First Christmas in Our New Home {2013}

I've had a couple of people request a Christmas post showing my decor and am happy to share with y'all. We had a blast decorating and showing off our nest to family. This is our third Christmas being married but our first in this house. Everything wasn't completely decorated since this was our first time having a mantle and fireplace. Hopefully next Christmas it will be more like I want it. 

The first picture is a shot of the living room from our front door. We did some rearranging to accommodate our chubby little Christmas tree but it's not much different from how it normally is set up.   We even got to pick and cut our tree this year up in the mountains with Colin's family. My sister-in-law was sweet (and brave) to invite us all to stay the weekend after Thanksgiving. Thanks again Nicole! :)

One of my favorite decorations is my great grandmother's dough bowl. I'm sure I've mentioned it before and tell all my guests about it. It gets new decor with every season but hasn't been used to make biscuits like she always did. 

Riley was my Christmas present 3 years ago so I call him my Christmas kitty. His favorite thing about Christmas is drinking from the tree. Now that the tree is gone we actually have to remember to fill up his water bowl. :)

Our buffet got a full makeover with Christmas decorations. It made our kitchen very festive! Here are some other shots of Christmas decor around the kitchen:

I try to update my chalkboard every holiday to add some personal "art" to keep things interesting. I added an old bottle and some berries plucked from our yard to my antique scale. My blue mason jar was filled with an assortment of small silver ornaments to add a little cheer.

See that green bread box? It's an antique our neighbors found and gave to me. It's a perfect addition to the kitchen and I love it! My mom cleverly filled a mason jar with candy canes to add some color and holiday spirit. My little reindeer was an after Christmas sale find last year. He holds our Christmas goodies for guests (and us). Again, we stole some berries and leaves from outside and stuck them in an old bottle. That cute bird with a top hat was a welcome winter guest.

Colin was very excited to decorate the outside of the house this year. He's already talking about how we need to get more lights and decorations to keep up with the neighbors. We got these little trees from my grandma for Christmas and I think they are adorable!

See our nice stained front porch? I was slack and didn't share the before and after pictures of that yet. Maybe I'll get that post up soon because it was a huge difference! I love how this picture shows off our rocking chairs. 

And here's a night shot of the whole house. We're missing the candles in the windows and the trees on the front porch. It was so nice to come home when the house was all lit up and pretty!

Lastly, here's a picture of us on Christmas day at my grandparents house. Thank you to all the family that came by to get the tour of our nest. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to show it off. To all those who couldn't make it for the tour, I hope you enjoyed this virtual tour. 

Celebrating Fathers and The Fourth!

Father's Day was our first get together we've had at our new house. It wasn't a huge party or anything, just my parents, sister and brother-in-law. We finally saw how perfect our house is for entertaining and I think our guests loved it too (although, being family they may be a little biased). I thought I'd share a few photos of the celebration! This was my favorite picture of the night:

We were able to use our massive amount of counter space for the first time. We loved getting to spread the food out and make a little buffet. Well, it wasn't a little buffet really. Colin grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and we had a spread of toppings (lettuce, tomatoes, onions, bacon). We also had corn on the cob, grapes, and french fries and my specialty for dessert, Funfetti cupcakes.

We know that we are the luckiest girls in the world to have such a great father. Of course, after Daddy got his present he was thinking he's the luckiest father in the world...

Yep, that's my dad. Only he would be silly and act like he's smoking with his new smoker. We've gotten to enjoy chicken wings and pork chops with his present. Can't wait to see what he cooks up next!! :)

Now, on with the next celebration! We spent all day with family and friends on July 4th and I can't think of a better way to celebrate. We are so grateful for the men and women (and their families) who serve or have served our country. Thank you so much for the sacrifices you make! Our house got a chance to be patriotic with our new flag. :)

We had my parents, sister and brother-in-law, and neighbors over for supper. The neighbors (Mr. Charles helped put up my beadboard) brought two sweet little newborns that they were fostering. So, we got to snuggle with them (the babies, not the neighbors) for a long time. 

Here is my patriotic display on the mantel for July 4th. I love using antiques as decorations and it's even better when I know the story behind the antique. The basket has a quilt made by my great grandma. Also, the little red iron on the left of the mantel was my great grandma's iron that she used for years then turned into a doorstop. Some of my favorite decorations came from her, so guests will find me telling personal stories about most of my antiques. The flag bunting is from Pottery Barn (snagged it on sale the day after July 4th, shhh). 

Here we are posing with our new flag and rockin' our red, white, and blue. We hope you all had a great Father's Day and Fourth of July!! :)