Decorating Giveaway
Published December 15, 2010Make sure to pop in on Friday when I’ll have another giveaway in conjunction with my Proverbs 31 devotion that will be running! 
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No profound musings today. Just an old-fashioned picture show & a giveaway!
I love getting new ideas for decorating, especially around the holidays. So, here are a few of my ideas and a glimpse into our humble home. (Be sure to read until the end where there is a giveaway.)
The front of our house
Hubby's childhood sled rescued from his parents' garage & Kenna's old skates
Our front door. I got the trees 75% off last year the morning after Christmas & I actually made the swag about 15 years ago.
Todd's bike from about 1973 & an old wagon from my friend Lori.
Dining room table. I love gold & wood together!
Door to laundry room. Garland $1 from a yard sale. "For Unto Us a Child is Born" sign made by my friend & co-author Trish.
Antique school desk with garage sale finds. Snowman runner made again by Trish.
Stacking Snowmen made & given to me one year by...you guessed it! Trish! I know you're jealous you don't have a Trish! Two of the noses have gotten lost over the years but this is still one of my favorite Christmas items!
Bone china nativity given to us by my in-laws for our first Christmas in 1986.
View out our back slider door.
Snow began to fall just hours before our neighborhood open house.
Speaking of open house...here is the food!
...and the folks!
...and the fun!
Kids playing pool.
Little ones decorating cookies
Teens hanging out...what else?
Here is our tree. It is hard to see but the ornaments are either handmade by the kids or sugared fruits & candies. Underneath is my kids' favorite decoration, the ballroom dancers that glide.
And our fireplace. I waited 22 years to get a fireplace!!!
All these toys were either mine, Todd's or our kids'.
A close-up of the mantle. Most items from garage sales. Gingerbread cookie jar from my mom. Heart box has anscestor pics on it.
Well…our quaint cyber tour is done! How I wish you all could have stopped by in person.
However, since you couldn’t, here is a decorating giveaway I will be sending shortly to one of you!
It includes:
~Three signs from At Home America (a company I LOVE!). My friend Tammy was a consultant for years & I have many of their products in my house (most bought on clearance , of course!) The signs say “Simplify” “Imagine” & “Family”.
~ A box of six apple-cinnamon votive candles from Pier One.
~ A signed copy of my book A Life That Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart & Home to Others (full of simple decorating short-cuts!) If you want info about getting any of my books tax & shipping-free for Christmas gifts, click here.
Simply leave a comment today and you’ll be entered. I know you are all busy as we hit the Christmas homestretch, so the comment today is simple.
White lights or colored?
What’s on your tree?
As you can see, we have huge old-fashioned colored lights. My kids won’t have it any other way. Nor will my husband, who is quite quiet about Christmas decor, until it comes to the lights on the tree!
Winner announced Friday when the next giveaway kicks off!
Bright-Light Blessings,
122 Responses to Decorating Giveaway
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My Family
White lights on our main tree; colored lights on the kids’ tree.
Loved touring your home!:) I love to see how others decorate and get some ideas of my own. You have a beautiful home and it looks so festive and ready for Christmas!
It’s probably a decorating mistake, but we actually have both colored and white lights on our tree this year and think it looks great! We mostly have decorations that we have collected over the years on our tree. My husband puts the lights on and the kids and I do the decorations. Our kids each have their own collection of ornaments they have made or received as Christmas gifts so they have fun putting up their stuff every year!
Rebecca Ann
we have white lights! But we do have some colored lights in some of the garland that is on top of our bookcases! I love both!
New colored lights. Really like the old lights but hubby does not.
We have colored lights on our living room tree and white lights on the tree in our daughter’s room. Personally, I prefer white lights because it looks more like snow.
I’ve always had a theory about lights and North versus South. I think most people in the South use white lights because it looks more like snow and we rarely get snow. But, I think most people in the North use colored lights because they get so much snow…you need colored lights to see them through all the snow!
You’re pictures are beautiful.
I usually go with white lights.
Thanks for sharing your pictures! It’s always fun to get new ideas, and I appreciate all of your suggestions and inexpensive tips!
We have colored lights on our main tree.
This year my husband surprised me by getting a smaller, skinnier tree for our bedroom as well. We have a tradition of picking up one ornament per year as a couple. On our bedroom tree, he placed all of our couple ornaments (we’ve been married 10 years, so we don’t have a ton). What a blessing to walk by our “Tree of Memories” each day as I’m getting ready to start my day. This is my new favorite Christmas tradition!
