Christmas Tour of Homes

So today I'm linking up with The Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes, Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas Tree Party , Hooked on House's Holiday Tours, Southern Hospitality's Christmas Tour of Homes, The Inspired Room's Holiday Linky, and Funky Junk Interiors Christmas Trees Unite. Unfortunately I had such a hard time getting decent pictures...it always looks so much prettier in person! Anyway, here we go...and just to warn you, there are like a bajillion pictures. And I actually deleted several I originally thought I'd include. Hope you enjoy. :)

Our Christmas tree this year was quite the experience. I bought it in a heat-of-the-moment bidding war (I'll post that story later this week) and had some serious buyer's remorse. Think Griswold Family Christmas Tree, but artificial...so no trimming is possible. But with a no return policy, what's a girl to do? Make her husband haul it in and try to make room for it, of course. Needless to say, it is 10 feet tall (and perhaps wide, too?) and the FULLEST tree I've ever seen. I kid you not. So here it is, minus the topper. We need to borrow a ladder from somebody to make that happen...we don't have one that will reach without me thinking Patrick is about to go crashing to the ground.

This was my first year working with the mesh, and I struggled with it. I'd have it twisted just how I wanted, and suddenly it'd pop back out again. And after the 6th time of climbing the ladder to fix the same spot, I decided maybe I just needed to let it go. So it's not exactly what I envisioned, but I do like it.

Patrick's Aunt bought us a dozen beautiful gold ornaments the year we got married, and has given us one each year since. They are really nice...here are a few of them, as well as a few other close-ups of the tree.

Some boxes under the tree (from Hobby Lobby).

Here is the staircase railing during the day.

And a few pictures at night...

I put a few decorations in the powder room, which is really a big deal for me. I want to get better about decorating more rooms rather than just the main living areas.

Here is the butler's pantry. I made some ornaments to hang in the wine racks. I love the way they turned out!

The mantle was really hard to photograph...but here are my best attempts.

I love these hurricanes I made (the ones with the ornaments in them) only $2 each! I'll give details in a separate post.

A lighted glass block to the right of the mantle.

This is to the left of the tree, over towards the breakfast nook.

And the table in the breakfast nook, with more hurricanes I made (these were $3 each with the candles). Love them. :)

And the dining room. Here a few shots of the hutch...the ones with the candles lit really didn't turn out that great. And I didn't even use the flash...ugh!

This is a small tree that is to the right of the hutch. We hang ornaments on it that students gave to me when I taught and Patrick's patients give to him.

Dining room table centerpiece

Here is the chandelier in the dining room. Again, hard to photograph, but you get the idea, right?

This piece of furniture is normally in the living room but due to the overtaking of the living room by our ginormous perfectly sized Christmas tree, we moved it to the dining room for now. This little tree (I forgot to turn the lights on!) was our first as a couple...it has little ornaments with our names on them, too. And a card holder for all of our lovely Christmas cards...I LOVE getting them every year! :)

An advent calendar...this is actually in the butler's pantry.

And that is ALL my friends! WHEW...thanks for looking. :) Most of my decorations I bought at after Christmas sales, and pretty much everything is from Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, Target, Michael's, Dollar Tree, and Dollar General. I'll post later this week with info on the ornaments and the hurricanes. Please let me know if you have specific questions about where I got anything - I love pretty decorations AND finding a great deal, so I'm glad to share! Can't wait to see everyone else's decorations - Merry Christmas!!! And remember, Jesus is the reason for the season. :)