Christmas Open House

Tonight was a great night. Will and I dropped the kids for a night out for dinner at the fabulous PESCE. I tried to talk him into pulling a switcheroo with the Maserati and leaving them our car, but he wasn't having it. We had a fantastic meal and we won a big basket full of goodies, two gift cards. I will be headed to Starbucks tomorrow with my $25.00 gift card and my mug that says, "Dear Santa, Define Good." Hmmm...I think my husband has been telling one too many stories as they have me figured out. Oh well....more lattes for me!

Sometimes when I am pulling together my thoughts for my holiday decorations, my best ideas come from what other inspiring women have created in their own homes. So let's do a holiday open house and share one or more pictures with us that are you favorite areas of your holiday decorating for this year.

Next year I am going to focus on my master bedroom...in fact i have already been spying a Lennox quilt for our bed....

Here is a tour of our Pacific Northwest meets Southern Charm home for the holidays... Send me your favorite holiday decor pictures at christy.bohlen1@gmail.com and I will add them to our Christmas Open House Tour.

Our formal dining room in red feathers, garlands, crystals and mistletoe. The feathers gives the extra touch of whimsy and the crystals give the formality to a builder's chandelier.

I had coffee the other day with a woman that decorates homes for the holidays professionally and she said the secret to a good Southern Christmas tree was to stuff your artificial tree with live Spruce boughs. I told her a beautiful Northwest tree is live stuffed with artificial boughs of fruits and willows etc. It was such a paradigm shift for each of us. I am going to go decorate with her and hopefully get so inspired!!! 

Our home is made up of four elements from the Christmas Season that represents each member of our family. Will is the Nutcracker. I am the Angel. Keaton is the Rocking horse as our first born. Payton is the Snowflake as she was born on the first snowfall of the year. You will find these for figures scattered throughout the house.

Our tree is an eclectic mix of a collection of Waterford, Sawortski, Lennox and Gorham crystal ornaments that I have so lucky to have received as gifts. It also has a great mix of handmade ornaments by our mothers, ornaments that the kids have made etc.

I absolutely love lighted garlands. You will find them on the mantle, staircases banisters and even strewn down a dining table.

We decorated the front of the house to resemble a Gingerbread house with lighted wreaths in every window, Lollipops and Candy Canes in the Garden and Will strung red, green and white lights on all four elevations of roof line.

This year I was inspired to decorate all of my outdoor living spaces. Will and the kids built me this hidden nook sunk into my front garden for Mothers Day two years ago. Adding Santa's Sled to welcome our guests and candy canes and lollipops and pine cones give my illuminated wreaths in my windows a cozy setting to sit for a spell.

The three foot ornament trees in our foyer give a warm holiday welcome.