I know I’m a bit late to this party. There has been a lot going on behind the scenes (along with the normal holiday goodness!) in the Tupta household. I know chances are very likely that you already have all of your decor up! We’re 95% sure we won’t be in this home next year for Christmas though so I wanted to make sure to document this and hopefully provide some inspiration for you all in years to come. It’s so sad but also exciting at the same time. This military life is a wild ride, that’s for sure.

Per usual, I had a lot of fun decorating this year. I didn’t really have a plan other than to fill our home with magic, whimsical fun that we both love. We didn’t add much to our decor other than a few bottle brush trees and ribbon to make things feel different. Simply changing things up and using older decor in different ways can make it feel new (and can be quite a fun challenge!). Here’s exactly how we left our home before leaving for Virginia to celebrate Christmas. It’s so sad the next time we’re home we’ll be taking it down!

If you want to see how we decorated our home last year, visit THIS POST!

We kept it pretty simple in the kitchen this year by adding a small wreath (hung with a small Command Hook) over the stove from Trader Joe’s, one of our “smoking men” that was gifted to Stephen from my mom, and a little house from the dollar section at Target. We also rotated Christmas theme tea towels that hang on the oven – festive and functional.

Tip: I sprayed the wreath with Thieves cleaner every other day-ish and it has held up beautifully for weeks. I’m so impressed!!!

Our tree and mantle this year was our favorite. We had a lot of fun putting it up and decorating it together. I think our favorite part was that a large portion of the ornaments on the tree were made by Stephen’s grandparents. We were told that his grandpap and grandma would sit around the table late into the night and place these tiny intricate pieces on each bulb together. The thought of it just warms my heart.

We didn’t add much in the guest bedroom other than a Christmas banner.

I’ve been asked quite a bit about how we keep our duvet white – we pretty much always have a blanket on top of it. It’s not the prettiest thing ever but the dogs love to jump up there so this is our way of compromising. 😉

Aren’t these candy lights so fun?! My Poppy made them decades ago! My parents hung them up in my room every year during Christmas time. It was my favorite to sleep with them on at night. I can’t say I sleep with them on nowadays but I still love them so much.

I put together this short video so you can see it all “in action”!

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