The last few days have been a bit crazy here, what with unexpected family guests  followed by the expected family guests, all good fun, but it does lead to a crazy few days!! It also means a vaguely tidy house!! This year I actually managed to take a few photos in-between guests (the unexpected and the expected!)

Our house isn’t often this tidy (like once a year!!) housework definitely comes after creativity in this household, so I have to show off once in a while!

I’ve seen a few house tours this  Christmas, most of them are amazing, with like three full size trees in the master bedroom, ours is an average semi-detached home in England, but if the photos give someone an idea for next year, it’s worth sharing!

I like to have rooms vaguely themed, it just helps me keep a bit of order! The theme for the lounge is Father Chrsitmas, I’ve got three big Santa’s, two of which I’ve made, then there’s lots of smaller ones who sit on the mantelpiece with a  few reindeer. The wreath over the fire was one of this years makes. We always have a real tree, I love the scent of them, we walk up to the riding stables and carry one back. For many years we had a tradition that about a fortnight before Christmas we would have a trip down to the local garden centre where they have a huge Christmas display. The children were allowed to choose one decoration each, so we do have a bit of a hot-potch of  decorations!

The staircase is where I hang all the stars, a lot of them are just inexpensive ones from the supermarket, but hung with the precious ones and some twinkly lights and it looks quite pretty. You can also see my Christmas quilt and Rudolf embroidery I made last year.

We have plain white wooden doors in our house. I had a bright idea one year to blutack the cards to the doors. I’ve done it ever since. I work out a theme about a week before Christmas when I see what has come in, it varies every year depending on what is ‘in’ that year, it doesn’t matter who it’s from, it goes on the picture! . I always put my favourite cards, especially any handmade ones, on the lounge door. This year I’ve centred it around an amazing photo of a wolf, it was taken by my friend’s son, it’s stunning! We’ve got robin’s on the dining room door, Christmas trees on the bathroom door (it’s usually funny cards, but we didn’t have many this year!)

Our conservatory always has a Christmas tree theme, it’s a long, thin room, 14′ by 7′ I put a Christmas tree in each window and a candle in-between. The trees are varying styles and sizes. This years new tree was my ‘Castle Howard Tree’ which is a bare tree covered in silver, gold and clear decorations, inspired by my visit to Castle Howard. This evening I lit all the candles in the conservatory and I have to say, it looked quite magical!

Our dining room  doesn’t have many decorations but it does have the Advent ring and the Christmas cake, the candles look lovely through the Stained glass window. I stitched the Santa on the left last year, the other one is about 25 years old!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2016 🙂