Christmas {Front of Home} Tour

One of my favorite bloggers, Melissa @ The Inspired Room, is hosting a Christmas Home Tour that begins this evening. I am still tweaking my decor even though I started decorating earlier than ever this year. I caught the bug to simplify around here. That has translated not only to my Christmas decor but to my home in general. I have been a purging and organizing fool! So I'm not going to fret over not having everything just so-so for Melissa's tour.

AND I'm just going to stick with a few front of home touches for this tour. Maybe I'll have the rest of our home ready for Nester's party later this week. So here we are. My favorite part of our home to decorate - the door. In the past I've done it big. I've done it burlappy. And this year I went back to nature. My goal in all these looks is to say WELCOME!

With all the simplifying I wanted to make sure our home reflects the reason for the season. I have admired the Nativity Hurricane Candle Holder Trio from DaySpring for a while but really don't have a good place to display it. Instead I allowed it to inspire me to dress up this sconce in our entryway. LOVE! It was super easy, too. I did a project similar to this with Santa photos and scripture a few years back. You can see just a snippet of the mantel in this picture.

To the left of the entry is our formal living room. The formal, type A side of me loves this room. It's monochromatic. It's highly symmetrical. And it doesn't fall prey to the clutter of every day life. This is my retreat - where I hide when I need quiet, reflection time. This year it is host to my favorite Christmas crafty moment thus far - this simple boxwood centerpiece.

To the left I have a beautiful container filled with blooming paperwhites.Simple. Pretty. Are they real? I'll never tell. {wink}

Here's my favorite spot in the room. In the middle of the sofa looking through the french doors into the family room. The boys can laugh and play while I quietly enjoy a little me time just a few feet away. This time of year is extra special because it's the best view of our perfectly imperfect tree.

Thanks for stopping over for a look into my favorite room in our home. If you are visiting from Melissa's, please let me know you were here so I can be sure to stop over for a visit.

Merry Christmas!

~Southern Fried Gal

p.s. I'm hosting a Christmas Door Linky Party all this week. I would love to have you join the fun. I'm always looking for new inspiration for my door!