Hey, internets – welcome to the 2008 Christmas Tour of Homes!
I’ll go ahead and confess to y’all that I panicked a little bit last week when I realized that this tour-o-homes business was on the horizon and, HELLO, MY HOUSE LOOKS JUST LIKE IT ALWAYS DOES AT CHRISTMAS, OH SWEET MERCY THE PRESSURE.
But then I remembered that there are a few little traditions that I’ve never shared with you, and as you can imagine my relief was palpable.
First, though, let’s look at all the stuff that looks just like last year!
THIS MUST BE SO EXCITING!
And with lights!
Oh, we are very fancy. And once again I can take absolutely no credit at all for my tree, because Mama decorated every single bit of it. Thankfully she didn’t take any tree-related tumbles this year, though the decorating was briefly interrupted by a pesky stomach virus. Obviously she rebounded and finished the task at hand remarkably well.
As always I decorated the bar in our living room. For those of you who aren’t familiar with why there’s a bar in our living room, here’s the gist: our house was built in 1974, and apparently early-70s homeowners felt it was imperative that beverage service be located within ten feet of the television. For whatever reason I get a kick out of the fact that the wet bar now boasts garland, lights, Christmas stockings, and a one-armed monkey stocking hanger.
See? That’s our one-armed monkey stocking hanger. The monkey used to have two arms, but then he tied up with a certain two year-old a few years ago, and the two year-old won. The monkey still does an absolutely beautiful job holding a stocking, though, and I smile every single time I walk past him.
(He’s also completely broken in two at the waist, so it stands to reason that he could use some encouragement.)
Our Christmas card tree – which is a 6 1/2 foot tree that we got for free and now use to display Christmas cards in the playroom – is one of my favorite traditions. It brings me untold delight, especially around December 24th when it’s chock-full-o-cards.
And, as always, I LURVE me a festive table.
For the last several years I’ve put my parents’ aluminum Christmas tree (from way back in ye olden 60s) in our little boy’s room. He loves it because it’s shiny (it’s also very lean-y) and because we put Mickey Mouse lights on it. All the ornaments on this tree are from my childhood – my brother’s elves, my sister’s carolers, my handmade stuff from Sunday School and kindergarten – and it’s so much fun to see how much the little man enjoys it.
And another fun thing in his room? This giant stocking hanging from a curtain rod.
In the past I’ve always done garland and lights outside our front door, but this year I wanted to do something a little more simple because, well, I just wanted to do something a little more simple, AS IS MY PREROGATIVE AS A FEMALE, OH THANK YOU. So I found this cool iron container at TJ Maxx for $9.99, and I filled it with some pieces of a shrub that’s in our backyard.
And just to clarify for all you gardener people, I believe that the Latin name of the greenery I used is shrubae in our backyardae.
Be sure to look for it in your favorite horticulture journals.
The container tends to clang against the front door when people walk in or leave, so it also works as a bell. Who knew my $9.99 would provide me with a container for greenery and an entry notification system? I’m completely undeserving of such good fortune.
Finally, when we were visiting my brother and sister-in-law last weekend, I was totally captivated by the Nativity scene they have in their foyer – and I took a picture of it just for y’all. Because I love how every single creature in the stable is looking at the manger and anticipating the arrival of Jesus.
May the same be true of us, sweet friends.
Thanks so much for joining in the fun today – I hope you have a great time touring and commenting and visiting and whathaveyou. Remember, as I’ve said before, this is a marathon, not a sprint, so PACE YOURSELVES, PEOPLE. Drink lots of water, eat lots of protein, and please, as always, no wagering.
Oh, I kid. But y’all make this so much fun, and I am grateful.
Four quick things before I go:
– It would be great if you’d leave a comment when you visit the blogs that are participating in the Tour. Even a short comment can encourage someone so much!
– Here’s a refresher on Christmas Tour guidelines.
