Thursday, December 11, 2014

Twice The {Decorating} Fun

Welcome to everyone visiting from Kelly's Korner today. I appreciate you taking the time to drop by and look around. If you are not one of my regular readers, you won't know that I am Christian and my husband is Jewish. This means we get to have twice the fun when decorating for holidays. Since Chanukah falls right around Christmas this year (December 16-23), our decorations are overlapping in the extreme!
Outside I have put greenery in our window boxes and a mix of ornaments. I also hung a bunch of ornaments on our tree out front, and if this past year is any indication, they will out there until March! We don't have a lot of snow, yet, but it will likely come and I won't be able to get out to take the ornaments off the tree until it melts.
Our office, which looks out into the playroom (the playroom was an addition built on to the back of the house so we're special enough have a window inside our house!) has the Chanukah star banner which was a creation of mine and my husband. He folded all the stars and I had the original idea. Our window ledge in here is also where we keep some of our cards.
Our living room reflects our interfaith life with a Chanukah banner, the menorah, and our nativity set all displayed.
The nativity set is one I bought when I lived in Israel-Palestine and I actually gave it to my parents and never did buy one for myself. A couple of years ago my parents decided to give it to me and I'm so thrilled they did. I let my kids, five year old Sam and three year old Rachel, set it up, so it isn't precise in any way! And the menorah was a wedding gift to Dave and I from his grandparents. It's so beautiful.
A few years ago I got some free Christmas material and I had a plan for it, which you will see later on in this post. But then I had extra material and so I made a random fabric string. Thus far it has been looped on our stair rail and Sam wanted to hang ornaments on it. I think it's kind of fun!
Sam has his own Christmas tree in his room which he gets to decorate however he wants to. He also got Chanukah window gels this year and decided to display them so that "Chanukah" could be read from the street!
Rachel also has her own tree and Chanukah window gels in her room, as well as her own unique decorating sense! I love giving the kids the freedom to decorate in their rooms however they want :)
Our dining room looks festive with the Advent wreath, our Advent calendar and my fabric light string on the window. My parents are visiting us for Christmas this year, and once they arrive we will go cut down our Christmas tree together and decorate it. Then it will be in this room too!
I love our Advent calendar, which my friend, Janice, gave to me this year. It has a word describing this season for every day. I don't want my kids to think Christmas is all about eating chocolate so I'm glad this doesn't have that option. Also, Rachel randomly opened a bunch of doors one day, so there are more doors open than there should be!
I made our Advent wreath and with the greenery and carnations it looks a lot like what my mom used to make when I was growing up. And yes, we're re-using our candles from last year two years ago.
This is what the dining room looks like when the fabric light garland is lit. I got this idea from a SUYL a few years ago and it's what I originally made with the Christmas fabric I mentioned earlier. I love how it decorates the window and gives a warm glow to the room.
And even though this is a picture from last year, I wanted to show my new favourite Christmas "decoration" -- Christmas potpourri. I got the idea from my blog friend, Allison. I slice half an orange, add some whole cloves, whole cranberries, a couple of cinnamon sticks, and some water, and then simmer it all day. It makes our whole main floor smell so good. I haven't started this year's batch yet because I know I'll just want to keep it going until Christmas so I'm trying to hold off until this weekend but then LET THE CHRISTMAS POTPOURRI BEGIN!!! (Can you tell I'm just a little excited about this?!)

So even though our tree isn't up, and we don't hang our stockings until Christmas Eve, and we haven't yet lit the menorah, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and Chanukah, around here.

Thanks again for stopping by. Merry Christmas! Happy Chanukah!

18 comments:

  1. I love doing that potpourri on the stove too! I have never added cranberries though. I will have to try that! Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!

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  2. Stopping by from Kelly's Korner! love doing Christmas potpourri too. I bought some bags of cranberries on sale specifically for the purpose of making the same recipe.

    Your house looks beautiful. Very festive!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment! And thank you for the lovely comment. I hope you had a Merry Christmas!

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  3. I had almost forgotten the Christmas potpourri - thanks for the reminder! ;)

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  4. I love Christmas potpourri! At the tour everyone who came in said they loved the smell! Come and visit, I am #46 on the tour!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment! I really do love the potpourri :) It has a great smell.

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  5. I really need to do that stovetop potpourri! And I just love the way you blend the decorations for both holidays every year- it always looks so beautiful!

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  6. Stopping by from Kelly's Korner! I love that you decorated your planter boxes. So cute. I think you and your husband are great examples to your children on how two different beliefs can be celebrated together. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment! The planter boxes were fun to decorate and they look so bare otherwise.

      And thank you for the lovely comment about my husband and I as examples to our children. We try!

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  7. Well, you were definitely more on the ball with this project than I was. Haha! I kind of forgot about it because Brody and I were running "Christmas" errands all day. Sigh. And yes, it was an exhausting day with a 3 and a half year old in tow. So you know I commend you highly for letting Rachel have the freedom to express her decorating style. Haha! My OCD would be killing me to rearrange those letters. And I think I must try that potpourri. I love making my house smell good...an added challenge this year with a dog. I did buy a new Christmas scented candle that I haven't even lit yet. Love all the decorations and can't wait to see the tree later in the season. How exciting that your parents are coming...you know I just love them! :-)

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  8. I love the way you guys fully embrace both religious - your kids are lucky to have that experience!! Love the decorations :)

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    1. Thank you so much! It's not always easy to embrace both faiths but we really do try to model that to our kids.

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  9. I love those balls outside- great idea!! and what a wonderful amalgamation of religions :-)

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  10. I can't wait to try that stovetop potpourri. I usually simmer some water with a couple tablespoons of mulling spices--it smells heavenly!

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  11. I love your house! It's so cute! I need to try the Christmas potpourri - sounds amazing!!

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  12. I am going to try the potpourri. Do you use the same pan of it for a while and if so, how long? Your house looks great!

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  13. I like the potpourri idea....I'll need a way to make our new house smell good....it has apparently been empty for a while...

    :) I really like the new colors on your blog too!

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  14. I love the potpourri! I know my husband isn't a fan of scented candles since they bother his allergies, but I'm wondering how he'd feel about something natural like this...

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Thank you for being interested in my life as I blog it and for leaving a comment. Comments make me happier than reading a good book and drinking a cold Coke. Almost :)