A Slightly Late Christmas Post

Hello!

I am finally going to share some images of what little Christmas decorating I was able to get done this year....

We usually only decorate the living rooms and the dining room....

This year I barely got one room decorated....

We got our tree from Aimee Peterson, who 

 owns a shop called the Antique Gardener.

Aimee invited us to her parents' Christmas tree farm this year, they have the prettiest tree farm!

The kids and I got to pick out our tree....It reminded me of when we were kids...

We would always cut our own tree down, and a lot of times would have a Charlie Brown tree that we covered with a lot of tinsel...

I shot the above image of Emma, Aimee's daughter, while we were there...

Thank you Aimee!

I have posted about Aimee's shop before on my blog.....

You can read more about Aimee's shop here....

We picked out a beautiful White Fir Tree.....

We had intended to decorate it : )....

However we ended up leaving the tree bare....

We wrapped an antique french ticking duvet around the tree to cover the tree stand....

I thought the tree did look pretty just left natural.....

My sister Liz, made this stocking from a scrap piece of antique french linen and a grain sack scrap.....

I will have some of these available in my shop 

I hung my wreath from an antique french door.

I hung it using dutch butcher twine, and then tied the ribbon at the bottom of the wreath.....

Lately I have become obsessed with vintage french cheese boards....

I added a red striped European grain sack to the top of the table and then added the cheese board....

My son, Trent, sprinkled juniper berries on top of the cheese board....

I kind of got carried away this year with throwing juniper berries around the house....

They smell so good....

I added some pears, hazelnuts, and juniper berries to my mantle.....

I made the kids stockings the week before Christmas...

I really liked the one my sister made, so I made some more like it...

The grain sack cuffs remind me of candy canes ; )

The kids loved their new stockings....

The pears help add a pop of color to my mantle....

I had received a beautiful gift from KT Merry, I displayed her beautiful Christmas card on my mantle and her box of bath salts on my stool.....I also tied a red and white ribbon around a pair of pillow slips made from antique french linen and topped the box with a bundle of mistletoe made from wool felt....

I filled a vintage french strawberry crate with the ornaments we usually put on the tree.....

I hung a few of these wool felt wreaths around my house.....

Nicole made three of these peppermint wreaths....

You can read my post about how to make these, here.....

We had lots of  paperwhites to place around the house.....

You can read my post about planting paperwhites here.....

That was really the extent of my Christmas decorating I did this year....

Hopefully next year I will actually post pictures  before Christmas....

On another note....

I started blogging two years ago this month....

I started a blog before I even knew what blogging really was....

I can remember feeling so lost when I first started blogging....

I was always searching blogs for tips on blogging and had a hard time finding any information.....

I subscribe to Miss Mustard Seed by email, and was so excited when I

read that she was apart of a Growing your Blog Series....

Kate from Centsational Girl came up with the idea.....

Five bloggers got together and did a series on Growing your blog....

They all share different perspectives on five different blog topics....

It is really a great series,  I loved reading each blogger's perspective, and found it to be very informative and helpful....

I am sure a lot of you have already read the series, but just in case some of you haven't I wanted 

to share the links to the five day series with you....

The Nester~Authenticity & Blogging

Thrifty Decor Chick~ Making Money Blogging~

Tater Tots and Jello~ Building a Community and Social Media

Miss Mustard Seed~ Photography & Styling

Centsational Girl~ The Great Juggling Act

Thank you ladies for putting such a great series together for us!

I hope all of you that haven't read the series get a chance to read it...

On a final note....

I wanted to let you know about a very generous photographer that is giving away 

a Canon 5d Mark II......

She has a very inspiring story that she shares with her giveaway as well.....

My Four Hens Photography

Enjoy your weekend!

Take Care,

Maria

Dreamy Whites Shop

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