Welcome back again, friends. We are officially in the first week of December, journeying through the season of advent, and that definitely makes the countdown to celebration feel very real.
Every year during the holiday season, I love to crank up the Christmas music and enjoy spending some time in the kitchen baking seasonal treats for my family. There is almost nothing like it to get you in the holiday spirit. For so many people, the kitchen really is the heart of the home. We spend so much time in here making meals, baking, washing dishes, and sitting on a stool and chatting at the end of the day while doing all of these things. Being a homemaker, I find that I spend a lot of my day in here, and for us, our kitchen literally is in the centre of our home. We see it from the dining room while sharing meals, the living room while sitting and relaxing, when walking down the hallway, and when coming down the stairs in the morning to start the day. Because of all of these reasons, I always want to bring Christmas decor into the kitchen, as well each area in my home, for the holidays so that it exhibits a hint of Christmas, and feels festive. Today, I invite you into my kitchen to see how it has been adorned this season.
This year, I wanted to do something different than I personally have in any previous year, and create a little makeshift hot cocoa station. We aren’t huge sweets people in this household, so it’s quite simple as I didn’t have a ton of toppings on hand. I filled my cute little stoneware pot with some sea salt caramel hot chocolate that my husband had in the pantry, grabbed a small pitcher for heating up milk, and set out some shortbread cookies for a buttery treat for dipping. Oh, and of course, the mugs. It was quite fun for me to see Troy use this area last night to make himself a cup of cocoa after we returned home from getting our real tree at a local Christmas tree lot!
I found these little golden fig decorations online last month, and thought they were so cute! Because of our faucet, hardware, and other existing aspects in our home, I enjoy keeping the accents in this area gold. So, I pulled out my gold flatware for the cocoa station as well.
I managed to find some fresh bunches of cedar and pine at my community grocery store the other day. These, and our real tree downstairs, are making the house smell so amazing and Christmasy!
Like so many, we believe the best part of the Christmas season is simply slowing down and spending more time together. Much of regular life can be consumed by running around doing errands, focusing on work, and having so many plans we sometimes collapse at the end of a week. Because of all this, we delight in the extra time we have during the holiday season to relax and reconnect. And among the many other traditions we share during this time, much of that resides in the kitchen, as we begin baking Christmas goodies and savouring holiday treats.
For some extra glow, I enjoy using light strands around the house on various surfaces. I’m sure you have seen them in previous years at Christmas time as well - they just seem like a necessity! And this faux wreath I found last year holds its holiday spot above our range hood. With a lovely fabric, cream-coloured bow, it’s the perfect finishing touch to pull this space together and make it feel truly like Christmas in the kitchen.
It has been my joy this season to be able to bring the festive feeling of Christmas to every room in our home in simple ways, and I have been having fun taking my time doing so this year, decorating as I feel the urge, to savour and enjoy every moment of this holiday season. I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my kitchen decorated for the holiday season. I can’t wait to make some (paleo) sugar cookies with my love, have a glass of mulled wine, join together in gatherings - like our family movie night watching Home Alone, complete with appetizers and drinks, make my classic Christmas morning “wife-saver” recipe, and so many more traditions we have involving our kitchen at Christmas time. This time of year really is about the memories you make with those you love, while being grateful for the reason for the season, and I pray you are all able to make great ones this year in your homes.
Thanks for stopping by,
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