I love your book but would love to win another to give to someone. We have colored lights on tree and outside…old fashioned too. Our tree needs to retire some decorations but we have a tradition of giving each child an ornament every year so they have their own to start their own tree when they leave home so we now have my 5 and 9 yr olds decorations plus every decoration they made each year and all the ones my hubby and I came together with…..maybe a few too many! Have a very Merry Christmas.
White lights! Our tree is full of ornaments collected throught the years. We have a mix of ornaments from my childhood and that of my husband’s as well as ornaments made by my daughter through the years!
On the tree we use White lights with pine cones I collected the 1st Christmas I lived on my own. We have decorations on the tree that were mine when I was younger and now the kids as they grow up (5 and 2) my husband gets a new airplane every year to add to the tree. The house is simple this year White lights in the windows and the manager scene outside. The kids wanted colored lights so we ran them through the hallway.
We use white lights on our tree. Our ornaments are ones we have bought for the kids or family ornaments over the years. Some are ones my son made. I do love your big colored lights. I remember when we had those when I was younger!!
White lights mostly, but I like the colored lights to. Our tree has a little of everything. Homemade ornaments from the kids, colored ball ornaments, baby’s first christmas etc. But there are two things that I must put on the tree every year. My husband and I were engaged at Christmas, so we were still dating in December. I helped him decorate a tree at his place. He didn’t have any decorations so I bought these cheap read velvet bows from CVS and a box of candy canes. That’s what we put on the tree along with a few strands of lights. I still have those bows, I put them on the tree every year along with candy canes so i can remember that first year.
Josey
Love all your decorating ideas – especially tying in your old toys and family heirlooms. Where do you store all this for the rest of the year?
We have white lights on our tree this year, and it is covered in our kids ornaments – handmade and those given to them as gifts. Such fun!
Colored Lights
Our kids are still young. My hubby said we could have fancy matching trees until we had kids and then they had to have colored lights and our ornaments from when we were kids 
Multi-colored lights – they are so festive!
Color lights all the way for the tree! I do like white lights on the outside garlands on our porch though.
Thanks for sharing those photos!
Small colored lights that blink – all old ornaments plus our new ones that are bought every year and anytime we visit another place (vacation) – and all of the ones that our kids have made to date along with our GOLD star on the top!!! Merry Christmas!
White lights! One thing that always makes it on our tree is a Santa ornament that I made out of a Styrofoam ball, yarn, felt and sequence when I was in elementary school. Quite ugly really but it always go up somewhere in the back of the tree : )
White lights!
Hi Karen…I am a reformed white light girl who is branching out into color
My kids LOVE the colored lights and so now we mix it up! And when the lights on the prelit tree – don’t? Wrote about it here on Leann’s blog: http://awidowsmight.org/2010/12/burned-out-bulbs-and-christmas-blessings/
Your house is gorgeous! Love the old toys especially. Merry Christmas – Danita
I have a star on top of the tree and white lights!!! Thank you for sharing your pictures–felt right at home!!!
I loved the tour of your home! Every year we always had white lights on our tree…because “I” liked them. Well this year I compromised and we added “one” strand of colored lights.
The ornaments on our tree are a little bit of everything from some my grandparents got on their travels, handmade by the children, and store bought. My husband and I go on a Yuletide tour at a local living history museum each year and we usually get an “old fashioned” ornament for our tree.
White sparkling, twinkling lights! for the “big tree”
Colored lights for kids room and elsewhere in the house….
I did love those signs for the giveaway…as I have framed pictures that hang above my desk at work that say….Imagine possibilities….Simplify Life…..
AND of course, I love my family!!!
Your house is lovely, thanks for sharing! We have white lights.
You can tell you are from Michigan. There is a snow storm and it doesn’t stop friends from coming over for a gathering!!
No tree yet; too stressed to even think about decorating, 4 Christmas dinners down & 3 more to go. Our artificial tree is pre-lit with white lights.
Love your decorations, but the snow and trees in your backyard are what caught my eye. Southwest OK has very little trees and even less snow
WHITE LIGHTS everywhere! All in anticipation of our son coming home from the Army!!
Karen, I loved seeing the tour of your home!
I prefer calm, peaceful white lights. My studio has my bed in my living room so I leave the lights on the tree on all night just to enjoy the atmosphere.
