Decorating Giveaway

Make 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,

123 Comments

  1. 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.

  2. 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!!!

  3. 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. :)

  4. Loved the tour of your house. I have colored lights on my tree. Lots of ornaments. Some old some new. Star on top.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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!

  9. 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

  10. 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!)

  11. 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! :)

  12. 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. :D

  13. 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.

  14. 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!

  15. 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!

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