Buttercup slept near the tinsel.

Julie decorated the box grand in the living room.

I replaced the lights on this little tree. All better!

We decorated the front porch.

And Buttercup slept on ornament storage boxes.

I made chocolate creams.

I wrapped my babies’ pictures.

Buttercup slept on the couch.

I received a package in the mail! The ornaments from the Christmas Notebook’s ornament exchange. This is just one of them.

My sister and friends from church cleaned my house! Thank you, thank you!

Buttercup slept on the vent.

I started a new house project.

I made sugarplums.

And DD had her hair cut.

And Zak slept with her.

~~Rhonda ::going back to work!::

We hang our stockings on the staircase in the front hall. Family members at our house on Christmas morning get a stocking. All are expected to provide some stocking stuffers for everyone else. Family members who are not home on Christmas morning, receive a small gift-wrapped present to be placed in their stockings at home.

The newel post on the staircase…I hot-glued all the fruit, berries, balls, etc., on the garland.

To the left, as you walk into the living room from the front hall is the nativity set on the old box grand.

The large angel watching over the nativity was a gift from DH several Christmases ago.

The nativity was given to me by my mother years ago. It was painted by her brother’s SIL.

For the mantel, I framed Christmas cards that show the events of Christ’s birth.

Standing in front of the fireplace, looking into the dining room…

The dining room table was set with Christmas china for the house tour. We folded napkins into elfin boots. So cute! I’ll have to take pictures and write a post with directions for you. Here are directions for another elf boot found online.

Later, more pictures from the rest of the house. ~~Rhonda

I began painting the old book case. I plan to paint the inside with the same yellow we used in the hall and will paint the outside white. Today I began with a coat of Kilz to seal the wood.

I replaced some lights on the Victorian tree. Wanted to get to the glass tree, but didn’t have time.

I ordered fabric for the curtains in the guest room. Laurie calculated all the yardage for me. Thank you, Laurie! I had to order from three different sites to get all the different patterns I wanted, but they should be winging their way here before long.

I made the Sour Cream Sugar Cookie dough. Double batch. That’s a big load for a mixer but my trusty Kitchaid can handle it easily.

This is a very tender dough and needs to chill in the fridge before it can be rolled and cut. Since I made such a large batch, I’ll leave it in the fridge at least 24 hours so it is completely chilled. I covered it with plastic wrap, pushing all the air out. It may be several days before I get around to baking the cookies, but the dough will be fine.

Tomorrow, I hope to put the lights on the “glass tree.” The tree I had used for years was finally too worn out to use again. It took a long time to find a tree I thought would work well for the glass ornament collection. The tree has to have plenty of free space among the branches to display the ornaments. I finally ordered one and it looks like it’s going to be a good choice. Genny and I began “fluffing” it last weekend, Genny finished it while I took DD to music lessons, and now it is ready for lights.

I’ll take more pictures tomorrow. ~~Rhonda

Happy took a long nap next to the warm glow of this light string.

My sister Genny is coming this evening to spend the weekend helping with the Christmas decorating. DH couldn’t find fresh cranberries in town last night, so Genny is bringing eight bags. It takes six to make enough popcorn and cranberry strings for the living room tree.

I’m moving on to the office tree. It needs one light string replaced and then we can finish decorating it. More later. ~~Rhonda

If you don’t know already, I *love* Christmas and everything about it. I love the decorating, the entertaining, the cooking…every detail. Here’s a little preview of what’s coming.

The living room tree is a 9′ tree that sits on a 24″ box. The ceilings are 12′ high. The tree rotates. Years ago, I found a heavy duty revolving tree stand. I have searched the internet and cannot find the same tree stand available any longer. Ones that *are* available couldn’t handle such a large and heavy tree. The stained glass angel in the window is a gift from our dear friends Gary and Laurie and hangs in the window year round. Gary made the angel and other stained glass pieces in our home.

If you’re here at Christmas time, peek inside the living room tree to find the wood gnome who hides inside.

The main tree in the dining room is decorated with snowball ornaments and is covered with shredded artificial snow.

This tree sits in the bay in the library and holds a large collection of nativity related ornaments. It’s wound with a ribbon on which I wrote the Christmas story from Luke 2:1-20. I used gold fabric paint and wired satin ribbon.

A favorite last year, of course, was the grandbaby tree. This tree was a lot of fun to make. Dear friends gave us a “grandpa / grandma” gift of a diaper bag, two soft blankets, little socks, bath scrubbies, etc., and I used those to decorate the tree along with cards we received and photos of the twins and family.