I would love to win one of your books. I need to be hospitable and I long to but I could use some help.
Thank you for your giveaways. They are so much fun.
Loved your tour; colored lights! Most ornaments were made when my boys were little or gifts.
Love your homey decor!
I like white lights, but my hubby and kids prefer colored so we have colored on the tree, and white on the stairwell so everyone is delighted. We purchase an ornament for each of our 3 children every year, so those and our own special memory ornaments are on our tree. It is a hodge podge, but each ornament has heart attatched to it.
White lights on the tree. I start with a base of gold and silver ornaments and ribbons and then we fill it up with all of our ornaments collected throughout the years.
Love the glimpse into your home, and yes I was thinking I needed a Trish.
We have colored lights because the kids insist and a tree filled with a hodgepodge of homemade and gifted ornaments. My oldest daughter (15) actually asked me the other night if I realized that our tree wasn’t very pretty.
White lights on the tree upstairs. Colored lights on the tree in the den. Loved your pictures. Thanks for sharing. The snow looks beautiful.
We have colored lights! However, i do like white lights on Victorian trees!
Your home is beautiful….guess I have to wait 14 more years for a fireplace! My hubby and I been married 8 years, and I’ve always wanted one!
Multi colored and flashing! Love them. Ornaments are all from the kids over the years.
Colored lights for this home,… love variety and the tree’s is covered with many home made, children made, and ornaments their grandmother has made or given them every year since they were born….. so seems like we have to get a bigger tree every year to fit them all on, will be sad when they are married and take their ornaments with them…and under the tree is a white blanket representing snow. But this Michigander didn’t venture out in the snow to your openhouse….thanks for sharing it online! Merry Christmas!
We have colored lights this year. I go back and forth from year to year.
This year….LED Colored Lights
Colored lights. We’ve had the same lights on our tree since my husband and I married 21 years ago. Unbelievable! All the other lights are colored and have to replaced almost every year. Ugh!
Our tree is full of special ornaments we have bought for each other and the kids each year symbolizing what happened that particular year. Also many homemade ornaments from the kids. Many, many memories! Love it!
Beautiful home Karen!! I’m going to copy some of your ideas!
White lights on the tree, old fashioned colored ones outside, that’s my preference. Since each of my kids gets an ornament for Christmas and they are 15, 17 and 19, 51 of the ornaments on my tree are theirs: Chewbacca, Boy Scout ornaments, sports ornaments, lots of animal ones for my animal lover, etc. So fun to remember their different stages….sniff, love the Tonka truck ornaments, that’s from days gone by.
Enjoyed viewing your lovely home. Merry Christmas!
Colored lights. We downsized to a small apartment and our tree (as we will be spending Christmas with at the grandkids’)is a special one made for my parents when Dad was in the pastorate. It is a ceramic white and gold tree with multiple lights, about 3 ft tall. I love it and when I look at it, I see all the love that went into making it as well.
I love the use of “old” toys to decorate with.
Absolutely white lights…unless they are the old-fashioned style! On our tree is a hodge podge of ornaments the kids have made, some we’ve been given, others I’ve found and loved at garage sales and a few that we both grew up with! Love seeing your home!
Definitely white lights for us! My tree also has sugared and frosted fruit and burgundy ribbon with gold trim encircling it, topped off by a beautiful angel with many elegant details.
I love the “vintage” toys in your decorations!
We decorate with white lights on all of our trees – living room, dining room and outdoor. Then I decorate with the traditional colors of red, gold and green with a touch of the new lime green color.
Definitely colored lights. thank you for the giveaway.
koinonia572001@yahoo.com
White Lights!! Makes me think of snow! Hope you and family have a blessed Christmas.
I love your decorations, inside and out, especially your beautiful tree. This year we used white lights on our tree, but I think I really like the colored lights better. We have both and usually swap back and forth each year. My mom has given me a Santa Claus ornament every year for as long as I can remember and those ornaments fill our tree these days, plus many others that are special. I need to start that tradition with our kids too.
white lights…requested by my 21 yr old…..I prefer colored…thanks for your pics of your home…how pretty…and such a nice reminder that we should enjoy the simple things in life……….(love the sled and skates)
Love colored lights…always have! Especially the big old fashioned ones!
