A Primitive Preppy Christmas Farmhouse Tour

I still get excited during this time of year.  There is a feeling of anticipation and magic and joy from the beginning of Advent all the way through Christmas day.  I love every part of this season: the Christmas music, the decorations, the Advent wreath and calendar, the movies and stories, the food and the shopping, the wrapping of gifts and the giving of gifts.  I wear my Christmas tree earrings and Santa sweater during the day, and I slip into my flannel Christmas pajamas and snowflake slipper socks at night.  This year, inspired by Pinterest, I decided to add a touch of both preppy plaid and primitive burlap throughout the house.  We still put out our traditional ornaments and decorations, but there is also a bit of this new primitive preppy found in many parts of this old farmhouse.  And it's all still very kid-friendly.  Let's take a tour...

I would love to decorate with lights on the front porch, but alas, there is not a single electrical outlet on the outside of this old farmhouse.  We would have to run an extension cord through the house, which would mean we couldn't close the door all the way.  Not a good idea in December.  So I have to settle for decorating without the lights.  The little red chair in the top picture is part of a set with a children's table that my father built for our kiddos when they were all still small.  The boys have taken over the table with their Legos, but I confiscated one of the chairs.  Lo and behold, I found my husband's old ice skates in the attic (told you it's like a rummage sale up there,) and I added a plaid bow and old Santa hat.

This chalkboard has found its way into other blog posts, and I'll probably continue to use it through the different seasons.  I re-used a red bow from an old wreath and took the remainder of the cinnamon pinecones and attached them with a plaid flannel ribbon.  Some blue chalk was all I needed to create some snowflakes and a Christmas ball ornament down the center.

While shopping in my attic, I came across an old wreath and stripped it down to just its greenery, then attached a new plaid and gold bow from Target.  I wanted to keep it simple.

Kohl's had a bunch of Welcome mats on sale, including many that could sit out all winter.  It was hard to choose.

This is as lit up as my front porch gets, unfortunately.  I used extra pine boughs from our Christmas tree and attached them to the tops of our outdoor lantern lights with plaid flannel ribbon.

Moving into our kitchen, there is this slice of our tree trunk that I shared with you in the last post.  Painted with chalkboard paint and some pine and ribbon hot glued to the top, this is one of our countdowns to Christmas.

Although not plaid or burlap, I bought this painting last year at a small, local gift shop because it reminds me of our house.  The lamp post actually does light up and flicker, and my children love it.  It hangs in our kitchen all winter.

I finally took that ugly computer desk and all of our office supplies out of the corner of our kitchen.  I am still undecided about what will fill that space, but for now, we put up the children's Christmas tree.  When I was a girl, I thought it would be amazing to have two Christmas trees, so when our teenage son was little, we purchased a four foot artificial tree that used to sit in the middle of an electric train set.  We put up the traditional ornaments of the past, but I also added plaid flannel ribbon and some of those plaid/burlap balls and pinecones I described in my last blog post.  When my husband saw the plaid Santa hat at Joann Fabrics, he insisted we buy it since I'm on this plaid kick this year.  I don't look good in any kind of hat though, so it went to the top of the tree.  Around the bottom is an old plaid tablecloth that no longer fits any of the tables we have.  I found the burlap/plaid deer pillow at Joann Fabrics as well, and it gets moved all over the house.

The inside door of our foyer holds this straw wreath with plaid ribbons and a wooden bear, also found in my attic.  This is across from our staircase...

It's the same artificial evergreen garland I use every year with some new lights attached, but now plaid bows connect it to the stair railing.  Bows were handmade (not by me) and purchased at Michael's.

Believe it or not, this old farmhouse has a chimney, but no fireplace.  Therefore, the stockings get hung on the railing.  Come to think of it, we have so many people in our family that we'd be hard-pressed to fit everyone's stockings on a fireplace mantel, so it's just as well.  The wood/coal stove in the kitchen is what's actually attached to the chimney.  No stockings can be hung from that.

Along with older decorations and another soft plaid fleece throw on the leather sofa, this seven foot long plaid blanket and woody wagon pillow get thrown on my enormous rocker/recliner where I sit to read, grade papers, blog, and cross-stitch.  Every one of my children can fit on that chair with me---one at a time, that is.  Its size is probably out of proportion with everything else in that living room, but it is so comfy and it's positioned between two windows, so it gets the best light.

Each window downstairs has one of these cinnamon pinecones with plaid flannel bows at the top hanging from them.  Unfortunately, I ran out of pretty ribbon and jute twine, so I ended up using red twine that was used to wrap around one of our old Christmas trees years ago.  I found it stashed in the back of a bookshelf, just waiting for a moment like now, I suppose.  In a house like ours, one must be willing to improvise at all times.

Our live Christmas tree is across the foyer in the dining room, and you've seen many photos of that in another post.  Does anyone else notice it significantly leaning?

