My Christmas Home

It's the most wonderful time of the year again!
The lights twinkle on the trees while the aroma of freshly-baked cookies fills the kitchen.
Excited children count down the days until Christmas,
and carols play on Pandora.

I broke my tradition this year, and began decorating for Christmas before we even celebrated Thanksgiving, thanks to some pleading from my children!
But I'm not even mad about it.
A few extra weeks of enjoying the coziness of evergreen and twinkly lights is just fine by me!

I hung my hand-crocheted snowflakes (gifted from a friend) on a branch,

and then added some mini trees and a cloche to the arrangement, along with some candles.

This is probably one of my favorite spaces in the house!

I love the mini white church and house that I found at the Embellish Christmas sale!

Aren't they the cutest?!

I hadn't found any Advent calendars that I liked, but wanted something visual for the children to count down the days until Christmas, so I was happy to find these printable tags online! 

Just don't ask me how many times they have fallen down! 😏

I may need to come up with a more stable solution for next year. (See what I did there? Stable?! haha.)

This is Mom's corner: aka my personal hot chocolate bar.

And yes, salted caramel can take that drink to a whole new level!

You're welcome.

Who doesn't love a crackling fire?

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

but there's only room for two of them there!

Okay, I'll stop with the cheesy rhymes!

The wall seemed bare so I used some embroidery hoops to create a few simple wreaths.

Maybe they still need some ribbon, but I like the simplicity of the evergreen.

Target has some of the cutest ornaments!

I found this one on clearance after Christmas last year.

Rather than use just one style of ornaments, I like to collect a variety over time from different places.

After last year's tree issues (in which the tree shed half its needles before we even made it to Christmas 😞), I'm happy to report that this tree has been good to us!

Is there anything better than the glow of twinkly lights at night?

I wish I could invite you all over for a pot of hot tea (or coffee!), 

but I sure am glad you joined me on our Christmas home tour!

May your Christmas season be a time of rest

and your heart full of joy in the Gift of our Saviour.

The Rug Dilemna (and how we resolved it)

Since moving to the farmhouse, we've been on the hunt for a rug.

It didn't take us long to discover how loud a living room with hardwood floors can be!

We cringed at the echo of noise and the lack of warmth

in this space.

But the process of actually purchasing a rug felt daunting!

For starters, we needed a big rug because we had a big space.

It wouldn't be easy to return if we didn't like it.

And there are so. many. options.

How in the world would I ever decide?!

And secondly, rugs aren't cheap. 

It didn't take me long to discover that I probably wouldn't find the size/style I needed

on Craigslist. (or I might be waiting for a long time)

So I decided that the next best option would be to snag a rug during the Black Friday sale.

I had heard great things about Rugs USA, so that's where I looked and was happy to find some of the best prices anywhere there!

After much deliberation and second opinions, I placed the order.

This rug arrived just a few days later!

And it was SO BLUE. I just wasn't prepared for all that color.

Part of me loved the richness of it, but I just didn't love it!

And we quickly found out that it was simply too big, so I called the company to request a return.

My sweet husband got the job of hauling it back to the hardware store so they could ship it back!

I showed Eddie another rug that I had my eye on the whole time,

but he didn't think the size was right.

We remeasured and decided it would fit this space, and I ordered it just in time to make the Cyber Monday sale! (Thank you, Jesus!)

 

From the moment it came, I loved it! It fit the room perfectly, had a subtle pattern that was exactly what I was envisioning, and in a color that didn't scream "look at me!!"

Eddie was happy with it too, which was a pretty big deal to me.

It's soft on little (and bigger) feet, and gives the room the warmth it desperately needed.

It was worth every penny!

If you're in the market for a large area rug, check out Rugs USA!

They have a wonderful selection and excellent service.

And don't be like me: get the rug you really want the first time! 😉