Christmas Tour of Homes with the Nester

** If you are looking for the Sherrod Studio Tuesday Throwdown post, please scroll down below this one.

The Nester is hosting a virtual holiday tour of homes and I wanted to join in the fun (although with over 800 people participating so far, I don't know how I - or anyone else - will ever get through the whole tour but that's not the point now, is it?)

Every year I make a few small changes to my decorations. Sometimes this is due to a new goody needing a place to be seen, sometimes it is because of things such as a dog and what she may or may not decide to eat. In the past, we have had our tree in the family room but because this is where the dog spends the night sleeping, we moved it to the living room a couple of years ago so we didn't have to worry as to whether it would still be standing in the morning or not. I also find that every year I forget where I have displayed decorations the year before so this accounts for changes from time to time as well. So without more chit chat, let's take a look at our Christmas decor for 2009:

This is a view of the living room from the dining room. One of the things I love about the tree in this room is that you can see it from outside. When it was in the family room, only we could see it and I hate to deprive anyone the beauty! On the coffee table are a couple of framed photos of the kids and a square dish that holds handmade paper ornaments.

This is the tree a little closer. We use multi-colored lights and gold garland and a green and gold tree skirt (everything in the room is red, green or gold). There is no theme to the ornaments - just many wonderful things we have collected through the years.

On another living room wall we have my North Pole village. The houses I have include Mickey Mouse, M&Ms, Coca-Cola and Warner Bros. and there are gumdrop trees and sidewalks. I would have added "snow" but that would become a dog treat so no snow this year in the village.

Most areas in the house are draped with evergreen garland and in the living room I have a few single word displays like this "JOY" placed on the shelf near the cold air register. (We also have LOVE and BELIEVE in the room).

Now moving into the kitchen we have Santas displayed on a corner shelf:

The top Santa and tree are especially near to my heart as they were painted (with help) by my son. The others I picked up here and there.

From the kitchen, we head into the family room:

The family room is normally decorated in a lodge look with moose and pinecones and trees... and I carried that over into Christmas decor starting with my 3 foot wall hanging tree that is decorated with rustic looking ornaments, snowmen, deer, birds.....

On the back wall, I have a new addition - the red and green feather wreath. I added the white snowy elements to the wreath (most of this room is red and white) and then set up the displays on the cabinets below the wreath to include a snowman with cardinal and lantern on one side and two cardinals and a larger lantern on the other side. I love cardinals also and use them often in this room.

In the corner of the room, next to my computer on one side, is this shelving unit that holds some of my Moose Troup collection and a few other holiday pieces - all in the same theme of red, white and lodge. I love looking at all of these little touches and love how they all blend together.

On the fireplace hearth in this room is our nativity. We purchased this set the 1st year we were married on sale for under $20 and we have treasured it all these years. We always thought about buying a new nativity but this one means something so it is still with us.

Another fixture in my family room?? 

This is Leia, modeling her Christmas collar. Who likes having her picture taken? Not Miss Princess Leia!

And last but not least (and speaking of Princess Leia), I have one more decoration to show you that is in our house, specifically our son Jacob's room:

This is Jacob's Star Wars tree - yes, those are R2-D2 lights you see on the tree! There's a glass Yoda as the tree topper, a Santa Yoda delivering presents at the bottom, and the tree is full of Luke, Leia, Storm Troopers and more. Nothing says Happy Holidays like a Wookiee!  LOL

So that's a little look at the main decor of our house this year. I hope you enjoyed this leg of the tour and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!