– Everyone who leaves a comment is eligible to win a very special door prize from Engraved Euniques. I’ll draw for the prize this Friday, December 19.
– Please make sure to leave a link for YOUR POST’S SPECIFIC URL, NOT THE GENERAL URL OF YOUR BLOG.
Merry Christmas, y’all!
Lovely!!!
My ‘tour’ is a slide show of 48 “FACES OF CHRISTMAS” –closeups of things sitting ’round my home for the holidays.
thank you for this fun idea!
Merry Christmas! Love, Dana
This is my first time to participate. I am excited! :) Can’t wait to see everyone else’s homes.
Oops…I think I posted my link twice. Sorry. I’m new at this. :(
This is so fun! I love Christmas!
I just started blogging – so I’m not sure how to add pics, etc – but when I discovered this wonderful house tour, I just had to peek at what everyone else is doing! This is so much fun!!! IF I can tear myself away from looking at all the other blogs, I might have time to take some pics of my house and try to post them…but I still have so much to learn, I might not make it this year!
my house is ready for everyone to tour.
This was fun to do and I look forward to seeing everyone’s decorations and homes. Blessings to all, Jill
Thanks for organizing the tour!
I LOVE your china!
Goodness! You weren’t kidding about “pacing” ourselves :-) Here in Argentina we’re four hours ahead of y’all so I figured I’d be near the beginning when I got up and posted this morning. Not even close! Do some of your readers stay up all night to come to your parties?
Thank you for organizing this! I am glad to be able to participate.
I love your Card Tree, great idea.
Merry Christmas,
Kim
What fun, Big Mama! Your house looks beautiful. Merry Christmas…
Love the tinsel tree!
LOVE LOVE the tour of homes!! And I love your Christmas cards on the tree–very cute!
Thanks for doing the tour again. It is always great to visit all the homes.
Merry Christmas!
So much fun!! Thank you for doing this!
Hi Boomama,
Thanks for hosting this Open House. Wow…you sure do have lots of participants already!
I hope to get around to lots of them, but it will take a while!
Your decorations look great-everything from your tree to your Christmas card diplay.
I really like the Nativity with all of the visitors looking at the Baby Jesus-I may have to go ‘tweak’ mine!
From another MS gal,
Diane
Thanks for doing this Christmas tour again this year. I sure was surprised when I signed in at 7:00am this morning and found there were already 200 people on the tour! Merry Christmas
Hugs, Rhondi
I totally fell in love with your card tree last year but never got one for us. I’m so buying me another tree after Christmas this year specifically for that purpose!
Thanks for hosting this!
Love it!
A Christmas card tree is a wonderful idea! I’ll have to remember that for next year.
THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!!! I found your website via Lysa TerKurst–I can’t wait to check out everyones elses tour!
I love your Christmas Card tree–I never know how to display all the beautiful cards we get–very cool!!
Merry Christmas!
My parents have a silver metallic tree that had been my mother’s parents when she was little. I love that!
This is fun. Thank you!
Thanks for having this! I love seeing what everyone else does!
this is so fun! thank you!
Great Idea! Found this from a frined’s blog. Love it!
Blessings
Robin
So much fun! Thanks for hosting this again this year!
ooooh, I wish I took today off of work!
Were people sitting by their computers at midnight??? It’s only 6 am here and I’m already in the 200’s…It’s going to be a long evening looking at these all when I get home – thanks for putting this on again!
Everything looks just divine!! This is so fun :) Can’t wait to see how everyone’s turns out!
Festive and gorgeous, Boo! Love the table.
My, but the Tour has surely grown over the past couple of years! So fun!
Thank you so much!!
Oh man, to be able to go inside over 200 homes decorated for Christmas!! WOW!
I better get busy!
Merry Christmas! Thanks for hosting this.
Thank you for sharing pictures from your home, it is very beautiful!
Thanks for hosting! Love your tree!
Your home is beautiful! I love the tree for your cards. Thank you for hosting this! So much fun!
