I Will Honour Christmas In My Heart

I will honour Christmas in my heart,
and try to keep it all the year.
I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.
The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.
I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!

~ Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Victorian Tree & Village in the Living Room & a Sewing Project, Christmas Home Tour, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Welcome to my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas!!

 I am so happy you decided to stop by my Christmas Blog!!

  Every room in our townhouse has a different Christmas Theme and Color Scheme!!
 
 I prove that you do not have to live in a large home to have several Trees, over 20, in all shapes and sizes!!

The majority of my Christmas decorations are placed in the same room every year and I know that this is not what most Decorator's care for but to me, it like seeing old friends again when I decorate each year for Christmas as many of my decorations were gifts from family and friends........... 

I do try to add a few new things and change up things a bit but for the most part, these decorations are part of my Christmas Traditions and bring back a lot of treasured memories.....


I am now posting 3 times a week !!!
 
 I will be posting on TUESDAY, THURSDAY and SATURDAY
 

  As always, click on each picture if you would like to enlarge it....

 

Today, I will be sharing the 7 foot slim Tree in the Living Room, the Village underneath it and the area around the Tree


In my last post, I shared my 7 foot pencil thin Tree and more vignettes in my pink Victorian Dining Room!






Click HERE if you missed that post....


Thanks Linda, over at Life and Linda , for choosing my post, Winter Wonderland on a Tray, as one of her features from last week's Love your Creativity Link Party!!!

 

Thanks so much, Linda!!

I also want to  Thank Dee, over at Grammy's Grid, for choosing my post, Christmas Buffet and Hutch in a Pink Victorian Dining Room, as one of her features from the last Unlimited Linky Party!!!

Thanks again, Dee!!

Thanks Amber, over at Follow the Yellow Brick Home, for choosing my post, Winter Wonderland on a Tray, as one of her features from last week's All About Home Link Party!!

Thanks so much, Amber!!!

Please stop by and link up to these delightful parties!!!


Skipping personal notes for today's post as I have a lot to share....
 
 
 Today, I will be sharing this wall in my Living Room....

Before I share my Living Room Tree with you, I want to show you a project that I did....

In the Fall, I decided to use 2 pillows that came with a comforter set for my bedroom that I was not using.....

Since they were gold, they worked for Fall and also fit in for Christmas as the color theme for the Living Room for Christmas is red, green and gold....

The other day, I was watching You Tube Christmas Home Tour videos on the TV in the Living Room, when I came across a video on how to make envelop pillow covers....

Now I had been wanting to make some covers for Christmas and this was the easiest thing to do as described in the video....

So I started with covers for these pillows....


Over 20 years, I bought several pieces of a deep rich red fabric that I can only describe as velvet like and fur like....

I whipped up these covers in no time!!!

This is the back.....

 
No need for a zipper.....

Since they were so easy to make, I decided to use a green crushed velvet like fabric I also had in my stash to cover another pillow.....

 
And this is the back of that one!!

And here is how they look on the sofa.....

 
I really love the look of the deep rich colors and fabrics....

 
And I do love how they now tie in with my traditional Christmas color theme on the Living Room.....

So much so that I had just enough of the green fabric to make 2 more smaller pillow covers....




Don't they look nice with my red velvet like throws!!!!

If you are interested in learning how to make these super easy envelope pillow covers, click HERE to see the You Tube Video!!!

So let's now go back to this wall in the Living Room......

I decorate the Living Room in a red, gold and green traditional color theme for Christmas.....

My Christmas decor is in the Victorian Style.....

In the corner of this wall by the Dining Room.....


On the wall above the large round table....

 

 This year, I hung one of the embroidery hoops above this cherub shelf.....

 That meant I had to do something with the mirrors that normally hang above these shelves....

Now why I have not thought of this before is beyond me!!

I turned the mirrors horizontally and hung them on the soffit above the entry way into the Dining Room.....

