All is Bright – Holiday Home Tour
All is bright at our house and today I’m finally getting around to a little holiday home tour!
Decorating my home for the holidays is always a favorite! I love the lights and the warmth of it all and find myself sitting up way too late every night enjoying the lights. We have been doing a little updating to our home this year and I really tried to keep the decorating a little more on the simple side. Where I normally add some touches throughout the house, this year I stayed focus on the two spaces we live in most, the kitchen and living areas. I’m loving how it all came together.
The stockings are still a favorite for me. They are all identical but I monogrammed the names all in a different font to give them a little something special. I’m sure I will get tired of them eventually but for now (and maybe until there are grandchildren) we are rolling with them! 
I found a new garland for the mantel on sale and was so surprised when I arrived home to find it actually has lights built in as I didn’t actually realize it. It is the perfect size and the colors really blended nicely. 
Some day I’m either going to master the ribbon or give it up! It needs a little work and a fellow blogger recently shot me a little tutorial but I haven’t had a chance to worry with it. 
I found a new location for our nativity scene this year and I’m kind of loving it. My Mamaw bought this for me from a little shop in my home town and I think it’s beautiful. 
The table is just such a great accent piece and I loved adding a couple of new little Christmas trees to go with the others I already had. 
These sweet little caroling bears were painted by the mom of one of my college friends so they are sentimental but also precious. 
I really, really kept the bookcase simple this year. I typically take a lot of our regular decor down but decided to just leave everything this year and add a few holiday touches. If you send me a Christmas card know I do keep every one! The scrapbooks on the bottom shelf are full of cards dating back to 1998! Woah, that’s almost 20 years of Christmas cards!
I picked up a few new balls to fill this large vase and think they worked out well to bring a little sparkle. 
The red joy balls are also new and they gave a little pop to this bowl. 
I collected snow globes at one time and these are the only three I have remaining. Sadly I failed to learn storing these in the hot attic was a terrible idea before it was too late. I still love these and may have to keep an eye out the day after Christmas for a new one or two. Carly Jo thinks my angel is “freaky” without a face but I really love her too. 
I’m a huge fan of the flameless candles and may be late to the party but they have truly been so fun. I love they are own a five hour timer and come on automatically to add a little ambiance. These will more than likely stay long past the Christmas season.
My sweet mother-in-law picked up this little snow globe for me from the Hallmark store. I added a little tree from the Target dollar spot along with some pine cones I had hanging around to create this little table centerpiece. 
I did add new placemats and still trying to work on the perfect place setting for my table. This is just not my area of expertise! 
We had this built in constructed in our breakfast area this fall and it is already bringing me so much joy! I love how adding this slim tree in our kitchen along with some fun pillows brought this area to life. I’m kind of crazy for the whole tree in a basket phase too! Bonus, the basket fit perfectly under the bench so I grabbed a second and these will be functional all year round. I picked up the Believe banner from the Target Dollar spot with the intention of using it at my office but it is perfect here!
I also created a little hot chocolate bar with some festive mugs, chocolate stir sticks, candy canes and Christmas tree shaped marshmallows! Carly Jo has been having cocoa every day! She embraces the spirit of the season for sure!
I splurged a little on the new garland but it was 50% off and I feel like it will definitely make a statement for several years. A few other little touches and I freshened things up without spending a fortune. Hopefully by next year we will be done with the house updates and I will go back to my old ways but for now I’m loving this simpler look.
If you are interested in seeing the comparison over the years, you can visit the 2016 Holly Jolly Home Tour , 2015 Deck the Halls or the first year around here, 2014 Christmas Decor.
Do you love your home this time of year? I hope to see you link up today with Sarah and Victoria to show off your decor as they host The Most Wonderful Time of the Year linkup. Be sure to stop back by tomorrow as I’m co-hosting and sharing a holiday recipe!
Also linking up with my girls at The Blended Blog.
Shop my holiday home favorites!
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Love those cute stockings!! So many pretty touches!
Thank you Michaela. The stockings were definitely one of my favorite purchases.
