It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I though you might like to take a little tour of my home and see how I've decked the halls!

I totally missed the date for linking up at the Nesting Place 2009 Christmas Tour of Homes, but if you'd liked to check out the tour, there are over 1000 sites linked up, with lots of fabulous ideas for holiday crafts, celebrations and decorating ideas. I am determined to visit them all! I'm pretty new to theses Linky Parties, but they are so awesome - I found a ton of great blogs to add to my reader!

Here's the link:

The Nesting Place ~ 2009 Holiday Tour of Homes

And if that's not enough, there's another blog party all about frugal decorating. The clock is certainly winding down for this year's projects, but I have a whole stash of new ideas ready for next Christmas!

Frugal Friday Holiday Linky Party

Anyway, on with my little tour! Here's our front deck. I have a watering can that I simply filled with greens cut from the yard and added a red and white candy striped ribbon.



This old sled came from a yard sale a few years back and I just love to have it out on the deck all winter. I added a small fake wreath and some mistleoe with bells from the Dollar Tree.


Here's the wreath on my front door - come on in!

Here are few items in the living room - a simple (large pickle) jar filled with lights and cinnamon scented pinecones...MMmmmm!

This is on the top of the TV hutch. Every year, Brian changes the letters to read "LEON" probably just to drive his Mom crazy, LOL!



And here's our tree - just ignore the kitty's bed underneath, and the fact that my tree skirt has slid down to expose the wood blocks!

I already have a few gifts wrapped and ready for Christmas...lots more to go!

This rack usually holds fruit on our kitchen island - I added some holiday bulbs for a bit of sparkle! The primitive jar lamp with rusty stars was a gift from my friend Darcy - and I love it! This stays out all year!

Here's a big mirror made of old windows in the living room - you can see the tree and some snow falling outside.

Bells and mistletoe - this hangs in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen.


Welcome to the kitchen!

Vintage old Santa and his sleigh is joined with a basket of greens and a couple Dollar Tree sparkly reindeer.

This old box is another yard sale find - the side reads "Miller's Falls" I filled it with greens, berries, pinecones and added a couple candles and some sparkling holiday ornaments. I had this filled with real greens from the yard, but within a few days, they dried out and a huge mess when all the needles fell off!

So I took it all apart and used the fake greens. There!



Ready to do some baking and have a tea party?




See - I have this tray all set up. Ready and waiting for my friend Sue to visit. We always have a Christmas Tea together and open our gifts. Sometimes it's not 'til after Christmas, either way, it's something I look forward to all year!


This is the window over the sink. I kept it simple so I can look out and watch the birds! The candles light up automatically once it gets dark.


This is the other side of the kitchen. I bought this hutch many years ago for $20. at a yard sale. I love to dress it up for Christmas with my collection of vintage cookware.



This is in the opposite corner. The green glass tree is from the thrift shop, and it really shines! I added a couple brass deer, a bottle of potpourri and some beaded fruit under the glass dome. The dome is a cheese holder from the thrift shop, I placed it on top of a pewter candle holder to make a little cake stand!


Here's the kitchen table - simple but festive! The glass candle holders are made with items from the Dollar Tree - a glass top glued onto a glass candlestick, (I used E6000 - best glue ever!) with some cranberry scented candles inside. The tablecloth and runner are from Walmart.


This is back to the front door again. This is a bookcase full of paperbacks - I covered it with this gold crushed velvet-like fabric (yard sale) and gathered up everything silver I could find. Both mirrors are from the thrift shop, along with the silver urn and bowl, and well...almost everything!
The whole thing cost maybe $25 for everything. The tree and white tray I already had.



















Well that's it for the tour. I hope you enjoyed it, and maybe see some ideas to use for your own! Of course I'll be adding things and tweaking right up until Christmas.

Today, I'll be making meatballs to freeze for the holiday, and getting the rest of the presents wrapped.

Oh and I almost forgot - here's a picture of this year's Christmas card. I had these printed at Walmart and sent them out with our cards.

You can click on it to see it in a larger size. From left to right is Brian with Henry's new puppy, Booker, then Henry, then me, and Hank on the right.



Have a warm and wonderful Christmas!