Christmas Home 2021

It has been a very long time since I have posted images for the Advent and Christmas season.

Today I will be sharing some of my Advent & Christmas decor.

We moved from our previous home several months ago into a new home. This is our first Christmas season in the new home. Let's begin our short tour with Advent.

This year I changed my Advent wreath center piece. I used a plain pine wreath that I purchased a few years ago and layed a candle holder within it. I purchased beeswax candles and decorated the wreath with pinecones and lambs ear branches. Then I placed the Holy Family in the center for now.  

I love how simple it is and that the Family is very visible. This week we lit the Third Advent candle which is the rose candle, and it represents Joy. We await the light of the world, which is the Christ child, Jesus. We light a candle each Sunday leading up to Christmas.  Technically it is currently the Advent season, the majority of people are not aware of this since over the decades, commercialism has distorted the celebration of the season.  I won't get into that though.  But we are in the season of Advent, the season of waiting for the birth of Jesus on Christmas day.  It is then the first day of the Christmas season and it lasts 12 days, hence if you are familiar with the song "The Twelve days of Christmas" now you know why they sing about it. Again, the song has great meaning, but again, I will not get into that now, but you may look it up.  This year's Advent wreath is on our dining table.

As you enter our home, you will see our favorite Hobby Lobby table that I purchased a couple of years ago.  You may have seen it on the previous Instagram account if you followed.

I have the Nativity displayed on the top. I purchased it at Kirkland's. 

On each side, I placed a little pine tree with lights and of course my diffuser sits on a corner to give the essence of the season since I do not have real tree.

On the bottom I have placed houses and a church that all light up to make the evening luminous.

There are pom poms and decorative branches to make it look festive. I'll changed it up next year.

 I do not have a cocoa bar this year, but instead have this lovely tier trey displaying some of our festive mugs. It looks like the shape of a Christmas tree and so I placed a small Nativity on the very top. We have a snowman family, St. Nicholas and other festive pieces.

Moving along, you then walk over to the breakfast area. 

Above I had a little snowman with flowers and no tablecloth.  Since this picture was taken, I have changed it to what it is below.  I placed a tablecloth and added a rosemary plant. Of the two, which do you like better?

And finally, we have our tree. 

This is the Kennedy Fir Narrow tree from Tree Classics.  

Tree Classics has now merged with Balsam Hill. This tree was the perfect size for this space so if you need something narrow, I recommend this one. It looks very real, and it is easy to assemble.

My theme is somewhat country, but I added pieces from when my son was little, snow, pinecones and other ornaments. My favorite are the cotton stems on the top of the tree. 

I hope that you enjoyed this very simple Christmas tour and hope that you will link yours below in the comment area so we can all visit your home tour. 

I hope that you enjoy the rest of the season.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Happy Advent and

Merry Christmas!

How to Make an Advent Wreath

(Disclosure) This post may contain affiliate links, thank you for your support.

Hello, I hope that you had a lovely Thanksgiving.

Today I want to share with you this year's Advent wreath.

Advent begins this Sunday, and each year I share with you the process of how I made my wreath so that you may be inspired to make your own.   

"Customarily the Advent Wreath is constructed of a circle of evergreen branches into which are inserted four candles (Advent candles). According to tradition, three of the candles are violet and the fourth one is a rose. However, four violet or white candles (Advent Candles) may also be used".

The rose candle is lit the third Sunday of Advent, for this color anticipates and symbolizes the Christmas joy announced in the first word of the Entrance Antiphon: "Rejoice" (Latin, Gaudete). For this reason, the Third Sunday is also called Gaudete Sunday. 

Last year I used natural elements for our Advent Wreath.

In past posts, I have mentioned that I use whatever 

I have on hand at the moment, so with that said

here are the supplies that I used for today's wreath.

Supplies

• Four to five artificial pine needle branches 
• Deer moss 
• Floral wire 
• Scissors
• A decorative branch
• Candle base
• Four Advent candles

1 . The first thing I did was to tie each branch to the other using the
floral wire and bend each one to form a circle. I adjusted the diameter of my wreath so that it could fit around my candle holder. The branches are made of wire, so it was not difficult to form them into a circle.

2. I then added the large candle base to the center of the wreath.

3. Next, I placed the deer moss on the top of the candle holder to give
coverage to leave some space for the four candles.

4. After adding the moss, I placed the candles around the base.

5. The last step was to add my decorative piece, the pine cones, and log branch.
That's it, create a wreath and then just put everything else into place.

For past Advent Wreaths, click here, here and here.

There you have it, our Advent Wreath this year.
Happy Advent!
Do you have Advent candles this year?

DIY: Advent Wreath

Last month, I purchased a set of votive candles, made out of pure beeswax and I fell in love 
with them.  The candles have a sweet, natural fragrance of honey and they burn beautifully.  
It inspired me to use natural elements for our advent wreath this year, by incorporating natural evergreens and 100% beeswax candles.  It was difficult searching for the colors that I wanted in beeswax because I wanted to use the traditional purple and rose colors for my candles. 

