Welcome to my home! I’m so grateful to say I’ll be home for Christmas this year. After the challenges of the past couple of years, being able to spend the holidays here feels extra special.
If you’re new here, this is our new house. We went through a long stretch of my husband being unemployed, a move to a different state, and our previous house sitting on the market for a year. About eight weeks ago we finally closed on this place — and I’m still celebrating that happy moment.
There’s plenty left to do to make this house fully ours (painting, curtains and more), but it already feels wonderful to be settling in.
Even though I’m thrilled to be home, I kept holiday decorating simple this year. My focus was on calm and comfort instead of perfection. This house isn’t a magazine set, and I’m decorating for real life — for warmth and family, not for show.
I don’t expect everything to be perfect, and I hope you’ll embrace a bit of imperfection in your own holiday decorating. A relaxed, welcoming home is what matters most — not flawless corners or staged scenes. Those are not the priorities of Christmas for me; people and moments are.
On the porch you’ll find a little greenery and colored lights greeting visitors.
To the right of the front door I placed my epsom salt candles — a small detail I forgot to light this time. Oops!
Welcome! Come in and get out of the cold! Lately nights have dipped to around 4 degrees and days barely reach the low 20s. We live in Washington, and it’s been brisk!
Step inside and you’ll see my changing apothecary jar display on the familiar entry cabinet. If you follow my blog, you’ve likely seen this cabinet many times. Today it holds jars filled with Christmas balls.
I simplified the stair decorations this year, skipping the garland and adding a ball wreath to each newel post instead.
To the left of the entry is the living room. I picked up the mercury glass candlesticks at Costco — a little sparkle that I love. We’ll return to the living room at the end of the tour.
A small table in the entry holds a scene of the wise men offering gifts, a quiet little touch for the season.
Now let’s move to the family room, where we spend most of our time before heading into the dining area…
This is our family room fireplace, featuring refurbished cabinet doors turned into shutters on the mantel. It’s a cozy focal point.
Pulling back, this is the spot where we gather — all huddled up by the fire. It’s the heart of our home.
Truthfully, we don’t spend every moment reading holiday classics or listening to carols — real life shows up here, too. But the space still feels festive even with a big-screen cartoon occasionally stealing the scene.
In the kitchen, red candlesticks and a few candy canes add a hint of color to the green-painted hutch. I tucked small sprigs of leftover greenery here and there to make everyday items feel a little more seasonal.
From the kitchen and family room you can see our tree. We cut it down one cold night, so when we viewed it in daylight its charming imperfections became obvious. It’s a gorgeous blue-green and the scent fills the house, sap and all.
At our old house the tree sat far from the main living areas; I love that this smaller house lets us enjoy the tree from almost every room on the main floor.
We’re hosting a small get-together this week, so I set the table with chargers and serving plates instead of a tablecloth. A simple centerpiece of a small bird-and-moss arrangement was a late-night creative attempt using what I had on hand — fingers crossed no one tries to eat the moss.
The dining room buffet is usually an everyday display, and I added a snowflake garland and a jeweled glass ball on a candlestick for the season.
We placed the tree in the dining room so it can be seen from much of the main floor while staying out of the way for entertaining. The light strings are currently draped imperfectly — my husband usually handles lights and he was busy this year, so they’re casually strewn. We may straighten them, or we may leave them as-is. For now, I’m leaning toward leaving them.
I love my ornaments, but I didn’t pile everything on the tree this year. No extra ribbons or every single light — just a simpler look that still feels beautiful. Real trees have character even without all the extras.
I passed some of our sentimental ornaments to the kids and they’re now on their own small trees in their rooms, which makes me happy.
Lesson learned: this tree drops sap, so a tree skirt (or quilt) is a good idea. It helps protect the floor and keeps things tidy.
Here you can see the tree from the living room. The photos in this post capture different times of day, moving between daylight and evening — a real-life timeline of our home.
This year I made a simple felt garland — an easy, handmade touch inspired by a holiday craft idea. It added a homemade charm without much fuss.
The green glass jars always sit on the living room windowsill; for the holidays I added a glass ball wreath to one jar to make the display feel more festive.
This is our little bedroom tree. I’ve wanted a small bedroom tree for years, and this felt like the year. I kept it simple and added a sparkly monogram ornament for each family member — Winston included.
Thanks for stopping by!