We have colored lights on our tree – our youngest daughter and my DH make that selection. This year they doubled the number of lights on the tree. Then it is decorated with ornaments collected over the years – from family, friends, places we have visited. Same daughter says it takes me WAY too long to decorate because I stop and remember as I put the ornaments on the tree. BTW – enjoyed seeing how you have decorated and glad you were able to have your get together.
We have colored lights as well! This year we thought we were going to have to replace them but they shine on (going strong now for almost 15 years!!!)
I like white lights. I grew up with green lights on the big tree and colored lights on my childhood tree. I think white lights give a classic look : )
Your home is beautiful! I love homemade decorations! And I love colored lights and ornaments that look homemade. My big tree has a lot of wooden and cloth ornaments, and I have a small tree in my kitchen with just white and green lights and small ornaments that is so pretty!
I have white lights this year (I like both white and colored lights so I alternate) along with silver and blue bulbs and decorations. The ornaments are varied, some following the blue, white and silver theme, others are ornaments that have been collected through the years. Atop the tree is a star that lights up and there is also blue ribbon that drapes around the tree from top to bottom. Underneath the tree I have a white billowy soft fleece throw that I arranged to look similar to snow and there are giant blue and silver ornaments stuck here and there in the ‘snow’ along with a couple of snowmen – and presents of course!
We used white lights on our tree this year. I would love the big colored lights though. Totally brings me back to my childhood.
Colored lights all the way! This year my husband made some wooden ornaments for me and I painted them. Very old fashioned looking!
Colored are the only way to go for us!! We have nice, big ones too- the kids love it!
Colored lights always- it just wouldn’t be a warm family Christmas without colored lights on the tree. And Sunday night, I just spoke to my husband about trying to get some of the big old-fashioned colored lights for our front porch. Loved those growing up!
It has to be colored lights on the tree!! White lights are used for decorating around the house & outside.
White lights – which my mom laughs at because growing up I always fussed for colored lights on the tree & now have white ones on mine. =)
White lights!
After 20 some years of having colored lights last year I decided to changeout my lights to quiet white. My husband accidentally bought LED white. After they were on the tree (big mistake), they were turned on, tree decorated and I was like deer-in-a-headlights really upset. Beautiful tree, ugly lights. I really had to work through that perfectionism thing on decorating and realize what Christmas truly was about and not allow it to disturb my happy. It gave our young adult son’s friends something to talk and laugh about and some fun memories. They teased me about my tree. They called it “Mrs. Wilson’s BUG ZAPPER TREE” because it reminded them of those outside bright lights that kill bugs. How very flattering. But, I took it in stride, laughed and those lights are gone! This year I love, love, love my quiet, white lights and beautifully decorated tree with crosses, angels, stars, old and some new ornaments.
I could go either way on the lights, but my daughter loves the white lights – so be it! We have mainly different shapes and sizes of gold and silver ornaments, some snow flakes and a few pears because we live in Pearland!
Thanks for the tour of your decorations – I love, love, love them!!!
Danette
We use colored lights – the kids and my husband prefer that. I will go back to white lights, beads and bows when the kids grow up and take their ornaments with them.
I love the wagon with the gifts! That is such a great idea. Keep up the musings – I so enjoy reading your blog.
Merry Christmas!!
Christine Mc
Colored lights for sure! My kids may harm me if I decorated the family room w/ white lights. However, the room where I have my Bible time in the morning I have decorated with white lights:) And I love how you displayed all of the toys – super cute!
My hubby loves the colored lights, and he adds some blinkers.
The ornaments are from my and my husband’s childhood plus whatever new ones we’ve acquried while married. Our boys have some – they’re 4 & 2. We need to give them more ornaments!
Your pics were great, Karen. You have a lovely home – beautifully decorated for Christmas. And I love your book – what a great giveaway!!
Beautiful decorations, must seem sad to take them down. I have been doing less and less decorating. We use white lights. My favorite ornaments are the ones my kids made when they were little. I pray you have a blessed Christmas. Thanks for the giveaway.
My family likes colored lights. Our tree is filled with memorable, beautiful ornaments that were given to me by friends and family. Each ornament has a story to tell and it’s always a delight retell the story. May you have a wonderful, blessed Merry Christmas!
White lights, always. And I decorate with a random assortment of ornaments that I made when I was younger, and even some I made this year!
WOW! Love the pictures! You are very creative. We do colored lights on the tree, but white lights outside. Our tree is decorated with a combo of the kids’ homemade ornaments, special ornaments that signify specific things in our lives as a fmaily, and a collection of cheapo round shiny bulbs because that is my husband’s favorite decoration.
