagram, here. I hung them with taupe and gold ribbon from Michaels. 

I picked up a pretty plaid wrapping paper from Target, surprising myself by going for traditional Christmas red and green. I used some boxwood branches from our yard and simple white twine to attach my handmade gift tags.

Here's a little detail I don't think I've shared before: I made this stocking by hand with help from my Gram as a gift for Anthony back in 2008. My Gram has a big tin full of buttons, and I got the idea to paint & sew them on in the shape of a Christmas tree. I still remember the afternoon we spent sitting at her kitchen table making this. It's hard to believe it was 8 years ago!

Since we aren't hosting a dinner, I decided not to set the table. In the dining room I reused the boxwood branches from Thanksgiving and replaced the pumpkins with our stockings. I love having the house decorated for the holidays. To me there's nothing better than lighting my holiday candles and cozying up on the couch to watch Christmas movies. We're actually hosting a Christmas Movie Marathon today, so I better go start cooking! 

Happy Holidays & thanks for stopping by!