The Sunday Showcase - Holiday Home Tour 2020, Part 1.

Welcome to my Holiday Home Tour 2020 - my favorite post of the year, but also the most time-consuming one. 

Everyone that knows me well knows that I LOVE CHRISTMAS. I love decorating for Christmas and I decorate a lot (indoors). Every room, area, corner, hallway or bathroom gets a touch of Christmas as you will see. There are a ton of photos in today's post and I apologize, I even had to narrow these down, but as I said I decorate a lot for Christmas and this year I started as early as the second week of November because it is 2020 and why not?! LOL Today for the second Sunday Showcase of December - we are doing one Sunday linkup each week in honor of the Holidays - MIREILLE of Chez Mireille and myself are opening the doors to our homes and taking you in, so you can see for yourself how we decorate. I am going to do 3 Holiday Home Tour posts since there are too many areas and if I did it all in one post, I could easily have 300 photos today lol. Today I will focus on the main areas of the home that are decorated and on the stars of our Christmas home decor like the mantle and the main tree. I am sharing with you today our living room, our formal dining room, the entryway, the main Christmas tree, our other dining room and the mini office area by the dining room.

So, Welcome Inside and let's start with...

...The front door (of course) which takes us in the entryway into our home - here our main tree greets you with its gorgeous neutral ornaments and golden lights. First things first - the wreath. I re-styled this simple wreath with the shimmery green+gold bow and that deep red poinsettia flower with the gold jingle bell hanging from it. The wreath itself was simple and woodsy: green with real pine-cones and woodsy tubes. While I love the way it came (I purchased it last year after the holidays at TJ Maxx), since we didn't put a lot of decor or color outside I made it a little extra and more colorful with the pieces I added. OK, so let's go inside! Welcome in and make yourself home, I will make you a cappuccino. Mia casa - tua casa!

THE  MAIN  CHRISTMAS  TREE.

This year's Christmas Tree is mainly gold with touches of white, silver and champagne colors. It is what I would call a mixture of a "theme tree" with a "regular christmas tree". It is a gorgeous tree nevertheless and what would one consider an "Instagram Tree", especially since when I have posted this tree on my Instagram, it has been featured already in 4 Instagram pages that feature Christmas decor. My friends and followers have complimented me a lot on this tree this year and it is my favorite tree in the last 5-6 years, possibly my most favorite Christmas tree I have decorated... yet! It is an "Instagram tree" but not, because unlike most gorgeous Instagram-worthy trees this one doesn't have the same let's say 3, 4, 5 or 6 ornaments all over it, all looking the same, creating a beautiful pattern throughout. There are many mismatched ornaments here and many ornaments purchased and collected through the years, a combination of cheap inexpensive ones from Wal Mart or Target with some pricier, high-end ornaments from places like Pier 1, Lord & Taylor or Crate & Barrel. Most ornaments are 'old' meaning we have owned them from many previous years ago. There are however some new pieces, such as 9 large glass ornaments from Crate & Barrel (3 of each kind), 3 personalized family ornaments, a few gold glittery animal ornaments by Target and Vivian's personalized ornament this year which is that millennial pink and beige sculpted wooden ornament with her name craved in it (towards the bottom of the tree). I have been featuring one ornament each day on my Instagram stories for 25 days of Christmas and picking just 25 favorite ones is hard, trust me. Oh and speaking of the bottom: the skirt is new too since none of the skirts we own would match this tree just right. I picked this faux fur white skirt from Amazon, fairly-priced. The Red Santa Claus is a vintage one that was gifted about 6 years ago, while the red angel beautifully dressed in velvet I have had for close to a decade. The cars and the red racket decorated with Christmas trees or presents (on the bottom of the tree, on the skirt) are all new this year, from Target. For the tree topper I went for something modern, fun and I guess what it is currently considered stylish and IN. I chose a variety of decorative picks+sticks, some glittery and some not instead of a more classic tree topper like a star or an angel, but I love how it came out. One more thing that is different with this 8-feet tree this year, is the placement of it. We normally place it off the side by the mantle, however this year I put this tree on the corner by the stairs and it is the first thing you see as you come in through the door. It is so beautiful and if anyone knocks or comes in, this beautiful tree can definitely not be missed!

THE  FORMAL DINING ROOM.

This is the area across from where the main tree is located. The main focus of the formal dining room is the dining table of course. It is very nicely decorated in Classic Christmas Colors like red and green. We keep these green leaf-patterned jacquard chair covers all year round but they especially look perfect for Christmas. The table runner I chose this year, has the colorful embroidered nutcrackers (purchased a few years ago from Home Goods). Unfortunately this year one of the pom-poms got unraveled. One of these days I have to buy 4 new pom poms and sew them on each hand. Nevertheless this table runner looks gorgeous with the centerpiece decor featuring a tall large champagne-colored glass bowl filled with wooden balls, wooden wintery chestnuts, some clear glass balls with green leaves - matching the chair covers - some red/green/blue patterned glass balls and 2 present-shaped red+green ornaments on top. This bowl is huge and the ornaments are fairly big too. There is a cute Santa candle right in the middle, too. On each side of the bowl there is a little faux Christmas planter which are beautifully tied with red plaid bows - purchased these from Lord & Taylor (after Christmas) two years ago. I am also hanging two gorgeous large ornaments on the chandelier, they are identical, one is green and one is red, also from Lord & Taylor but over a decade old. On the sides of this dining room area we have some Christmas decor too. That large neutral vase carrying some neutral woodsy twigs and picks is there year round because it goes with the overall decor of the home, but I added a big fabulous sparkly, beaded red star ornament to it. On the other side there is a little wicker basket with a variety of different green ornaments next to a red vase filled with red flowers, sparkly twigs and branches (all in red). The red+green together look perfect! These two corner areas bookend the china cabinet which I redecorated inside with only the finest china and all our crystal glasses. The Christmas touches there: a couple of oversized see-through crystal ornaments, the white and red porcelain coffee mug ornaments and a little sparkly white Santa head on the bottom. Very few touches on the china cabinet but enough to make it festive and christmasy.

