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Christmas Traditions Blog Tour

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Hi Everyone! I’m sooo excited for the MOST wonderful time of the year!!! Okay, maybe I prefer sunshine to snow, but I can’t resist the joy of the Christmas season. When my friend Rachel over at Like a Saturday invited me to join up with a group of fabulous bloggers and share my favorite Christmas tradition I immediately said yes! If you are joining me over from Chaney’s blog, May Richer Fuller Be, welcome!

When I first started thinking of Christmas traditions there were several things that came to mind. Making homemade pizza with my parents (they met in college working at a pizza shop), fresh baked cookies, opening gifts on Christmas Eve…but the one that I decided to share in more detail is a bit of a non-traditional tradition. Aren’t those fun?

You see, we’ve been living in our house for 2 1/2 years, remodeling it bit by bit the entire time. I know, crazy right? You can see the before and after photos here. We moved into our home on August 7th, 2012—our third wedding anniversary!—and got right to work by demoing the entire kitchen, living and dining rooms the next day. In our (seriously misinformed) minds, it would take us just a month or so to put it all back together.

Wrong.

how to survive living in a remodel

We didn’t have a working kitchen for over four months. I will never forget my dad coming over on Christmas Eve day to help us finish hooking up the plumbing. We cooked our very first meal in our house on Christmas Eve. It was literally a Christmas miracle!  That night, between sips of champagne and giddy with the success of an actual kitchen, we came up with a crazy idea.

We decided to sleep in front of the fireplace. Like drag our mattress down the hallway, pile it up with blankets and pillows and spend a night camping out in our living room.

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After four months of having to wear tennis shoes in the house and carry our dogs to the backyard so no one would step on any nails, it was glorious to be able to sleep in a comfortable, clean, working home.

We liked it so much we did it the next year. And our fireplace sure has changed! See?

living room fireplace

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We’ll be doing it again this year. It’s a fun way to remember all the hard work—and just to enjoy the warmth of the fire. Obviously we turn it off before falling asleep totally, but it’s a fun way to get cozy. And just for funsies…here are some shots of us in our pjs. 😛 Scott clearly enjoyed this shoot the most (and looked by far the cutest!).

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What about you guys? Do you have any special Christmas traditions? Would you ever drag your mattress to the other side of the house? Indoor camping is a thing, right? Haha.

Make sure you continue the tour over at Nina’s at Everyday Enchanted! I’m loving all these fun Christmas traditions! 🙂

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Tania Griffis is an accomplished writer, blogger, and interior designer with a Journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. She started her popular blog, Run to Radiance, in 2011, demonstrating her design expertise through the personal remodeling of six houses to millions of readers across the globe.

Tania also owns The Creative Wheelhouse, a respected ghostwriting agency for bloggers, further showcasing her talent for creating engaging and informative content.

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34 Comments

  1. This is sooo cute!! And no matter how many times I see that before and after I’m always blown away.

    This is our 4th Christmas together. Our tradition we startedis with our tree. We started with all blue and silver ornaments the first year, and each year we add a new, personalized ornament. It’s kinda cute. Then as we have kids we’ll add all the silly little ones they’ll make at school.

  2. This is amazing! It reminds me of the time when my family temporarily moved to a 1 bedroom apartment when we were renovating our house and we all slept on the floor of the bedroom with our mattresses lined up on the floor. It was so fun when I was 7 – not so sure my parents felt the same! Love that y’all have made this a tradition.

  3. What an awesome tradition! When I was growing up, we’d always have pizza on Christmas Eve and then we’d get to open one present. We don’t always have pizza any more but the tradition of opening a present has stuck 🙂

  4. Omgosh I love the fireplace idea. It’s perfect for winter and it looks like you’ve upgraded into a master suite! Awesome renovations I really like your taste!

  5. Your fireplace looks super cozy and I think this is such a beautiful tradition, especially because it reminds you of all the love and hard work you have poured into your home. I really LOVED reading this.. and looking at your super cozy photos! Thanks for sharing and happy holidays!

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