In the center of the dining room table is our Jesse tree.  I never saw one of these when I was growing up and wasn't quite sure what to do with it when we first got it years ago.  I have to admit that I've never placed items from the Old Testament on it like I think you're supposed to during Advent.  It usually sits bare in its burlap bag, but since it already had burlap on it, I decided to add a few more burlap bows and tie a plaid ribbon around the bottom.  I hope that's not sacrilegious.

My husband and I decided to do something a little different this Christmas and instead of buying each other gifts that we don't really need, we splurged and purchased a king-sized down comforter and a plaid flannel cover.  We saw these at Macy's weeks ago and fell in love with them, and so have our children.  I can't keep them off my bed now.  The comforter is Charter Club Home brand, and we got the Level 3 Vail Collection in medium warmth.  This thing is so incredibly soft and warm and luxurious.  The flannel comforter cover is Martha Stewart brand and is 100% cotton.  We love the idea of being able to take the covers off and wash them and change them throughout the year to match the seasons.  The only problem is that I didn't purchase pillow shams, and I have nothing that matches.  So the plaid deer pillow is thrown on them for now.  By the way, these comforters and covers were marked down dramatically at Macy's this weekend.

The last stop of this tour is in the bathroom...the ONE main bathroom that seven of us have to share.  I'm afraid this shower curtain isn't plaid or very rustic, but Kohl's has the cutest shower curtains, and I wanted something I could keep out for months and not just for Christmas.  Since we are outnumbered here by our children (greater than 2:1 ratio) I feel like the bathroom should have a fun, playful touch to it from time to time, so the snowmen were it.  I really liked the more woodsy curtains with bears, pinecones, and moose decorating them, but they probably fit our cabin better than our farmhouse, so I'll wait for those.

I do believe that at this point, my Christmas decorating is done.  Now it's time to tackle the Christmas shopping, card sending, and cookie baking as we begin the second week of Advent.  I hope you are enjoying every aspect of this holiday season as much as I am.

The Glue Sticks are Out of the Attic: Crafting for the Holidays

For several weeks now I have been saving pins on Pinterest, gathering materials, and pulling out my glue gun from a box in the attic where it has been since we moved over 9 years ago.  With the youngest four children in school, I feel like I finally have a wee bit of time to myself to actually do some crafting again.  Since I decided to have a "primitive preppy" Christmas throughout our farmhouse this year, I put together a number of ornaments and decorations that hopefully embody that theme.

It all started with a trip to Michael's back in early November where I purchased plaid and burlap balls, ribbons, pinecones, and more.

I was all prepared to make my own plaid balls with fabric and styrofoam, but Michael's carried these plaid balls with burlap ribbons around them.  All I had to do was attach twine or ribbon so I could hang them on our trees.  Fortunately, this old glue gun still works, and I even found a package of glue sticks in the attic as well.  It's like a rummage sale up there; I really need to shop in my attic more often.

About thirty minutes and two packages of plaid balls later, that craft was finished.

I started out using a bag of regular pinecones for some other tree ornaments.  The children thought I should use the ones in our yard that are free, but they just don't look as nice as the ones purchased at Michael's.  Then all I had to do was glue ribbon on the top and attach a plaid bow to each pinecone.

These would later be hung on our two Christmas trees along with the plaid balls.  I eventually purchased cinnamon pinecones too and attached plain red bows at the top and hung them from the windows downstairs.  The smell of cinnamon and fresh pine just can't be beat at Christmas.

Cross-stitching is a hobby I picked up when I was twenty, and the first piece I made was a Christmas decoration.  I haven't done much of it for many years, but I decided to stitch a new ornament this year.  For some reason, my children find it fascinating to watch me do this.  I think it would be like watching the hands move on a clock.  You'll notice that I did purchase a plaid fleece throw---actually two.  This one is seven feet long and has a special pocket at the bottom to keep your feet warm.  We found them at the BonTon and got a great deal during Community Days.  Sorry for the rather scary photo of me.  No makeup worn or hair styled that day.  Yikes!

I'm not quite finished with this yet, but almost.  I'm hoping the rabbit fits a sort of rustic, natural theme going on here.

If you read my last post, you'll remember I had my husband saw off a sliver of the Christmas tree trunk so I could try a Pinterest inspiration.

We happened to have a can of unused chalkboard paint in the basement (not like a rummage sale down there unless you're shopping for spiders.)  After sanding the one side as best I could, I painted the center of the wood with the black paint.  After drying, I glued a few small pine boughs from our Christmas tree to the top, along with a red bow.

We ended up with this sitting on our kitchen windowsill above the sink so we can count down the days till Christmas.  Since it's erasable, I can always draw a simple winter design on it once Christmas day has come and gone.  But I don't want to think about that yet because this is the most wonderful time of the year.

Happy Holiday Crafting, Everyone!

In Search of the Perfect Christmas Tree

Every year some time after Thanksgiving, our family drives over a mountain along winding roads to get to one particular Christmas tree farm.  In wind, snow, sleet, or rain we still make the trek in the search for the one perfect tree.

