Season’s greetings from Tumbleweed Tidings and happy 60th birthday to my sister Loralee! We woke up to a sprinkling of snow and icy roads this morning, so winter is finally coming to our neck of the woods.  It was just enough to call a two hour delay for schools, and it brought back memories of when my three were young and there would be a two hour delay or a snow day.  The kids would come running out all excited, as if they had just been paroled from death row.  Me, not so much…

Today, I’m starting with the first room in a series of our Christmas home tour. Since most of you are probably long finished with your holiday decorating, this will not serve as inspiration, as much as just sharing what we did this year.
Our dining room is an “old school” separate room that stands in stark contrast to the open concept, all-in-one-room floorplan that is so prevalent today. And while I admire many of the new homes out there, right now, the formal dining room still works for us. As I sit on my perch at the kitchen counter and work on the computer, I have a straight line of sight out that dining room window and the beautiful maple tree that marks the passage of the seasons.  I especially like the cocoon-like feeling we get when in this room, and we have literally spent hours over the years, sharing after dinner time with family and friends, talking and laughing and making memories.

The color palette for the dining room this year is predominantly gold and silver, juxtaposed with natural elements like greenery, small logs, and pinecones. It is similar to what we have had in the past, but with more white accents, which really seems to make everything feel fresh.

The tree is done in mainly in this scheme of white, silver, and gold, with some deer ornaments.  I am still loving the gold and white striped candles I found at Hobby Lobby last year that sit on the credenza, and was happy to find some gold and cream striped ornaments to add to the tree.  It was only a box of four, but it’s a really small tree, so they show up nicely.

On top of the china hutch, there is a collection that includes a vintage Santa, a couple of pinecones, and some wooden trees that were purchased from a garage sale.  When I bought them, they were hunter green.  More “tree-like” maybe, but we painted them silver and gold anyway.

The glass credenza is home to a large rusty planter filled with pinecones and gold balls on one end. The other end has my cherished copper tray topped with a nutcracker, ornaments, and some candlesticks. The mirror above the credenza is topped with greenery that is there year-round, but embellished with some gold and white ornaments. Each side of the mirror is flanked with my DIY glittery reindeer canvases.

The dining table has pinecones, logs, deer, and various candles running down the middle, on top of greenery and a cream and shimmery table runner.  I found some pretty gold candles at Anthropologie on clearance that are a new addition this year.  A funny story about the two tied up bundles of wood on the table.  In our neighborhood, our mailboxes are about a block from our house.  The house right next to the mailboxes had cut a tree down about a year ago and there was a stack of small logs laying there.  For over a year, I had eyed those logs.  For over a year.  Clearly, no one wanted them.  Last week, when I was picking up the mail, I picked out six small logs and put them in the back of my car.  I brought them home, had my hubby cut off some rough spots and tied them up with a tan ribbon that has gold dots on it.  Just the natural touch I wanted.  Now, if this whole thing goes South, will you all come visit me in jail?

Due to some home improvement projects that have kept our house in a constant state of disarray for the past month, I didn’t go overboard or use many of our decorations this year.  In all honesty, the whole house is done in a less-is-more style, and I really like it.  As I took bags of items for donation the other day, it felt liberating.  I mean why hang on to all of this stuff when there are free logs just laying around, waiting to be snatched?

Stayed tuned in a couple of days for the kitchen, entry and living room posts. The decorating is done, but I am slow to get the pictures watermarked and uploaded. Tis the season for so many activities at church, holiday parties, shopping, and the best of intentions. It just wouldn’t be Christmas if it was any other way…

Good tidings,
Diane