Christmas House Tour 2019.

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You're here! I've been expecting you. You are my FAVOURITE kind of holiday visitor; you can't give me your cold and you're physically incapable of eating all of the snacks that I put out which I really want to keep all for myself. Welcome virtual guests to my 2019 Christmas house tour.

If you've ever bought a cartload of food for a party, all of which is appealing to you, you know what I'm talking about. You put the Ruffles & Dip out and begrudge every handful of chips that someone smashes into their mouth.

Who am I kidding. I buy the Ruffles & dip for the party and then don't put them out when people come over rationalizing there's already too much food. But really I just don't want them to eat any of my Ruffles & dip. I want them for me.

Although that could be just me, what with my interest in potato chips. Mind you, I feel the same way when someone eats the Italian blue cheese I put out, the cured meats or the specialty crackers. And the bacon wraps??? I never EVER put out all of the bacon wraps at a party. I hold several back in the freezer and when someone asks if there are any more bacon wraps I emphatically say NO to their face, while whispering "not for you there isn't" under my breath as I walk away.

Like I said, you aren't going to eat my chips or my bacon wraps so you're welcome to take a look around and stay as long as you like.

Welcome to my house and its Christmas decorating for 2019.

Christmas Decorating Ideas.

My collection of Christmas trees (most given to my by my friend Anj) on top of my hardware cabinet in the kitchen along with the famous white truck everyone loves.

On the island I have a live tree that's significantly bigger than I thought it was when I bought it. The top has a bronze glass bird with a feather tail and the rest of the ornaments are a few from my collection of antique ornaments.

If you have leftover greenery, put a few branches in bottles, jars or vases. You really don't need to do anything other than stick them in there. Don't worry about adding anything else. A few evergreen branches in a vase are casually elegant all on their own.

This was the day I was waxing my amaryllis bulbs. You can read my full tutorial on how to make your own waxed amaryllis bulbs here. I started them late this year so these won't bloom until after Christmas. I'm also doing a bit of a trial this year, soaking half of my bulbs in water with fertilizer and the other half with no fertilizer. I'll update my waxed amaryllis post with the results once I know them.

The filthy range of a Christmas cook.

I change things up every year for Christmas, but these wreathes are always here on my cabinet doors. The one thing I did change on the wreaths this year, was to attach 2 antique sleigh bells to each wreath.

Yup, I know. You LOVE deer heads. Yup, I know. You HATE deer heads. Moving onto the dining room ...

I've had a tall white imitation tree in this corner for about a decade now. Possibly more. I still love the white tree but let me tell you, an imitation, completely flocked tree will leave your house looking like you left a room full of puppies and feather pillows together for the day. That flocking gets EVERYWHERE and seems, as far as I can tell, to literally jump off the tree.

Margaret watches over everything because she has nothing else to do on account of the fact that she's a painting. My saddle sits on my rickety saddle stand, with 2 baskets set in front. The baskets are filled with dry beans that I still have to shuck this winter.

I'm also making sleigh bells to hang off of my doorknobs. I bought these antique bells years ago to do this, but never got around to it. This year I'm DOING it.

I mean, I took these photos a week or so ago and the bells are still sitting exactly there on the dining room table, but I'm fairly sure I'm going to do them this year. I think. Once I've watched all the Hallmark movies, I will do them.

For the season I took up all the Turkish scatter rugs I had running down this area because I really like how the floors look leading up to the tree at the back in its wicker basket.

My living room that still hasn't been done over has one peaceful corner. This is it.

The rest of the room is a mishmashdisaster.

First thing in the New Year I'm going to round up all my interior designer friends to ask them why I can't get my house to feel Christmas cozy during the rest of the year. I mean there has to be something we can do to make our homes feel like they do at Christmas without resorting to leaving our lights and garland up.

I know it has to do with lighting and layering. But I want EXPERT advice. I'll pass it on of course, once I get answers.

Like I mentioned earlier, I have antique Christmas ornaments which I've been collecting for years and years. Many of them were broken in the great tree toppling of 2005. One of my readers heard about it and gave me a box of her antique ornaments which she didn't use. The two most noticeable ones are the 2 big balls on the tree below. One light blue and one light pink.

And of course there are dried orange slices. You can read about how to make them here. I made them 3 years ago and they're still perfect. As they age they get darker but they're still beautiful and look like stained glass when they're in front of a light.

Also new this year is the massive antique pot that I have my tree in. I bought it at a flea market this fall knowing this is probably the only thing I'm going to use it for. But I HAD to have it for one reason. The old riveted repair on the bottom of it.