Advent and Christmas Around the Harrington Home

Welcome to the Harrington Home!

This is our very first Christmas in our new home and we are all decked out (minus some lights in the bushes and a new floodlight for our front yard kneeling Santa)!

Come join me for a tour!

Greeting you at the front door....

This is the same old garland and the same old wreath we had at the other house for years. But this year it got a face lift. I removed all the faded red and gold ribbon and the sad, sad red and gold Christmas ball ornaments. This year I outfitted both with brand new red and white ribbons (on 50% off at Hobby Lobby) and red and silver jingle bells (40% off at Kirkland's).

I really love how bright and cheery they turned out. You know I am all about bright!

Once you come in, you see our Advent table and calendar in the hall and the lovely tree in the den. There were other places we could have put the tree but I loved that you could see it from the front door here - and just about everywhere else for that matter!

Looking up you see our banisters. This took some thinking and planning. In our old house I used fake pine greenery garlands and some red and green wooden beads and red and green plaid bows. Time for bright I thought! I decided I was tired of shedding greenery so I dreamed up what you see. I bought 6 yards of red tulle at Hobby Lobby for $1.09/yard and cut it in half lengthwise, giving me 36 feet! I bought the two rolls of shiny red ribbon half price at Hobby Lobby and got busy making five new bows. I love how it turned out!

I think I already shared the photo of our Advent table, but here it is with the candles in the wreath! They are perfect! I even found a short string of purple lights at Hobby Lobby (not on sale) to add to the wreath. Then over the weekend I hung the Nativity quilt Brian's mom made us several years ago. Perfect!

While in the front entry way, you can see the rest of the banister and then go on in to the dining room (we still have no table - someday!). We will use a folding table when we host my family on Christmas Day!

In the dining room I added this little six foot slender tree. I got it for $20 at Wal-Mart and it is really nice. I had bought one last year at Big Lots with the same intentions and I took it right back. It looked just like the sad little Charlie Brown tree. My sister-in-law has a wonderfully decorated similarly shaped tree in her kitchen eating area and I have loved it! I am so happy to have one. I decided to go with one of my favorite color combinations, red and aqua. I spent maybe $15 on ornaments half price at Hobby Lobby, a little for lights and $1 for 4 aqua snowflakes at Target. I even added some of the left over red tulle at the top. I'm not sure that will stay. Overall I really like it. It will be fun to add to each year.

The only other thing in the dining room is this antique sideboard my sister gave me. It is one of my favorite pieces of furniture. Over it I draped a lovely red table runner my mom passed on to me and then I thought it was just the right spot for these lovely little candle rings I had various places in the other house. I put one up on an old glass cake stand. I might have to look for some new clearance Christmas candles. The cream one is just a used extra candle I had on hand.

As you go from the dining room on into the kitchen, you'll say a favorite display that I have always loved putting in my kitchen. I bought our Santa Cookie plate at the Christmas Bazaar at our parish and have added to my little theme since then. During the season, I store cookies, etc. in the little jars and tin. What fun!

On the bar between our kitchen and den, I found the perfect new home for my snowman collection. This is one of my favorite collections to add to year after year. I always find some cute little half price Santa at Hobby Lobby. I have even found some at Kroger before! I love this display. The snowmen make me sooo happy and remind me of my best friend, whom I dearly love and who dearly loves stick arm snowmen. Here's to you, Robin!

Right next to the kitchen and eating area, we placed our Christmas tree. The children had such fun decorating it this year. It is such a joy to watch them already ooh and aah over all the ornaments as they remember their different favorites. It is wonderful as usual and full of so many memories and joys. I love where we put it!

Next to the tree is the fireplace and mantel. Our mantel is really big and really deep and there is an electrical outlet up there. I still haven't hung anything on the back wall and didn't feel like hanging my Christmas quilt there for just a month, so it remains blank. But it does prove to be the perfect spot for our Fontanini Nativity that Brian's mom started for us years ago. I found some half price trees at Hobby Lobby (it's the place to go!) and used some greenery, lights, and other trees from years past. It looks wonderful and it's right there for us to look at often.

I placed our big Nativity to the left side of the mantel and used the right side for a gathering of other small Nativities and angels we have. It makes for a nice religious themed area. I'm happy with it too!

Well, I guess that concludes this year's Christmas tour and hopefully will serve as a reminder to me when next year I am wondering, "Now where did I put all this stuff?????"

Wish you could come by and enjoy some cocoa, tea or coffee and visit for a while.

Many prayers for a blessed Advent and a joyous Christmas season!