The tree in DD#2′s room last year was decorated with stamped felt ornaments, wooden stars, and bows. This year, I’ll add some of DD’s own photographs and copper colored balls.

The little tree in the laundry room has a garden theme. BTW, that wallpaper is no more.

My favorite tree is the “glass tree” in our bedroom. I collect spun glass and glass ornaments and they go on this tree. I dismantled several chandeliers and use the prisms (about 250 of them) on this tree along with the crystal chains as garlands.

That’s just a small taste of what’s in store. We will have at least one tree in every room of the house. And that doesn’t count trees like DD’s “I Spy” tree…

Even the mice are decorating a tree.

And you may get a Christmas tree for breakfast!

You can click on any of the pictures and it will take you to my flickr site where you can see pictures of our other trees.

Christmas decorating is usually well underway by now because we have to have it all ready by the first of December for our annual open house. We are definitely going to fall behind schedule this year because of our remodeling projects, but I’m sure it will all come together in the end. Reviewing some of our pictures from previous years gives me a taste of what’s ahead. I can’t wait to get started in earnest!

~~Rhonda

The front door, decorated with paper snowflakes, opens into the front hall. We always hang our Christmas stockings on the staircase. The oak and walnut parquet floor is original to the house. All the original woodwork in the house, including the staircase, is made of walnut.

To the left, as you enter, is the living room, where you will find our “family tree.” This 9′ tree sits on a box DH made to raise it to 11′, just below the 12′ ceiling. The tree is decorated with popcorn and cranberry strings (made fresh each year), red bead garlands in two sizes, and all our family ornaments. Tinsel covers the entire tree. The blue stained glass angel, made for me by our friend Gary, hangs in the window year round.

Our nativity sits on the antique box grand piano, in the living room.

The fireplace mantel is decorated with framed Christmas cards that tell the story of Christ’s birth.

From the living room, we move to the dining room, decorated with a snow theme, in white, silver and a bit of cobalt blue. The tree in this room is the “Snow Tree.”

The windowsills are very deep. These vases from Wal-Mart make great “hurricanes” for the candles. Batting and shredded plastic snow line the sill and are topped with silver ornaments and silver beads. The lights are on the redbud tree outside the dining room window.

From the front door, to the right as you enter the house, is the library and through the library, the room that serves as our home office. The library has two trees, one being the “Nativity Tree” and the other the “Three Kings Tree.” The Nativity Tree is decorated with nativity related ornaments and a ribbon on which Luke 2:1-20 is inscribed with gold fabric paint.

The Three Kings tree sits in a corner of the library across from the Nativity Tree. Three Wise men statues sit among the branches. The tree is decorated with gold stars and gold ornaments.

The “Three Kings’ Tree” sits next to our TV cabinet, which was added to the room as a buffet in the 1920′s. The windows have been replaced with stained glass made by our dear friend Gary. You can read more about the “buffet” by clicking on the picture to view it on my flickr site.

The next room is used as a home office and a music room. The tree in this room has old fashioned German style ornaments, gold and silver bead garlands, and bubble lights.

Vintage postcards from DH’s family decorate the bubble light tree, as well.

Many of the postcards have messages and postage stamps on the back. I used photo corners to mount the postcards so they wouldn’t be marred in any way.

Framed pictures from Christmas past, many of which were used in our Christmas cards over the years, sit on the piano.

Part of my Christmas china collection is displayed on these shelves, over the piano, all year. The small tree in this picture, which sits on top the CD player, displays a collection of small vintage ornaments given to me by my mother-in-law.

This door is the front door taken from the house DH grew up in, the same home his father was born in and lived his life in, the house DH’s grandfather built. Each year, we use tempera (poster) paint to put a wreath on this door. DD enjoys adding the holly berries with her finger. We also paint birthday cakes on this window as the year rolls around. The door leads to the addition.

From the office, we can step down into the addition. To the left are our children’s baby pictures. Each year, I wrap the photos and have the opportunity to remind my children they are the best gifts I have ever received. Click here for directions for wrapping framed photos.

Across the hall from the baby pictures is the grandbaby tree, new this year with the birth of our first grandchildren, twin girls. Pictures, cards we have received, baby items, and baby ribbons decorate the tree.

