Okay, I admit it, I go a bit overboard with Christmas decorations! I’d like to share them with you, so that I feel like it was worth the effort. Let’s take a walk through The Roost starting at the front door.

The angel on this mirror was given to me by an exchange student’s mother. She comes from Turkey and I like to think that she protects our house. She stays there year round.

This jolly old world Santa came from my children’s piano teacher Elsie Sandquist. She instilled a love of music in my kids. Her husband Glen drove them to school on the school bus.

Heading up the stairs to the kitchen, if you sent me a Christmas card, you might see it here. I love Christmas cards, they will still be up well past Christmas.

Turn left at the top of the stairs to see my Christmas village. It’s divided into two parts, I like to think of it as town and country tables, hahaha.

My 1960’s era Santa and reindeer candles fly in the window above the town.

The country village sits on the opposite side of the room. It contains barns, chalets, and more down-home houses. It also includes my sawmill, which was new last year. I’m trying to not buy anymore houses, but sometimes, I just can’t help myself.

This candle nativity set was perfect when my kids were young. They could touch the figures without me going crazy. We even made a stable out of a box. They had a great time decorating it. It was part of my decorations for years, even after the kids were grown, but alas, the poor thing finally just disintegrated a few years ago.

This fun nativity set was giving to me by my brother and sister-in-law. It didn’t have a stable. This cardboard stable was a garage sale find. It’s getting a bit crumpled but I’m not ready to part with it yet. You might notice that I really like nativity sets, as we continue our journey.

My 50 year old tinsel tree sits between the villages. My grandmother gave me the tree for my bedroom when I was a kid. The blue glass balls and glass garland beads were given to me with the tree. I think there are a few less of both now.

My new Christmas Sampler hangs in the hall outside of the bathroom. Thanks to all my sister STARS (demonstrator group) for the squares to make this!

Am I the only one who decorates the bathroom mirror and counter? I like the lights at night. I even put some fun decorations in the bathroom windows.

The upstairs bathroom window is Santa themed. Now lets head down the hall to the living room.

We have an old TV cabinet with a square opening for the TV. It makes a perfect place for my large Susan Lourde nativity. Of course our TV sits on top of the cabinet. Total red neck, right?

My fancy adjustable height Christmas tree can go from 7′ to 9′ tall. This year, I decorated the top with it down and then ran it up. I was a bit nervous about breaking ornaments if they fell off, but everyone survived. It took me 3 days to decorate. Each ornament is special and filled with memories! There was even a box of ornaments that didn’t get on the tree this year.

This cardboard nativity set is my most treasured Christmas decoration! I still feel the wonder of a child when I look at it! It takes me right back to my grandmother’s house. It sat in her living room on an end table and had tinsel garland around it. Grandma would plug it in and let me very carefully turn the crank on the music box and the kings would turn around, while Silent Night played. I still give it a crank and watch the kings take a spin once a Christmas.

This fluffy angel bear was a decoration at my son’s wedding. I think of it as one of my newer decorations but they just celebrated a 13 year anniversary! Where does the time go?

My Hallmark, Frosty Friends figurines also light up and play music. My grandkids get the same rapt expressions on their faces when I let them push the buttons on these, as I used to get with my grandmother’s nativity set. They were gifts from my son and daughter-in-law. I also collect the Frosty Friends ornaments, there are about 3 dozen of them on the tree. The clear ornaments were from my youngest son and the crystal tree was my moms. The tinsel deer just appeared this year, darn, I wasn’t going to buy any more decorations!

These fun tinsel rings remind me of the paper chains we used to make as kids. Do kids still make those or are they too simple?

At the bottom of the stairs is the solarium, a true extravagance in a farm house, but a room that I love for its sunshine. Anything that is light and can hang can find a spot on the ceiling here. The sparkly foil ones really look pretty when the sun shines.

Even some simple geraniums add bight and festive holiday color.

This musical nativity reminded me of my grandmothers, but hasn’t been able to replace the old one in my heart. It plays music with a flick of a switch, just not the same as winding, lol. The outside ring turns too.

The pretty pine bough center piece was purchased from one of my Boy Scout grandsons. Over the years I’ve tried several locations in the house to try to prolong the freshness and I think that the solarium is the answer! It is a bit cooler in there than the rest of the house.

As we go down the stairs to the rec room, my carousel horses like to get festive too, with a pair of elf and Santa hats.

Do you remember these 101 Dalmatian toys from McDonalds? Maybe from sometime in the 90’s?

The Peanuts gang is one of my favorites! They remind me of the gang from the Spaulding Location where I grew up.

This banner was a Stampin’ Up! kit from several years ago. I think I even did a class where we made these.

This table hosts my mom’s nativity set. I’m still a bit nervous touching the figures, lol, I must have gotten scolded a few times as a child. The little gingerbread boys were a scout project. I haven’t used my scroll saw in years but when the kids were in scouts it sure got a workout! The gold candle with the stars was a gift from one of our German exchange students.

Even my card class table gets a festive runner. The Yule log in the window was made for me by my dad back in 1984, this year it got some new greenery around the candles. Wow, did fake flowers get expensive!

My candles get switched out with the season on the hearth. Sometimes they get a bit melted from the heat. The fireplace is a combination fuel oil and wood furnace. It’s only used for back up though now since we installed a geothermal unit.

I love that the mantle is so long! It gives me lots of room for do dads year round but especially at Christmas.

This ceramic tree is one that I made in a class back in the early 1980’s. Princess needed to get into at least one picture.

I just realized that Santa’s elf has never gotten a name. Maybe I should call him Leonard after my dad who was a master woodworker?

Does anyone know when the original Elf on the Shelf was created? This guy was probably the first off the line! He looks pretty good for his age, don’t you think?

This cool music box stopped working last year. I hoped that a miracle would occur and it would magically work this year, but no luck. I’m afraid to tear it apart to see if it can be fixed, it still looks cool the way it is.

Across the hall from the music box is the downstairs bathroom where a snowman convention is going on in the window.

Our tour ends with some little snowman builders which sit on my grandmother’s marble top antique dresser. They followed me home from Jan’s Christmas Trees one year when we used to cut live Christmas trees. I like seeing them first thing in the morning when I get up. I have lots of good memories of building snowmen.

I hope that you have enjoyed the tour of The Roost at Christmas!