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

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Christmas Front Porch and Yard, Christmas Home Tour, 2024

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 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 post 3 TIMES A WEEK on MONDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAYS.....
 
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 In my last post, I shared another Christmas Haul.....

 

 

 

Click HERE if you missed that post!!

 
 On Tuesday, I took all the outside Halloween decor along with what I still had out of the Fall decor down to my storage shed and reorganized it...


I have been slowly cleaning and reorganizing my storage shed to my liking and I hope to eventually be able to share that with you.....


I then made 2 trips bringing all my outside Christmas decor back to the house....

I did mange to get a few things done on Tuesday and finished up yesterday so I still have a bit of tweaking to do but I wanted to get this post done and up today.....


There are a few changes as I tried to make things a bit easier for me......


I took these pictures just as it was turning to dusk and my lights came on by timer so some pics have the lights on where the first few do not....


The major thing that saved me time this year was my decision to hang the evergreen garland around my front door and railing and use it as a base for my new Fall garland......



All I did was remove the Fall leaf garland and fluff the evergreen garland a bit.....


Now why I did not think of this many years ago is beyond me......


Okay, so let's take a closer look at what I did this year.....
 
I do want to say that I am a "Sentimental" decorator and many of my decorations are very special to me and were either gifted to me by loved ones, both family and friends, or remind me of those loved ones that have passed on....


Instead of hanging this Snow sign on the house, which always would blow off with a stiff wind, I placed it in front of the pillar and secured it with a thin wire......


It will stay here until the beginning of March as I leave a lot of these decorations up for the Winter.....

On the left side of the porch, which is connected to my neighbor's as I live in a row of 10 townhouses......

 
 A Santa gnome and a wood reindeer planter that my son Joey made for me when he was in Cub Scouts many years ago.....
 

 
 I added 3 lighted candy canes to the arrangement, which I may change a bit, that I bought a few years ago.....
 

This year, the pot on top of the red milk can is filled entirely with faux greenery and red berries, pine cones and birch branches....

 
Along with the Angel that I always place in this pot...


With the lights on at dusk.......




The small white snow flakes that I hung on the garland for many years had turned brown in color and had definitely seen their last day so I decided to hang these snowflake ornaments that I bought quite some time in Big Lot's and did not use on my Winter tree in the Den last year......


They do pop out against the evergreen garland.....


I left the porch sign up and since the Dollar Tree snowflake that I always hung above the door had broken in half, I hung this set of bells above the door.....


I like the look......


I made this wreath for the front door a few years ago and added the sign and the Santa head last year......


Here is the garland around the door with the lights on.....





 
 
 With the lights on....
 
 
 
 
 
 I left the black medallion hanging in the center of the house this year....
 
 
 
 
 
 Same as for many years in the past, the wood sleigh that my son Jimmy made for me in Cub Scouts and my childhood sled grace my front porch.....

 
 

 Joe had bought me this snowman at Wegman's and I added another set of lighted candy canes behind it.....
 
 
 
A snow man and Christmas Tree Farm sign.....


 
 
 Last year, after seeing quite a few chairs decorated on porches on Blogs, Pinterest and Instagram, I decided to do the same with one of my front porch chairs.....


Well, I noticed that leaving this chair out in the elements over the Winter had caused some of the pieces of the resin wicker on the handles to crack..
 
 So I moved these chairs to the back patio where they will be covered with tarps for the Winter and brought a solid resin wicker looking chair out to the porch which will hold up well in the elements.....

 
 
 
 Last year, I did buy a plaid throw to use on the chair for a mere $5 in Five Below but used a red scarf instead......

But I thought the plaid throw really looked better on this style of chair along with the Happy Holidays sign that I have had for well over a decade....
 
 
 
 This was my inspiration picture that prompted me to bring out my Dad's red tool box.....


Since it is not under a porch with a roof over it, I went very simple in decorating it this year using greenery and pine cones....
 
 
 
 I am happy with this look for this year....



 I am still looking for my Dad's wooden ruler, like in the inspiration picture, but have yet to find it even though I know I have it somewhere.....
 
On the right side of the porch......


I decorated the tree, that graces the porch year round, a bit.....



I kept the post that the tin stocking filled with greenery that I have had for many years, here on this side of the porch this year......

 
The mailbox, which is used for the storage of garden tools, has a Winter cover on it..... 


I moved this pot, that I filled with greenery that I cut from the side of my road, into the corner of the porch.....


 
 
 I added some faux red berry picks, a solar lantern and a Dollar Tree candy cane to it.....


  A few pics with the lights on at Dusk.....
 



I added a new set of LED Edison lights, 2 snowflake ornaments and a piece of garland that I decided not to use elsewhere to the railing on the porch.....


Instead of hanging this star, that Joe bought from the Amish Farmer and I added a wreath to it, in the middle of the house in place of that black medallion, I used it here on the porch railing this year......


For now, I left these planters here, threw pieces of garland in them along with snowman solar lights from Dollar Tree...

 
 
After Christmas, I probably will move them to the back in anticipation of shoveling snow.....


 Same Happy Holidays flag that I have had for about 15 years now.....
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The flower bed under my Living Room window.....
 
 
 
 After hanging the wreaths on the windows along with boughs of greenery on the window sills....


I hung the net lights on the shrubs.....


 
 
 I hung a red lantern and bell on the shepherd's hooks which last year, were on each side of the park bench in the front flower bed.....
 
