Chestnuts Roasting.....

Well, not really but this is the room where they would be roasting if we were so inclined. This is our family room and no matter how many sophisticated trees and mantles I see in people's homes or on blogs or Pinterest, I can never pull myself away from the "homey Christmas" I want need in this room. Most of the other rooms in the house have white lights-the only exception is the sunroom which is also where the kids gather-but I HAVE to fill this room with colored light! It is happy and childlike. I guess it takes me back to when my 3 were young and living in this house and this room. When we added the fireplace to this room, it truly became a family-room. We spent so many hours right in this room watching TV, playing games and entertaining so many of the girls' friends. We even had many a cheerleading or Anchor club gathering right in this room-and if it was even remotely cool, there would be a fire blazing.

And so, this room still evokes so many wonderful memories. After the TV is turned off each evening, my husband and I sit there in the dark with only the Christmas lights glowing and find it hard to pry ourselves up and into bed. It is beautiful at night!

And, in just a very short time, this is where our whole family (17 people and 4 large dogs) will once again gather to exchange gifts, play games, visit and just embrace everything that this wonderful season provides.

And so, I guess I went through all of that to explain why my decorations are not much different than they were last year or any other year in fact. I just love all of these things and I need to be surrounded by them this time of year. It may not be the most up-to-date color scheme or modern appearance, but hey, I'm old enough now that I don't really have to justify. Hope you enjoy looking around.

Note- still not one gift under the tree, but at least the base is now skirted. My mom made me a tree skirt many years ago-back when no sane person would try to cram a 9' tree in an 8' room-so it no longer even covers the huge tree stand. But, since I feel the need to use it every year-one more of those memory things- I start by spreading out a dark green sheet. It is not the most decorative solution but soon that tree will be filled with wrapped gifts-well, maybe not soon but before we start to open them I hope-and none of this will be seen any way.

I really did use every ornament we own on this tree-not just because it is a truly large tree but also because when everyone is here, the girls will start pointing out all of the special ornaments and if I miss one, feelings will be hurt! Not to mention the fact that it is a wonderful trip down memory lane as each ornament is unpacked each year! They kind of serve as a living scrapbook. When our first grand child was born, I started buying special ornaments depicting a special moment of her life from the previous year. I have continued that each year for each of my grand children. It is fun, and sometimes difficult, to track down just the perfect ornament but so far each child has one for every year of  his or her life and my hope is that they will carry these memories with them to their first tree in their first home and share all of these memories over and over with their spouses, children and yes, even grand children. I probably won't be here to see that but I sure will be smiling from above.

I think I have shared about this toy wreath before. My sister-in-law and I both fell in love with one very similar in one of our favorite country stores many years ago. This store carried only very beautiful things and their prices were ridiculous-could be why they went out of business, but, I digress. We decided that we could make our own so we set out to find lots of vintage toy ornaments-new and from our own collections. Then, the day after Thanksgiving-when so many of the rest of the family headed out to shop-Cyndi, my mom and I had a craft day and put together our wreaths. Many of the ornaments on that wreath were used on the trees I would have in my own bedroom when I was young and the evoke so many wonderful memories. A few even have the price stamped on the bottom in purple ink-does anybody else remember when they did that?-and they were 10 cents! Some day I will take a close-up picture of that wreath when there is not a mirror behind it to flash back at us and I will share some of those stories. Bet you can't wait!

So, that is pretty much the family room. Have a few rooms left to share so hope you will come along for the ride. It may be a few days before I am back again as this is the weekend the 4 oldest girls come into town and we go to the "Nutcracker" and then to dinner on the town square at Harrys. We will be surrounded by the millions of lights of "Light Up Ocala". Hopefully we will listen to some live music, take a carriage ride around town and still make it to the live Nativity that our church puts on every year. Then it is home for hot chocolate and either a good Christmas movie or a rousing round of Michigan rummy. Can't wait! Stay tuned.