tour of homes

This year is different. Priorities have changed. Christmas is quiet. Making time for family and friends is intentional. Hustle and bustle are are not welcome. Instead, we are waiting for Christmas. “God is in the house” and “Jesus is here somewhere” are the overriding themes as we prepare him room.

One of the ways we have prepared him room is to take a less is more approach. we’ve been doing this the past few years, but this year we did even less. We kept it basic and simple and left room for peace to enter our hearts and time to focus on the Christ Child.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Our hope is that you are finding ways to celebrate that bring peace to your heart and that you too are waiting for Christmas.

Even though we kept the decorations simple, I’ve captured a few photo memories to share with you. Enjoy!

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey,on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John 8:12

I also wanted to share a picture of the tin can drummer boy my father made – I think it is very folk artsy. And, even though we didn’t put up a tree this year, I took a picture of my parent’s little tree to share and included a picture of my tree from last year.

Thanks for stopping by! If you’d like to see how others are decorating for Christmas, be sure to stop by the Nester’s tour of homes where several other bloggers are linking up today. If you have a blog you may want to link-up as well.

I’ve been writing a weekly advent devotional – you can find them by clicking the titles: Waiting On Pure Delight (week 1), Watching For God With Us (Week 2) and Preparing To Make Him Room (week 3). Come back next week and join me for Week 4 where we’ll talk about Praising his coming.

Quieting in Grace,

Teresa

Today I will be linking up with The Nester for the 2013 Christmas Tour of Homes. After you have visited with me, please pop on over and view some other beautiful Christmas decorations.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my Christmas decor. This years theme was Old-fashioned Keepsake Simplicity. I used what I had (with the exception of some minor purchases such as candles and tissue paper) to create a simple, peaceful Christmas. I used decorations from previous years and found objects from around the house.

We’ll begin on the front porch.

First view inside the front door. The little offset wall is our “entry” of sorts. You will notice my silver ornament garland (twine, ornaments, ribbon).

The next few pictures were before I decided to add the pink tissue poms – I may like it better without, haven’t decided yet. But it did seem to need a touch of color besides the silver, gold and white.

Close up of some of the mantle details (hat pins, salt cellar with buttons, antique candle holder)

We have now made it full circle around my living room (I didn’t show you the sofa across from the fireplace) the front door is to the right of this dresser. Next we go into my workroom / library which is to the left of the entry. The colors are more traditional in here.

This year for the first time in a long time I did a tree. It is small, like four foot. It has an old-fashioned flair. Most of the “ornaments” are little family keepsakes – small pillows an aunt made, small crocheted slippers another aunt made, tatting that I believe was from my grandmother, little dolls of my grandmothers. It is in my workroom and since the decor is not quite completed in here I will only show you the little tree today.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek inside my home. Please drop by anytime. The welcome mat is always out!