Stroll through a Christmas Past

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If you are new to my blog I should fill you in, we live on five acres overlooking Okanagan Lake. Typically, we have snow as our home is located just above the freezing line so it can be raining on the street below but it will be snowing at our home. Snow always sets the stage for Christmas festivities and it always gets us in the spirit!

The first thing you will notice is the vintage iron gates, that capture the snow so well and make for the most lovely setting.

Next, you will find our somewhat hidden entrance, but once you find it, I bet you will start to feel the love I have for decorating for the season! Evergreen bows, twinkle lights, candles and more candles.

Once inside you will enter into our great room – two story ceilings and a catwalk above that joins the upstairs bedrooms. I love wreaths so they are on the outside and inside of doors. This is especially effective on glass doors so you aren’t just seeing the back of the wreath. Silver, black and green was my color scheme for this area last year…I wonder what it will be this year? Guess you will have to wait and see.

Interested in any of the decor in the above photo? Just click on the items below and it will direct you to a link where you can view and purchase if you like:

• Grey rug with white fringe
• Black metal star
• White metal star (similar to)
• Small Christmas trees in tin pots (flocked version)
• Mirrors hanging on rope (similar to)
• Snowball garland

Our fireplace was a real work of love. It is made of real stone and Bentley placed every piece. Jenna, our daughter, helped as well. I tried but we soon found out that Bentley and I do not work well in that type of setting haha!!! Exit Crystal!

Above is the opposite side to fire place where I have this rolling cart that holds a lot of my favorite Christmas decor like my old wooden Joy sign, the star birdhouse and my very old iron mirror. In the reflection you can see a deer painting – that was done by good old me! This was my first attempt at painting a deer and I am pleased with how it turned out.

Links to decor items from above photos are found below:

• Pine cone garland
• Snow balls
• Black candle sticks

Below are my mom’s ornaments and there is a special story surrounding them. One day, I was at her home and I came upon a mandarin orange box that had a note on it saying “Special! Special! Special! – for Crystal” I took it to her and asked what it was. She said I wasn’t supposed to find it until she had passed away but she wanted me to have her most special Christmas ornaments because she knew I would treasure them. Quick pass a tissue, I always tear up thinking of that moment. Below are a couple photos of these special ornaments.

Well let’s head off to the kitchen and see what I have got going on in there. I try to keep our kitchen uncluttered because usually there is a lot of food being made, people milling about and well, you know, it gets messy. I typically opt for a neutral theme but sometimes I add in a little red as you will see when you scroll through the photos.

I love tiered trays for entertaining and decorating! Changing them up is also fun. Here are two examples of a hot cocoa bar I made with different tiered trays. Which one do you prefer – the wooden tiered tray or the metal one?

Interested in any of the tiered tray decor items – click the descriptions below for a link to item:

• Metal tiered tray (similar but actually nicer)
• Wood tiered tray
• Silver bottlebrush trees
• Snowflake cookie cutters
• Grey napkins with fringe
• Reindeer napkin rings (similar to)

Now let’s come on over to the dining room. Believe me there has been a lot of laughing done here as well as those very, very important family “discussions”. We eat every meal at this table, have done crafts and school projects on it too. So many memories.

Last year I went for a black and white theme in the dining room and then added a pop of red for Christmas day.

I hope you have some time as I would love to show you how I decorate my green house for Christmas. From a romantic dinner for two to sipping cocoa and eating sugar cookies waiting for the first snow to fall. It is such a lovely spot to sit and enjoy fresh fallen snow.

Well that wraps up my little tour of our home and garden at Christmas! I hope you enjoyed it. While you are in the festive mood, why not hop on over to my friend Marieza’s “Christmas in July” blog? She is such a wonderful decorator and diy’er – you will not be disappointed. Click here and you will be taken directly to her blog “Home with Marieza“.

Till next time, I hope you are soaking up the rays of sunshine and creating beautiful summer memories all the while secretly planning your Christmas decor! I hope you found some new ideas here!