 
I will be keeping these mirrors here permanently because they remind me of transom windows above the doorways in Victorian homes....
 
For the 2 years before, I hung all 4 embroidery hoops on this sofitt ....

Now I hung only 2 of them here....





Back to this corner.....

 

I bought this large round table for a mere $5 from a Hotel that was going out of business about 35 years ago....

 

 I hung an ornament from the lamp shade that I embellished.....

 

This is where I display my large Nativity Set.....

This set was made by Grandeur Noel and sold at Sam's Club in 1999.....

I won it at our church after buying a $1.00 raffle ticket at a fund raiser!!!

I hung a nativity ornament on the crystal vintage lamp....


  
 



I made this tree out of thread spools a few years ago, recreating a smaller version of the one my Dad made when I was a child....

 
See the tree on the table flanked by 2 wreaths he also made????



My Dad also made the wreath that he is pointing too....
 
Last year, I made a similar one for my Craft Room....


Back to the nativity set...


The mirror that I made into a faux window above the sofa....

I had to laugh the other day after seeing a segment on a House Beautiful Model Home and they used vintage mirror tiles as a back drop in a room!!!

I guess my "vintage" mirror tiles are back in style again!!!

 
Well, I guess it is true in the saying "What goes around, comes around"!!!


Hanging from the curtain rod.....


2 Santa's and a plaque I made.....


I received this wreath from Tree Classics several years ago to do a review on it....

I decorated it myself....

 
I hung a plaque from Gabes in the center of the wreath flanked by 2 red candle ornaments....
 
 
 
3 plaques that I made hang below the wreath.....
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

On the right side of the faux window.....



In mid November, I stripped the Tree down to just the lights after I took down all the Fall decorations....

I then added a set of LED warm white, red and green lights....


 Next came 2 different types of beaded garland....


 
I put a vintage style gold finial topper on the tree along with a bow that I made.....

 
I also tucked gold branches into each side at the top of the Tree....
 
I decorate it in a red, green and gold color theme like the rest of the Living Room and with Victorian style ornaments.....

 
And angel is hung near the top....

 
 
 
I did make some of the ornaments over the years....
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
If you look closely, the ribbon that the bow topper is made from has red and white striped candles on it.....


Just like the Victorian style candle ornaments that are on the Tree...

 
 
 
 I also tucked gold sparkly floral picks into the Tree...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 This Tree has pretty much looked the same over the past few years as it is my tradition to decorate it this way...



 
 

As many of you know, this Tree stays up year round as I decorate it for the different Holidays and Season through out the year....

And so does the platform that it rests on....
 
 

My Dad built me this platform the first Christmas we were married....

I do a Christmas Village on this platform in honor of my Dad who did the same....


Many years ago, I covered the platform with white felt fabric....

I use the boxes from my Lemax Village that I started collecting in the early 1980's as my Mountains....



Now I always used to say that when I was laying on the platform trying to cover those boxes with white felt, it reminded me of my Dad, laying on the platform putting together the PlasticVille houses that are now up in my Sitting Room....

A few years ago, I smartened up!!

I discovered that by using my reacher that I got after my knee replacement surgery, I did not have to lay on the platform which was not a pretty site!!


 
I pretty much arranged the houses like last year with a few minor changes...


I moved the lighted ceramic Christmas tree that I bought at a craft fair up by the church.....


Each building has a special meaning......

The Church symbolizes the importance of religion in Christmas and that has always been a big part of our lives....



The Queen Anne Victorian Home is the home of my dreams and the General Store and Carrington Department store was bought because of our love of shopping and the weekend shopping trips that we used to take when our sons were young!!!



Ironically, the Post Office was bought because I loved to send out Christmas cards and not because Joe was a letter carrier for the Post Office which came several years after I bought it....


Joseph's Seafood Shack was bought because Joe is known for making quite a mean lobster tail!!!!