I am a complete idiot. No way around it. I actually set my alarm to get up and be one of the first to add my link. That’s not the part that makes me an idiot.
The idiot part comes in where I didn’t hear my alarm and wandered downstairs
2:00am. Oh well, I like being #77!
Now here’s the real idiot part. When I linked up, I didn’t use the link to my House Tour post. I linked back to your party post. See? Idiot.
You can delete #77 if you would like or you can change the link to http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/2008/12/love-me-some-parties.html.
Kimba
Boomama, this is amazing. Your decorations are fun as well as festive. This is my first time to participate and I am having fun with it. thank you for the great Christmas homes reveal event.
Hugs…Jeanne
I am looking forward to checking out everyone else’s holiday homes.
Wow! It’s early and I am number 230!
Your Christmas decor is beautiful. Thanks for hosting this. It’s been fun.
Thanks for hosting this! I love your decor, especially that silver tree. So vintage and would look perfect in my home…
The Christmas tree for cards is a great idea. And feather trees on your table? F-a-n-c-y!
Thanks for letting us share in the fun!
Yeah! My first year to participate!
I will get NOTHING done today but look at all the ideas!
It looks like I am going to have a nice icy and cold day to stay inside and tour homes!
So excited to see everyone’s decorations!
And here I thought I would be early linking before work… I love your Christmas card tree!
I love that you host this! I love home tours. Thank you!
Hey Sophie! It all looks SO festive, esp. with all your descriptions. I’m doing a Holiday tour at my blog too, so I hope you’ll come and add your link. Merry Christmas!!
I LOVE the Christmas card tree idea. I may have to use that one some year…
Thanks for organizing so much fun. It should be illegal.
MERRY CHRISTmas to your family and all.
so fun!!!
So much fun! I look forward to the tour every year! Thanks!!!
This is so fun. I’ll get mine up ASAP. In the meantime. I love that nativity set – I totally teared up when I saw it: it reminded me of the one my Grandmother had in her living room all the years I was growing up. She’s home now with Jesus and this time of year, I miss her more than I can possibly say. Thanks for posting it – I’m very blessed to have such godly and happy memories of her.
I’m in! This is fun! I’m ready to spend all day looking around, I mean, taking care of my kids.
Beautiful! Your table looks like it could grace the pages of Southern Living!
I can’t wait to check out all the homes on your tour.
My first tour!! Im sooo excited! Thanks so much! Your home is awesome!! I LOVE the monkey stocking holder! Cracks me up!
Love, Jaelle
May I just say that your table is loverly? Your table is loverly. And so is your card tree. I love that.
I would love to decorate a table too, but since we just have the one and it’s usually covered with crayons and coloring papers, and crumbs… well, it pays not to decorate it. Plus my littlest is not quite a year and a half and a fancy table is just asking for trouble. One day though… and it is gonna be FANCY! Like yours. :)
Your house is beautiful!!
Thanks for hosting once again! Your home looks lovely and cherry!
Thanks for hosting! You do such a good job with your home!
I think a friend of mine has the same china you do. What a great pattern!
Your house looks beautiful! Merry Christmas!
What?! No cookies? I thought that you were a proper Southern woman! :)
Thanks for the tour de Boo Family!
Thanks Boo Mama for hosting such a wonderful Holiday Tour!!! Your home is beautiful and I looooove the table! I am all signed up and read to party. Nancy
Thanks for hosting again!
Love this tour…looking forward to seeing all the posts!
Goodness…I thought I was the early bird at 5:30 a.m. and wowza! So many things to see today….I’m excited! : )
Thanks for hosting! My favorite deco of all was the tinsel tree in your little boys room – too sweet!
Oh the pressure of editing and re posting – I’m in the dregs of my holiday cold and the brain just wasn’t working. BUT it is up and I’m already enjoying the terrific job done by one and all. Merry Merry y’all! Well done
Thanks for hosting! I like your card tree idea!