MIREILLE'S  CHRISTMAS  DECOR.

Just like me, Mireille has decorated her home a lot, this Christmas. Little touches everywhere, which I love. For example she has her kids Christmas books displayed under a little tree, little brush trees in different areas, a mini Christmas village, handmade cards hanging neatly, DIY ornaments combined with many sentimental ornaments bought through the years, lights, little houses and that beautifully-decorated, so-cheerful and festive tiered tray. Our decorating style is different, for example her tree is more minimalistic. But I think both of our homes have that cozy, cheerful, festive, welcoming factor for sure. Different homes, a lot of enthusiasm, cheer and warmth to celebrate the holidays! 

THE  MANTLE  AND  FIREPLACE  AREA.

Another focal point and the hub of our home is the fireplace and mantle area. I went for coziness - a little classic and a little country warmth in the way I decorated this area, this year. With classic colors like red with lots of green and white thrown in it. On the bottom of the fireplace area, on the spot where the main (big) tree usually is we have this 4 feet new tree from Wal Mart this year. This tree was a steal and it has faux snow, real pine cones, faux red cranberries and clear lights on it, already. I added a lot of classic ornaments to it (none of the ornaments are new), mostly are red, white and silver balls but also some wooden ones and some porcelain ornaments. There are these red velvet curly picks all over the tree (from Wal Mart last year, but first time I decorate with them) and I put one of those on each side of the tree on top, with a silver reindeer in the middle. Next to the tree there is a basket with a couple of small decorative Christmas pillows from Target, inside. I tied a white tulle bow with a classic red patterned sparkly velvet bow (I have these red sparkly velvet bows throughout the living room and by that big black vase that carries the sunflowers by the stairs, as you will see) and I have had these red Christmas bows for years. On the other side of the fireplace we have two mini snow-covered trees in galvanized buckets (they are new this year from Target so inexpensive), with a small red lantern with a faux candle, right in the middle (new this year from Wal Mart). The black+white vase is always there, I added a mini Christmas sign and a Christmas Caroler (figurine) to it. Of course the fireplace is in the middle, decorated with clear lights over the woods. And on the bottom of the fireplace we have that gorgeous long skinny pillow that says "Christmas Tree Farm". My mom purchased it this year from Sam's Club - they had the best Christmas pillows there, this year. Last but not least I decorated the top of the mantle with little porcelain houses by Target, green bottle brush trees (with snow-covered bristles) by Meijer and a couple of little red trucks by Walmart. I added some battery-operated lights in there, too. Simple but very cute. Looks like a little Christmas village or neighborhood.

(REST OF)  THE  LIVING  ROOM.

This is my living room. That gorgeous arched window is the main focal point of our living room. The winter white leather sectional is filled with lots of cozy and festive Christmas pillows purchased through the years from Wal Mart, Kohl's, Amazon and Nordstrom Rack as well as a cozy double-sided faux fur neutral blanket which I tied as a bow and I added one of those red+gold sparkly velvet bows in the middle - it added a Christmasy touch. In general I love decorating with candles - they add light and joy during this time of year and smell so good. During the Winter I choose wintery scents like frasier, spruce, roasted chestnut, cinnamon, etc. as you can see these candles in the different areas of the living room. I light up the candles a couple of hours each day. But I also love decorating with bowls and vases filled with mini balls and ornaments. In this area I have also decorated with small houses (I love the tea lights inside them), mini snow globes and ornaments placed in the shelves by the TV stand. For the coffee table in the middle, I filled that deep oval bowl with some globe ornaments some of which have silk-tied bows and some silver+red present-shaped ornaments. On that side lamp table I added pink, kelly green and turquoise sparkly brush trees which match the colors of the mini ornaments inside the clear vases next to them on the little stand. The red and brown colors of that watercolor vase are very Wintery and those deep brown wooden sticks inside are perfect for this vase.

THE  DINING ROOM/BREAKFAST  NOOK  AREA.

This is our breakfast nook and where we usually eat our meals. I decorated it with ornaments and touches of red buffalo print which is a great festive plaid for the holidays. Off the side in this breakfast nook area, we have that little office area where we keep quick notes, current mail, lists, a laptop, pens+pencils, stamps and such. I just added a small tree from Target's bullseye aisle to this mini office - they have these trees every year for 5 bucks and even smaller ones for 3 bucks. Vivian added that little tin house to the tree (looks like a bird house) and there is a nice candle in there, it smells so good! The oval table has a red buffalo plaid linen runner (from Pier 1) which is reversible. Here we have a large glass brown bowl shaped like a shell. I filled it with gorgeous turquoise ornaments, spiky stars and roses, all in the same color family. I love the little reindeer antlers on the side too, they go so well with the table runner and the matching red buffalo plaid NOEL sign hanging by the white vase. In that little corner there is another one of those red mini lanterns (from Wal Mart) and a decorative red velvet poinsettia flower adorning the vase. That's it. 

My Favorite post from December's Sunday Showcase was AMY from Amy's Creative Pursuits, which is fitting with my post today because she featured a lovely sheath AND her Christmas Tree in her Grandma & Me Around the Christmas Tree post, also featuring her two beautiful grand-kids, dressed up to the nines like their grandma Amy. Amy' style is always classy, easy to recreate, chic and affordable and I loved her gold Christmas tree, same palette as my tree this year.

ONE  FINAL  LOOK.

Goodbye.

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