I decided to make my first set of candles.  The colors of the candles were perfect, and their 
size was just what I needed for my advent wreath.  My son, who also loves to create, was fascinated by the process of candle making.  My method was messy and unsafe for him to 
melt wax, so through a wonderful blogger, I found a  Beeswax Advent Taper Candle Making Kit.
I purchased a kit and followed the instructions to make the candles.  My son had a blast with 
his dad making these lovely tapered candles.  

There are several kits online, but the kit that we chose for this project was the Advent Candle Kit.  I won’t go into details on how they made the candles because the set includes instructions.  You may catch a glimpse of the process below on the images labeled (A-D).   

In the end, we chose to use the candles that my son made for the Advent Wreath, 
he was so proud of them and how could I say no?  What you see here are the candles 
made by my son and his dad.  I guess mine shall be put away until next year.

In the past years, I have shared a couple of my Advent Wreaths on this blog.  I have had different varieties of advent wreaths, but today I will share my favorite thus far.  
The wreath itself still needs a little work,  but my son helped me make it.  
It doesn’t have to be perfect, to be beautiful. 

Advent Candle Kit

When the boys completed the beeswax candles, I selected three narrow floral foams that I had on hand.  It is preferable to use one whole piece, but that is what I had at the time.  I connected the foam with skewer sticks.  Then, I cut out the corners of the foam to round it out a bit.  I placed a Nativity  for decoration purposes on the center of the foam & measured equal distances where the candles were to be inserted.  I cut out the holes.  I placed the figure back into the center and inserted the candles in their place.

I poured water on the foam, to prepare it for the greenery that I was going to insert.  When the foam was evenly saturated with the water, we began inserting the pine leaves in the foam at an angle to form the wreath.  We covered every area, to make sure that the foam was not visible.  

We keep the foam saturated, by spraying water every other day to keep the leaves green.  We love how our wreath turned out.

Below you will find a list of the materials that I used for this project.  Thank you for stopping by and hope that you enjoy your season.  Do you have an advent wreath this year?

Materials:

- Advent Candle Kit

- Floral Foam Form Mache Wreath 18" Circular - Two (2) Per Order

or

- OASIS Floral Foam Cake & slice it in half

- figure or white candle for the center

- greenery such as pine or other leaves

- a platform

- a plastic plate

- Fiskars Traditional Bypass Pruning Shears

- water

Advent Wreath

The Advent wreath is a wreath, or circle, of evergreens, made in various sizes. It is either suspended from the ceiling by ribbons (preferably purple) or placed on a table. The devotion is usually incorporated during the family meal, or during family night prayers. Fastened to the wreath are four candles standing upright, at equal distances. These candles represent the four weeks of Advent. Three of the candles are purple, reminding us of the penitential nature of the season. A rose or pink candle is lit for the Third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete (rejoice) Sunday. The name is taken from the entrance antiphon or Introit "Rejoice (gaudete) in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice." It is reminding us that the end of Advent is almost here, and we can hardly contain our joy.

The wreath should be in a circle, a symbol of eternity, and a reminder that God has no beginning nor end. The evergreen is a symbol of eternal life and a reminder that God is immutable or unchangeable. (via)

The appearance of the actual Advent wreath is varied—everyone has their own interpretation of the Advent wreath. The look of your family's wreath depends on how much time and creativity you devote to it. Your family can create their own special wreath, or add personal touches to a store-bought wreath.  We make ours different every year depending on the supplies we have on hand. I like to use what I have on hand.

For our Advent Wreath this year, we used white candles because we could not find the purple and pink in our area.  So to make up for the candle colors, we wrapped the candles with yarn, three purple and one pink.

Supplies we used:

• 4 candles
• small Nativity Figure
• yarn for colors
• flat glass dish to hold candles
• large candle holder to hold base up (or other wide base like an empty flower pot)
• evergreens & pine cones
• artificial wreath
• scissors
• ornaments

First the candles were wrapped with yarn.  We placed the base on the table in the center of the artificial wreath.
The flat dish was placed over the candle holder, then we placed the Nativity scene in the center.  The four candles were placed at equal distances around the Nativity Scene as seen below.
We added extra evergreens to add dimension and texture.  We then added pine cones and ornaments randomly around the wreath.

Thank you for visiting!  Love having you over,
Do you place an Advent Wreath in your home?
Have you ever thought about adding it to your family tradition?

Christmas Home 2012- Simple

Welcome to our Christmas home.

It’s all about enjoying our surroundings during this time of year.
My son and I are fighting the flu and it seems as if Mr.M may catch it as well,

so there’s a lot of coughing, sniffles,...

We just want to cozy up by the fireplace, drink our liquids and rest.

I kept my décor very simple this year, a tree and little reminders here and there.

Here is a collection of photos.

Gifts
More of the fireplace here.

Merry Christmas !
Garlands Here.

Linking to:
Not Just a House Wife
The Nester " Christmas Tour of Homes"
Savvy Southern Style