 
 
 I pulled out the marigolds in these pots, which amazingly lasted till now even with several bouts of frost!!!


I added faux greenery, birch branches, Dollar Tree candy canes and a Christmas present yard sign to this pot.....


I will add some real greenery when I get a chance but I was pressed for time to get this post up....

I did elevate my shabby chic chippy Angel on a pot.....


I did the same with this pot with the the addition of a Christmas ornament yard stake....


And I will also add some real greenery to this pot when I get the chance....


The Dollar Tree candy canes are battery operated and do light up but you can only turn them on by using a button at the bottom of the candy cane.....

 
 Hence the reason why I will not be lighting them up......
 
 
 
Over in the flower bed, on top of the slope in front of the yard..... 

 
 I replaced the Halloween Dollar Tree solar lights with Christmas solar lights also from Dollar Tree......

 
 
I placed garland and red bows on the garden deer.....
 

A Santa mini flag and I placed the stepping stone that says " Angels Gather Here" over the top of my rusty Angel bird bath... 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 " Santa Stop Here"
 
 
 
 
 
 The park bench and lamp post.....
 
 
 
 I did this a bit differently this year by not wrapping garland around the post and the whole top of the park bench as I already had lights there from the Summer.....
 
 
 
 The lantern does not work so I have a candle inside of it that comes on by timer, added the bows in the front and the back and also added a Dollar Tree snowflake to the post....
 

 
I placed a some piece of garland on top of the park bench....

I decided to honor Joe's love for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins on the top of this bench....


A piece of garland with pine cones around the lantern which also has a battery operated candle inside of it...



 
 
 Underneath the bench....
 

 
 
 
 I usually place another smaller sled with the letter B on it in front of the park bench so it can be seen from the parking lot.....

 
For now, I am still deciding if I will bring that sled up from the storage shed to do something different with it or pass it on....

 
 
 I placed an elf solar light in the red vintage watering can and packed away the wood wind chimes honoring Joe that was a gift as I did not want them exposed to snow and ice....
 
 
 
 So I moved this metal one from the back yard to the front for the Winter....


"When Cardinals appear"


"Angels are near"

 
  Another solar light added to the real greenery in the red truck and another Santa mini flag......



Here are a few pictures that I took early this morning before the lights turned off at Dawn......


Of course, I had already turned off the porch light....










I hope that when I share the front of my house again for my Annual Christmas Home Tour right before Christmas, I will be able to share pictures of how it looks with SNOW!!!!

Because SNOW makes everything look so much better!!

Well, there you have it...
 
I hope you enjoyed seeing the changes I made this year and I do know it is early BUT I wanted to take advantage of the 70 degree temps. we have had this week....

It took me 2 days to pack up Halloween/Fall decorations and decorate the porch for Christmas....

Even though putting up the garland in the Fall saved me time, it still took a day longer than before because I was the one running everything back and forth from the storage shed ( which is only about 5-8 minutes down the road) instead of Joe....

I did mange to do so though without a problem.....

And I will continue to do so as long as I am physically able to.....

Joe would never want me to stop doing what I love to do.....



 I hope you will stop by to visit again on SATURDAY for my Saturday Snippets post....  
 
 
 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:
 


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

10 comments:

  1. Hi Deb! Your front looks fabulous and especially beautiful with the lights on!
    Hugs..Barb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Barb,
      Thanks so much for stopping by!! I am happy it is done before it got cold...Temps. going down into the 20's tonight...
      Hugs,
      Deb
      Debbie-Dabble Blog

      Delete
  2. The front of your house is just so festive and gorgeous. I loved all the touches. Then when I got to the lights! WOW, even more lovely. I will say it again. I wish I lived across from you so I could enjoy this from my window!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your porch is so festive, Debbie. You are to the season and it looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My heavens you are on a roll. Looks so festive and pretty. I know your grandgirls love seeing the sparkly lights and so much fun to watch them get excited at all the pretties you have. I am just putting out a few Thanksgiving trinkets. I think I will get out my trees and have them set up. I have to string lights on mine so it takes a while. I am having Thanksgiving dinner here so I will just decorate the table and have Christmas other places. Takes me a long while it seems to get the lights on. You have inspired me to get a move on. Hugs, Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lots of fun and festive elements - it inspires me to begin to decorate! Enjoy it all, I am sure your neighbors and guests do!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I honestly don't know how you do it. I hardly manage decorating my part of the house hallway and there's only my little tree in here because of my furry brat who's a known wooden moose and gnome killer and more ;-)
    Then again we don't have many people decorating like that here, anyway. I can only think of one house in the neighborhoods I get to!
    It's lovely!

    Cat
    https://catswire.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh my goodness, Debbie it must be a full time decorating job for you. Your home always looks so festive and I love all of the decorations. You've inspired me to put up our Christmas tree earlier this year. Thanks so much for joining us at #WeekendTrafficJamReboot and I've selected your post as one of my favourites for next week's link up. xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just amazing - your home looks so festive and ready for the holidays! You really worked hard to get everything looking so beautiful. I still have Fall/Thanksgiving on our porch...but the day after Thanksgiving all the Christmas comes out of storage. Thanks for the inspiration !

    ReplyDelete
  9. I don't blame you for wanting to take advantage of the nice weather to get the outside all decked out. It looks lovely!

    ReplyDelete

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