Boomama–
I especially LOVE the feather trees! Absolutely Beautiful!
Merry Christmas to you and yours:)
I love to look at other people’s homes. Thanks for the opportunity to post mine.
I have been taking a lot of tours today! I enjoyed them very much. Thank you for hosting this!
I am a fairly new blogger and I love your site! I am delighted to be included in the home tour and look forward to my travels today! Your pictures are beautiful…Merry Christmas!
Thanks for doing this again…this is SO much fun!
I can’t wait to see everyone’s decor so I can steal, ahem, I mean copy, for next year!
And, I love your table BooMama!!!!!!
In joy, Troye
We east coast girls are crazy. CRAZY I tell you. I somehow managed the number 3 spot on this here linky and 3 minutes later, I see 45 people already linked up! It was so worth staying up til 1am! It was like a party in my laptop!
Thanks for hosting and I can’t wait to browse around all the beautiful homes.
Thanks for hosting this …
I won’t get a thing done today, trying to visit all of these festive homes!
Merry Christmas!!!
Oh. And I forgot to say how absolutely lovely your decorations are. Where are my manners? I love your Christmas card tree and your table setting especially.
Oh. And the thing on your door. Perfect!
Wow, I’m #292? at 7:12am MST? My goodness, what a thrill this is going to be!
Have a marvelous day, Sophie!
Thanks for hosting, BooMama. This gave me encouragement to tidy up the house and pull out my tripod photograph the Christmas decoration wonderfullness.
I love having multiple trees… glad to see I’m not the only one.
What beautiful trees! I really like the idea of the card tree.
Oh my stars!I’m the 298th entry at 8 in the morning. This is a bunch of Christmas-lovin’ ladies!!
My post is up! I have a Christmas card tree, too, and I took a picture of it, but I can’t find the picture and I’m not about to wrestle with Blogger to edit the post I made! Argh. :)
Thanks for hosting! I’m a first-timer, and enjoying the Christmas fun!
Beautiful. I love your tree! Thanks so much for hosting this. I was running on empty this morning, and I stumbled upon this through a link, and it has been such a gift to be able to spend the morning touring homes. Thanks! :)
Oo I wish I could call in sick today… Love your decor and thanks for all of the wonderful ideas.
Blessings
This is fun! Thanks for doing this!
Wow…8 am and I’m number 308!! I better go make a thermos of coffee for my tour.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Holy cow — it’s only 9:30 EST and there are already 300 entries up?! What a fun day this is going to be!
Thank you so much for being our lovely tour hostess. I am sooo looking forward to doing my Christmas tour of all these homes later today when the kids go down for a nap. I’m excited to meet some more blogging Christian women. Thanks, BooMama.
Merry Xmas!!!! hope you enjoy the visit to our home ;)
This is my first time participating!
Your home looks lovely!
Thank you for hosting this!
Hey mama…I am an idiot of large proportions! I couldn’t get the linkey thingy….you can go ahead and delete 241,249and263…I did finally get it with a little help from a friend! Sorry to be such a pain! Merry Christmas!
Your house is so pretty, I love your Christmas tree. This is my first year to participate and I love it!! SO much fun! Merry Christmas!
My first time participating also, thanks! So fun!
Oh, the fun I am having this morning! Lots of homes to visit. What a nice tour.
I love doing this! Thanks for being such a gracious hostess, but, since you’re from the South, I would expect nothing less!
Merry Christmas!
Melinda
Boo Mama,
Your Christmas tour of homes is special to me because this is the way I started reading blogs in the first place and ultimately writing my own.
Your home looks just like you….warm and friendly and very Southern! I love it!
Merry Christmas to you and your sweet family!
I’m gonna try to do this myself later, but it may take me a while. So many have been hard at work already this morning! I’m impressed. Is it too late to participate?
Your Latin skills are beautiful. Just beautiful. And so’s your house.