Welcome to my home for the holidays!

I love having friends over and I love visiting friends' homes. It just makes me feel closer to them. BooMama hosted a "Christmas Home" blog tour this week. I thought it would be fun to participate since so many of my friends live out of town. But, I was not ready, so I'm hosting mine today.

Not ready seems to be a theme for me this year. But I am getting close to ready...most of my Christmas shopping is done, my Christmas photos are printed and surely I will get my letter/cards out before New Year's. And now I'm ready to share my home and a few of my favorite things with you. I am so glad you stopped by for a visit!

Come on in. As you look up, you'll see a Christmas quilt hanging over the banister above the foyer. My mom made it, and loaned it to me to display.

To your right is my dining room. Kind of rustic and cozy. This is where we'll have Christmas breakfast and dinner. That corner cubbard to your left is where I display my long-awaited Christmas dishes. I bought them at Target one year during the after-Christmas-sale. My mom gave me the corner cubbard when she down-sized, and her Hoosier cubbard on the right, too. Also, see the quilt on the wall? My mom made it for me. It has old fashioned Santas and she chose colors to match my home. (Yes, I am one very blessed daughter and the only girl, so that helps!)

Let's go back to the left through our foyer. Here's our study. We hardly use this room but Chelsea (our precious pooch) sleeps here in the corner of the couch. Usually there's another absolutely gorgeous Christmas quilt my mom made for me, but this year she confiscated it to hang it in her living room. It looks so beautiful on my red walls but I am happy to share with the one who shares so generously with me!

Here is JJ's grandfather's roll top desk. This is where we put our nativity. If you look closely, you'll see that Jesus isn't there yet. We place Him in the manger Christmas morning.

Let's go in the family room and sit down for a few minutes. I'll light a fire and tell you about some of special things in this room.

The stockings hanging on the mantle were made by, guess who? Yes, mom. She started making them when the boys were babies. She also works full-time and loves to quilt, crochet, and be a good grandma so it took a few years. She gave them to us last Christmas. I love them!

The drummer boy is Andrew's, Lion and Lamb
is JJ's, Angel is mine (ha ha!), and the Nativity is Joshua's. Every single dot of color you see is needle point. Aren't they beautiful?

Now let me show you something I made. Not as impressive as mom's artwork, but it was easy to make and it made me feel so "home-maker-ish! It's my Advent wreath.

I bought a plain garland wreath, added a few candle holders, candle holder wreaths from Garden Ridge and some candles from the dollar store. I also wrapped a strand of white lights around it to make it sparkle even when the candles aren't burning.

We haven't started Advent... not ready until now. Guess we'll do the four days before Christmas instead of four weeks. If we don't start tomorrow, we'll do the four hours before Christmas if we have to.

Our living room leads into our breakfast area, where we actually eat breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. This is where you'll find me most of my days feeding children, helping with homework, writing radio shows, devotions, emailing, blogging, preparing retreat messages, drinking my coffee and meeting with my Jesus.

I holidazed it up a little with a tablecloth from HomeGoods, some whimsical candlesticks a friend gave me from her leftover Christmas goodies, garland on the chandelier (that used to be brass but I painted it black, can you tell I like to do that?) and a mistletoe ball from Target.

Now we're in my kitchen and if we keep walking we'll circle back around to the dining room and foyer. But let's stay here, pour a cup of cinnamon vanilla coffee and sit at my kitchen bar. I'd love to hear about your favorite Christmas decorations and traditions.

And if you you leave a comment (please include your email address and a link to your blog), you'll be part of a Christmas give-away I am doing tomorrow. Click here to read more about it. Remember, we'd love to hear about your favorite Christmas decorations and traditions.