And to the right of the grandbaby tree is this deer. The deer sits on a piece of tabletop glass, supported by wooden blocks. Between the counter and the glass is a string of white lights. They shine through the batting that covers the glass, making a pretty display, especially at night when overhead lights are turned down.

At the end of the hall is the guest room. This tree is decorated with Victorian ornaments.

I love Putz houses, vintage or new. I have a few tucked into the branches of the Victorian Tree.

The Victorian tree is decorated with ivory beads. I like to loop the beads each time the garland attaches to the tree branches. This year, I used ivory ribbon to tie the loops to the tree, and the tree will be stored with the beads on it. I am hoping they will be just as nice looking next year when we retrieve the tree from attic storage. If so, it will save me a lot of decorating time!

Walking back into the addition hall, we can turn into the laundry room and through the laundry room into the downstairs bath. The small tree in the laundry room has a garden theme, is twined with ivy and red berries, and is lit with green lights. The ornaments are birds, butterflies, flowers, birdhouses, garden tools, etc. The linen cupboard holds tablecloths, dinner napkins (in the drawers), and bath linens. And, yes, we have green and red towels for the holiday season.

The door between the laundry room and the downstairs bath holds another one of Gary’s stained glass masterpieces. This was installed the day before our Christmas open house this year (2007). Beautiful! I am designing patterns for coordinating windows on each side of this door, just to give Gary something to do.

The tree in the downstairs bath is twined with a garland of red and white roses and carnations tucked into the branches, and is decorated with ornaments that feature photographs of our garden and the flowers we raise each summer.

Our tour continues by walking back through the home office and turning into the kitchen. Our kitchen was originally an enclosed back porch and, like all the original portion of the house, has a 12′ ceiling. It has a beautiful view of the back yard. There are two small trees in the kitchen. One sits on the corner of the counter. It has snowflake frames with pictures of our children and their families.

The other kitchen tree sits on top the refrigerator and is decorated with icicle garlands, cookie cutters, and candy ornaments. This tree is topped with a three dimensional frosted glass star made for me by our friend Gary. The little tree you see hanging to the side of the photo is the ceiling fan pull.

The windows are hung with a garland, lit with blue and white lights, and decorated with my collection of snowflake and icicle ornaments. The curtains were made for me by my friend Laurie and are cobalt blue (my favorite color) and printed with glittery silver snowflakes. The curtains hang from pegs which also display my pie plate collection.

From the ceiling of the kitchen, we hang large snowflakes on mirrored garlands. They add a magical touch to the snowflake theme of the kitchen.

From the kitchen, we will walk back down the front hall to the front door and will climb the staircase to the upstairs. If you feel like climbing the 22 steps to the second floor, you will find the upstairs tour in the next post.

~~Rhonda

A small secretary at the top of the stairs was a birthday gift from DH nine or ten years ago.

Under the secretary, our Christmas mice decorate their tree.

At the other end of the hall stands a tree decorated with pictures from Christmas Past.

Just outside the door to the master bedroom, hangs a wall tree where an antique dresser used to stand. The dresser has been moved to the guest room and this trees fills the spot without filling the hall.

From the north end of the hall, you look down the hall toward the scrapbook room.

From the south end of the hall, you look toward the bath, which was added to the home during a 1921 – 1922 renovation.

The first bedroom at the top of the stair belongs to DD#1.

Last year, her tree was decorated with pictures from her mission trip to an orphanage in Liberia. This year, as she has moved away to college to finish her degree, my sister and I had her permission to decorate it as we liked. We used paper doves and silver ornaments, with a touch of blue.

The armoire, which reflects her bed, has two small trees on top, decorated with ivory beads and topped with silver bows.

Across the hall is DD#3′s room. Her tree is decorated with a felt garland she and I made together, bead necklaces collected at local parades, and snowflakes and icicles.

She loves penguins and her walls are decorated with penguins playing in the snow

The penguins are cut from 100% cotton fabric, dipped in liquid starch and stuck to the wall. When we are ready to take them down, a simple spritz of water will do the trick. FYI – This process can be used on a semi-gloss or glossy paint, but not on a matte paint.

We mounted a vintage mirror from DH’s parents’ home on the wall behind DD’s bed. A curtain rod set at 9′ holds a curtain of blue vellum sprinkled with silver snowflakes. Blue rope lighting on the wall outlines mountains for the penguins to ski down.

On her bed, the penguin reads a Christmas story to the Christmas bears.