This year we went on Black Friday shortly after they opened and enjoyed this view on a rare warm late November day.

My husband is never content to settle for the trees near the parking lot, nor can we ever purchase a pre-cut tree.  We must walk all over the property because the perfect tree just might be over the next hill.  At least it was a beautiful day for a hike this year.  There have been times that our lips were blue and our teeth were chattering as we followed Hubby over hill and dale.

The younger ones always choose the perfect Charlie Brown Christmas tree first because those are what are closest to the parking lot.  Not sure what they would charge us for one of those.

When we think we've finally found just the one, we test the size by having my nearly six-foot tall husband reach toward the top.  I can't tell you how many years we have gotten a tree home only to find it necessary to trim off another foot or two if we want to display it indoors.

Then it must pass my inspection.  I admit there have been bitterly cold years when I agreed to the first one our family found just to get back in the warm SUV.  I tree shop the way I shop for everything else: when I see something I like, I buy it.  No need to worry about what I'm missing around the next corner because I've already found what I want.

The ceremonial cutting-of-the-tree comes next, usually delegated to the oldest or most able-bodied male in the household.  Even though PawPaw was along this year and is quite able-bodied, this task was still accomplished by Hubby.  He would rather kneel/lie in the cold, wet grass than pay someone else to do it for us.

This year I added the extra step of slicing off a bit of the trunk because I saw something cute on Pinterest that I wanted to try.  You'll see more about that later this week, but I'll let you know now that this (surprisingly) became one of my Pinterest success stories.  

After rolling off the cart several times, the men finally drug it to the building where the owners put it in some kind of machine that shakes off all the loose pine needles and wraps it with twine.  That is also where there is free hot cocoa waiting for the kiddos and all kinds of homemade Christmas decorations and sweets to purchase.  Since I've been making some of my own ornaments this year, and we still had another pumpkin pie waiting for us at home, I limited my spending to the tree.

Bound tightly to the top of the family vehicle, we were ready to head back over the mountain toward home.  No problems this year.  There have been years we've had to stop several times to secure the tree on top again.  One year it rolled off our minivan when a deer ran right in front of us.  This is usually a bad omen because I believe it was that same tree that was so heavy, it fell over and crashed in our living room in the middle of the night, just missing our sleeping beagle.  This happened not once, but twice, and the crashes decimated a number of our ornaments.

Once home and upright in the tree stand, it was greeted by our youngest daughter and her MeeMaw, who couldn't come with us due to a mysterious viral rash that our little one had.

Unbound and ready to decorate, I had new plans for the tree this year, thanks to a burst of creative energy and inspirations from Pinterest, of course.

After stringing the lights, the men were banned from the room as we women tried to figure out the best way to wrap plaid burlap ribbon around this tree.  As you will see, they were peeking around the corner to snap a gazillion photos of us, many of which were far too unflattering to share with you dear readers.  You'll thank me later.

After much deliberation, re-draping, cutting and piecing together because two spools of burlap ribbon were not enough, paper clipping the ends to branches, and a glass or two of white wine, we were finally satisfied.  Every burlap/plaid ball and handmade plaid ribboned pinecone were placed strategically on the tree over the course of about an hour.

That part was finally done, and we broke for a lunch of what else, but leftover Thanksgiving dinner.

Then I opened the huge box of the hodge podge of Christmas ornaments accumulated over several decades, and told the kiddos they could have at it.  Sadly, the only one who was enthusiastic about hanging ornaments was our six-year old who even brought out all our Christmas music CDs to listen to while she trimmed the tree.  Her older siblings had to be nudged and prodded to put even a few on the branches.  Are they already losing their Christmas spirit?  It makes me want to cry.

Much later in the day when the huge empty box was put back in the attic, Hubby completed his final task by placing the grapevine star on the top of the tree.  This, of course, required a little bit of advice from his wife and mother so that it was situated properly.

I'm so glad I still have one child who marvels over a freshly cut, trimmed, newly-lit Christmas tree.

I was finally able to relax with another glass of wine and just enjoy the beginning of this joyful season.  Lest you think I make a habit of cropping out my children in photos, I was forced to do so by a certain 13 year old girl.

After gazing at the finished tree for awhile though, it seemed like the tree leaned to the left noticeably.  This bothered my perfectionist nature since I was sure that this year we had the perfect tree.  I was able to straighten it in this photo with editing software, but the real thing is definitely slanted, probably because it grew on a hill.  I should have thought of that when we were out there on that tree farm.

As ridiculous as it sounds, this slanting bothered me quite a bit...until I saw our little girl under the tree yesterday.  In her Santa hat with Christmas music in the background, she was playing with the plastic nativity set that she insisted on putting out under the tree again this year.  She had arranged it herself, and the angels were flying and singing, the shepherds and wisemen were adoring the baby Jesus, and she glowed with the spirit of Christmas...even with her viral rash.  And I sighed as I realized just how perfect this family Christmas tree really is.

May your hearts and homes be filled with hope, joy, and peace this Advent season.