Friday, December 7, 2018

A Christmas Tour Of Our Home



This past Saturday we put away all of the fall decor and brought in the bin with our Christmas tree inside and the big red tote that holds our decorations.  We gave our living room a good cleaning and then headed into the kitchen to start preparing food for our annual HorseDoover Nite.

My oldest made the sausage & cheese tray

I started HorseDoover Nite about 25 years ago when my son was just a little guy.  Hors d'oeuvres were a luxury at that time, but we made do with what we had and put together a special evening of snacks and treats.  Then we enjoyed them while we put up our tree.  Now Horse DooverNite (a play on the literal pronunciation on the word) has become an all day event that we all eagerly look forward to each year.  My youngest told me it is her favorite day of the holiday season.

My youngest made this cheese ball

The girls making pot stickers

We start first thing when we get up preparing the house to decorate for Christmas and preparing all the food we plan to eat.  Sometimes we are blessed to have family join us on this day as was the case this year and last.  We eat, listen to Christmas music and decorate our home.


Our tree is set up in the same spot it has gone for years.  The girls don't want to change it, it has to be in front of the living room door because it is the "perfect" spot.  I'm sure the fire marshal would strongly disagree, but fortunately we have plenty of other exits in case of an emergency.  I asked the girls if they wanted to do a theme or color scheme this year on the decorations for the tree and true to form they chose the "everything" theme again this year.


I kept the mantle and fireplace very simple this year.


I decorated the downstairs bathroom with just a few items.  A candle, a Christmas themed hand soap and I added a cute little finger towel to the hand towel hanging up next to the sink.


This cute little snowman I painted in a ceramics class about 20 years ago sits on one of our end tables.  I put out my poinsettia covered candy dish.  Inside are some peppermint nougat taffy candies.  They have little trees on them.

The finished potstickers

I got out the Christmas china and we used it for Horse Doover Nite.  We'll continue to use it right up until New Years.  I collected it from K Mart many, many years ago and I still love it.


I am really enjoying the pillow covers I made over the Thanksgiving weekend.  They are so pretty and I just love this fabric I chose.

My great grandmother's lamps filled and burning brightly
So very pretty and I am so happy I have them

As I sat in my recliner and looked around at our freshly decorated living room I asked my girls "Do you know what I love most about our house compared to this time last year?"  My oldest said.  "Everything?"

"Yes.  Everything."



16 comments:

  1. Your home looks lovely! I laughed at your "Horse Doover Nite". The food looked delicious. I enjoy this time of year and my house if finally decorated. Merry Christmas to you and your daughters.

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    1. Merry Christmas Tana! I love this time of year as well. Enjoy!

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  2. It's all so lovely! And your daughter's cheese ball, potstickers, and charcuterie tray look delicious! Do they cater? :^)

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    1. Great idea. Put them to work! ;0) They really took over this year. It was fun to watch them. I think I only made one thing, which were the egg rolls.

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  3. Very pretty and not overdone. Y'all did good!

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  4. Your home looks especially cozy at Christmas :) Like your daughter's said, I like the "everything" theme for the tree too and yours looks so beautiful. There is something about your mantle that is perfect, I think it's the symmetry and balance of the decorations and tidiness of it, I feel a sense of calm looking at it.

    The question you asked your girls at the end had me choked up, it's lovely.

    D.

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    1. I just can't express enough how much I love my home right now. It amazes me every day how pretty it is and how nice it feels. It was quite a journey to get to this point and I couldn't be happier.

      Thank you so much for allowing me to share it with you. :0)

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    2. What a lovely home you have. The potstickers look delicious too. Merry Christmas!

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  5. Hello, I just found your comment on my blog from Nov 2016 (talk about late to the party). I don't know how I 'lost' my comments, but I'm very happy to have found them! Love your Horse Doovers - my Dad called them Horse Dovers and I still have to look up the correct spelling anytime I want to sound educated. Yours sounds like a wonderful holiday tradition. I'm afraid Bill and I drag ourselves through the list of Christmas 'chores' to reach the desired 'look' before his kids come over. I can't imagine doing it all in one day but if we did I think Horse Dovers for fortification would be a fine thing!

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    1. I have scaled back on the amount of decor I have now so it makes it much simpler. I don't do much outside either. The Horse Doovers definitely keep us going! :)

      Merry Christmas Shelley

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    2. Oh now I have another British blog to read. I love all things British.

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  6. Enjoy, your home looks beautiful!!

    Merry Christmas to you and your family, Janie

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    1. Thank you so much.

      Merry Christmas Janie. I wish you and yours all the best.

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