One of DD’s favorite trees is her “I Spy” tree and it sits on her dresser year round. It is a Styrofoam cone, painted gold. We glued all kinds of small items to it, and painted them gold, as well. It’s a lot of fun to look at, trying to find particular objects.

At the other end of the hall, DD#2′s room has a horse theme, so her tree was decorated with a rustic air. We cut twigs from the yard, spray painted them and hot glued them together to make stars. I stamped felt and sewed it into stars and snowflakes to use as ornaments.

DD’s bed is one of two iron beds found in the barn on the family farm. We took them to an auto body repair shop, had them sandblasted and painted with white auto paint. Now they really shine!

DD is a photography major. We framed a few of her favorite black and white photos to hang over her desk.

Each of the doors upstairs has a wreath. This one hangs on the bathroom door. It has small bottles and tubes of bath supplies, red and green toothbrushes, sprigs of iridescent berries, and a red wash cloth as a bow.

The tree in this room is small and simple. It’s decorated with “bath bubbles”…clear iridescent balls and sprigs of iridescent berries.

A wrought iron shelf holds a small collection of new Putz houses.

The master bedroom is across the hall from DD#2′s room. I made the Christmas quilt on the bed. It has 20 blocks, each with a different red Christmas print.

I call the tree in our bedroom the “Glass Tree” because it is entirely decorated with spun glass and crystal ornaments. There are 250 prisms on the tree and crystal bead chains, recycled from old chandeliers, serve as garlands.

The bathroom has a tiny tree, set in an antique crock, decorated with glass ornaments and the Hallmark “Twelve Days of Christmas” series.

The scrapbook room is off the south end of the hall. It was an enclosed upstairs porch at one time and sits right over the kitchen. We totally renovated this room in 2004. What a wonderful retreat it has been for me! The tree in this room holds the annual exchange ornaments from my Christmas Notebook list.

Isn’t this a beautiful scrapping / craft room?

The east end of the scrapbook room holds a daybed ready for extra company.

Next to the daybed sits a low antique dresser which functions perfectly as a bedside table.

Our house has a large full attic in which we are able to store all the trees and decorations. Maybe I’ll take you up there *next* time!

DH and I hope you have enjoyed the tour of our home decorated for Christmas. We love this old house and have enjoyed sharing it with you.

~~Rhonda

We have four south facing windows and two east facing windows, all topped with a garland that is lit with blue and white lights. The snowflake ornaments hang from the garland.

Our friend Gary made this beautiful ornament for me, along with quite a few others. It is made from the glass from a lamp made for me by a friend in 1972. The lamp had come apart and Gary used the glass to make these.

I love the look these ornaments give the kitchen.

Several years ago, I was in a Christmas store and saw ornaments hung from the ceiling with mirrored garlands. I took that idea and used mirrored garlands to hang snowflakes from the 12′ ceiling in our kitchen.

~~Rhonda

In the past, my older daughters (23 and 20) would decorate the trees in their own bedrooms. This year they are living away from home, attending college. They both gave me permission to do “whatever” to their trees. My sister and I took out the idea binders and pulled some pages that gave us ideas we liked. Just looking at the pictures was inspiring!

This page showed twiggy stars.

And this page showed felt ornaments.

We took those ideas and tweaked them a bit. Genny made stars using the hot glue gun, then spray painted them a cream color. She sprayed them with a glossy sealant when dry.

I stamped stars and snowflakes onto cream colored felt, then used my sewing machine to stitch the ornaments.

Genny spray painted twigs for the top of the tree, and we added large bows made from three kinds of wide ribbon.

The tree fits the room which features a horse theme, with a 22″ horse border, brown bandanna window toppers, and bandanna pillows on the bed.

DD1984′s tree was decorated with silver ornaments, silver tinsel garland, and white paper doves sprayed with glitter. This magazine page gave us the idea for the doves. Genny free-handed the pattern and cut them from card stock.

The tree sits on a small round table. We will cover the tree stand with white batting, then drape white lace panels over the batting to the floor.

Decorating continues today. Genny is making *another* run to the store for needed supplies. Check back later for more pics! ~~Rhonda

We made the popcorn and cranberries strings last Sunday/Monday.

We finished the “snow” tree in the dining room. DD helped put the shredded artificial snow on the tree. I made the snowball ornaments several years age.

We also put up the snowflake ornaments in the kitchen.

I stamped and sewed felt ornaments for DD1987′s tree.

I’ll post the final picture tomorrow. I need to get some sleep! ~~Rhonda