Everything looks beautiful! Alise has been enjoying her fair share of hot chocolate recently, too!
Thanks Laura. Even Keith has been enjoying hot chocolate!
Your home looks great! I think your plate setting looks great! I love snowglobes, too, but had no idea you weren’t supposed to store them some place warm. Good to know if I ever start collecting! I am with you on the flameless candle bandwagon. I got some last year, and just love the timer option. It’s so nice to come home, open the door and see a little candle light glow.
The Texas heat was really doing a number on my snow globes….the water turned yellow and evaporated (duh) and I even had one burst once. Love the flameless candles and I’m pretty sure they are going to be staying year round!
I love it Shelly! I really love how you decorated with a mix of new things as well as sentimental pieces. That makes such a difference in how cozy your home feels! I love your snow globes – that’s something I’d like to start collecting. I’ll be digging through Christmas clearance for some of those, too! 🙂
Whitney @ Come Home For Comfort
There really are so many beautiful snow globes around and they can be so beautiful and calming.
I love love love your home! And if I must say, those ornaments are placed perfectly on your tree 😉
Haha, I still keep moving them around! Honestly it’s that dang ribbon that has me all kinds of crazy!
I love that hot chocolate bar! And I do think that the trick to holiday decorating is putting out enough but keeping it simple somehow. You really nailed it!
Thanks Whitney! I’m loving the way it turned out and I know I’ll be even happier when it’s time to put it all away.
Beautiful! I love how you display your snow globes!
Thank you Danielle!
Everything looks for festive! Hope you have a wonderful holiday!
Thank you Penny! Same to you!
absolutely beautiful! WHY is December half way over! WHY?!
Ugh….and I need to get busy and wrap a gift or two! My bedroom is covered in boxes.
It’s perfect, Shelly! Your living room looks like something out of a storybook!
Well thanks Lindsay! I’m not sure about that but it definitely has me up too late every night enjoying the view!
I love EVERYTHING about what you did. So pretty! Where did you get the stocking hangers, I love that you can just hide them under the garland, I might do that next year 🙂 I need to do a home tour, haven’t done that yet…not sure why. hehe.
I have had these forever Sarah and they actually have green stars that are suppose to attach but I just chose to leave them off this year. I use to sell Southern Living a long time ago and they are really great because they are super heavy. It took me forever to get my home tour together because I couldn’t get my house to stay clean long enough!!! Hope you have a super fun weekend!
Your home is beautiful and inviting – the perfect extension of yourself! So many cute Target Dollar Spot finds, that Believe banner is great. Somehow our ornament and decoration boxes got put up without first taking my nativity set out and I am so bummed. I’d like to get a new one so maybe I’ll shop after Christmas and pick one up – yours is so pretty. Your newly built breakfast area is fabulous!
xo,
Kellyann
I’m missing one of the figures from my nativity scene which broke and that’s always hard because you can’t just run out and replace that one! And friend…I’m in LOVE with my breakfast area. It was a long time coming but it has been such a sweet addition. New wallpaper went up in my entry yesterday..eek…and I am having the kids rooms painted while they are gone for a bit over the holidays. Bits and pieces!!
Your mantle and sofa table are my favorite!!! So very cozy and inviting!! I love how you decorated your home 🙂
MeetTheShaneyfelts
Thank you Sarah! I think those are my favorites too! I’m in love with the new garland I found. Thanks so much for hosting the linkup so I could show it off!
Everything is so pretty! I love the way you styled your bookshelves. That’s always hard for me. 😉
Thank you Stacey! I seriously have issues with the bookshelves too. It is not my strong suit.
I love your style! Your house looks beautiful and festive. Trying for simle and rustic here and found some decor at Kroger of all places! Still need yo put up our main tree but I am enjoying the season
Isn’t it so fun to find decor in unexpected places?!! I’m so enjoying the areas I decorated this year and feeling good about it not being over done.
Lovely. Merry Christmas.
So very beautiful! I’m not even sure I could pick a favorite area.
That is so kind! I can tell you these are my favorites because the rest of the house is a slight disaster! haha
So very beautiful! Love your tree and those stockings!