White lights and lots of kid-made ornaments on the tree. Plus ornaments collected over the years from vacations. Love it!
Your photos were wonderful, Karen. I love your decorating style. The snow looks beautiful too. I’m in California so I don’t see much of that stuff anymore.
white but only because my in-laws gave us their old tree. We always had colored when we bought a live tree each year. My kids want to go back to buying one so they can have colored lights!!
White lights.
We have colored lights and either homemade ornaments or ones given to all of us over the years. I grew up with St. Nick and we got an ornament each year in our stockings. I still have my very first ornament from 1963!
We have different colored lights and mostly homemade ornaments but also alot of Scooby Doo ornaments. When my son was little he was a huge Scooby fan so every year we would collect two ornaments. Your house is beautiful!
White Lights
)
White lights and ornaments collected and made over the last 35 years. What fun it is each year to unwrap them and remember who made them, where they were purchased, or who gave them to us. One of my favorites is a set of Snoopy ornaments I purchased when I was about 18 while shopping the after Christmas sales with my grandmother.
White lights, pearl strand, & ornaments we’ve collected throughout the years. Merry Christmas!
Thanks for sharing all the beautiful Christmas decorating you have done. I enjoyed the photo tour. Always colored lights when I was growing up. I now prefer white lights. Surprise, my husband only wants colored lights on the tree.
Colored light.
Ornaments my kids made in school and Santa ornaments. every year I add a new Santa Ornament…this year I added 2.
I can’t wait to be home! Looks great!
Colored lights. Our tree is covered with quite an assortment of ornaments. Some were handpainted by my husband’s grandmother. Others were made by my kids at school, some are from my childhood…as you can see we have quite a mishmash – but I do love my tree!
I LOVE your decorations Karen! Anyway, we have LED colored lights on our tree and outside. We have an assortment of ornaments on our tree…..from homemade to expensive ones received as gifts-(or purchased on clearance after Christmas!)
We have always had both–we don’t discriminate-hahaha-hohoho.
We have colored lights. All our ornaments are either yard sale finds or passed down from our families. We have a toddler though so there are very few ornamenst on the bottom of the tree. She will take them off, and we will place them higher. LOL
Colored lights here. I like the old-fashioned bulbs, but them seem to get so hot — it’s too scary!
We have colored lights. I love the white lights though and if I ever have the opportunity to have 2 trees – the 2nd one will be with white lights. But hubby loves the colored ones and the kids like them too so colored lights it is!
Your home is beautifully decorated. Thank you for sharing! I have white lights and red lights and red ornaments and red beaded garland.
We have both…white on the parents tree and colored on the kids tree. And yes we have two trees…the parents is the fru-fru matchy-matchy tree and the kids is decorated by them with all their ornaments- usually all on one side.
I use colored lights, but mingle a few white ones. These white ones are sparkle and are shaped like a mini light bulb.
Your decorations are so pretty, Karen. I love to see how people reuse things from the past.
I actually don’t have a tree, but I did wrap white lights around our nativity this year. The white lights add a lot of shine that I love.
Loved the tour of your house. I have colored lights on my tree. Lots of ornaments. Some old some new. Star on top.
When Matt and I got married he came from a colored light family and me from a white light family. Our deal was, I could use white lights anywhere except for the den tree, so 15 years later this is the tradition. Colored lights adorn the den tree and the trees and garland in the boys room, except for our oldest who has orange and blue lights representative of our favorite football team – AUBURN. I’m sure you have heard of CAM NEWTON.
The rest of the house has white lights. Pop over to my blog at http://www.monicahawkins.com and scroll down a day or so and you can see a tour of our home if you are as nosey as I am. 
Now THIS is a gift I would LOVE!!! Colored lights if what I have but would Love just white!! Collection of nearly 100 nativities (mostly miniatures) LOVE Them!!!
I love colored lights.
colored ones this year!!
We use white and red lights only on our tree. All of the ornaments are ones that we have bought from every trip we have taken since we have been married. Each one is unique, something that represents the area we were visiting. Also our sons have a collection of ornaments as well, some purchased on trips, others given as gifts by family. It makes Christmas very special as we remember all those wonderful memories and special times together. When my sons marry, I will pack up all of their ornaments and present them to the newlyweds for their first tree.