The train station symbolizes the local train station that was turned into a restaurant that we used to go to for dinner and breakfast....


And the lighthouse was bought because of the lighthouses we would visit while on vacation each year at the Jersey Shore.....






After the buildings were all in place, I added everything else....

 
I am going to let the pictures do the talking.....







Every year when I finish this Village, I can hear my Dad say, "That a Girl!"

 

 

To the right side of the Tree.....

 

Hanging on the drapes.....



On the floor to the side of the platform......

 
An Old World Santa that I bought a few years back at Gabes.....


I hope you enjoyed seeing this area in the Living Room along with the Tree and Village....

It took me 6 days to decorate the Living Room....

Tree Count

Tree # 16

In my next post on THURSDAY, I will be sharing the rest of the Living Room decorated for Christmas....






So I hope you will stop by to visit again on THURSDAY as I continue my Christmas Home Tour!!!!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......


 I am linking up to these parties:
 
 

 
   Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!
Posted by at

8 comments:

  1. DeniseinVADecember 13, 2022 at 4:17 PM

    Absolutely marvelous Debbie, love your winter wonderland, it's an incredible collection and one I enjoyed immensely. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. WendyDecember 14, 2022 at 6:59 AM

    WOW! I think this room is my favorite of them all so far! As much as I love the Gingerbreads in your kitchen I love all the traditional red & green in the living room. Your decorating makes me smile from ear to ear, Debbie! Awesome job on the recovered pillows and your tree.....amazing! The little village under the tree steals the show! I love how every piece has a sentimental meaning to you & your family. When my husband & I got married he started collecting porcelain Christmas lighthouses that lit up. I believe he got most of them at Michael's. It's been years since I put them out but they always looked so pretty! Maybe next year I will mix them throughout all the ceramic Christmas trees! I bet your father is so proud that you have carried out that tradition year after year. Wonderful job! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. JeanieDecember 14, 2022 at 7:40 AM

    I especially love those pillow covers, Debbie! I don't know how you managed getting those done along with everything else, but kudos to you! They're really beautiful. I've never had a village as such, but I like yours.

    ReplyDelete
  4. LindaDecember 14, 2022 at 1:45 PM

    The cushion covers turned out lovey, and are the perfect colours for the season. I have a reacher, or grabber as I call it, in fact have one on each level of the house. I had knee replacement in both knees so kneeling down is now non existent for me. Your village looks lovely. Big storm heading out way tomorrow so will probably be home (as usual) and craft and read. Enjoy the day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Miss MerryDecember 14, 2022 at 8:28 PM

    Your tree and village are just beautiful. I have my village up on a shelf. My husband uses a grabber, but I have a really long set of bbq tongs that fit tightly which is my go to "reacher". My knees are in the same shape. I have to arrange for something to pull myself up again (usually my small step ladder with handle towards me and put a double layer of bath towels on the ground. It still isn't pleasant and I only do it when no one is watching me get up or down. Geesh. I missed the warning on saving the knees.

    Those pillows are adorable! They looks so nice. You did a great job. And the fabrics look so luxurious!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. New Jersey MemoriesDecember 19, 2022 at 10:35 AM

    Wow, This is really impressive. The pillow covers and the little villages and the trees! So pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  7. PaulaShort December 22, 2022 at 11:18 AM

    So beautiful Debbie.
    Thank you bunches for sharing this with Sweet Tea & Friends this month sweet friend.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Carol BentonDecember 29, 2022 at 10:09 AM

    Your Victorian tree is so pretty! And I love the fascinating little village around the base of the tree. Thank you for sharing this post in the Talent-Sharing Tuesdays Link-Up 46.
    Carol
    www.scribblingboomer.com

    ReplyDelete

I always love to hear your thoughts!
However if you are a vendor and insist upon leaving a comment with a link back to a website, You have forced me to now moderate ALL comments so do NOT even try it!

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts with Thumbnails