Tour of (my) Homes

This year, our church's Women's Ministry sponsored a tour of homes. I was in the planning committee and offered my home as one of the host homes.

How it works: we travel in groups of 10-15 to different church members' homes. This year we had 6 homes! 

Some of my favorite things I saw that weren't at my own house: 

And on to my house. Beware, this is going to be the longest post ever with tons of pictures. 

Mom and I did a lot of new things in my house this year. I was thrilled with how it turned out. If there were a theme to my house, I might would dub it "deco mesh meets glitter". Hahaha! 

If you want to know where I got something-good luck! We have a fun store called "The Christmas Tree Shoppe" in Greenville where a lot of things came from this year. Otherwise, it's a huge conglomerate of wherever was having the best deal...or home made! 

The outside:

View from the front door. 

My living room was decked out in wedding theme things. Our wedding was 12-11-10, so we had TONS of Christmasy touches. Our colors were green, blue, and peacock, so we have lots of those touches left. I added the wedding photos in the tree, and several of the sit-around things.

We gave out these Balsam sachets as favors at our wedding; I adore my grandparents' home state of Maine and it is also where Moose and I got engaged. These balsam "pouches," if you will, are the perfect connection to Christmas and to Maine! I had lots left over, so we gave them out to the ladies who visited our home.

My kitchen table may be one of my favorite spaces. (I'm probably going to say that a lot). My dad bought the china at an auction and it matched my Chrstimastime pieces that I had from our wedding. The centerpiece is just a huge glass vase with apples, oranges, and cranberries. So easy, but so festive!

All of our Christmas cards hanging between the kitchen and the hallway.

Our main bathroom has several "touches" of Christmas. I love the sparkly reindeer and the moose towel!

These are just dollar store ornaments that I hung from the shower hooks.

Our guest bedroom.
I hung stockings at the foot of the bed, put up a balsam sachet tree, and hung a printable banner that I cut out.

My room. We didn't do a ton in here, but I hung the prettiest garland (Michael's--70% off) on our headboard, tossed some Christmas pillows around, and put a baby tree on Moose's dresser.

My office may be the room I'm proudest of. We had begun to empty this room when we found out we were having a baby, so it basically had a bookshelf and a desk (oops). I turned the bookshelf on its side to make a bench, hung some artwork, and mom made the coolest ornaments for this tree. She cut a log into 1" thick pieces and we mod podged "woodland animals" on it!

This pillow was in the dollar spot at target! I chopped some cedar from the back yard and filled this basket. 

I used presents as decor! 

More cedar.

I even decorated our Jack-and-Jill bathroom!

The den. I love this room for how cozy and happy it always is.

Sweet treats set out on the oven for the visitors. I love my hand towels; Family Dollar special!

Popcorn drizzled with white chocolate; peppermint M & M's thrown in for extra pizzaz.

My mom made cider. Y'all. It's apple juice and Savannah's Cinnamon (Found at LifeWay). SOOO Easy, but SOOO yummy!

I wanted to do a close up on some of my favorite ornaments from my trees: 

(Warning-we're almost done...sort of)

The wooden circles mom made for our office tree and some strips of burlap just tucked in:

Balsam sachets decking out the guest bedroom tree:

My living room tree might be my favorite touch! I printed 4x6 prints of my wedding photos and put them in cheap silver frames. I then tucked them in throughout the tree.

Some fun ornaments from my den tree:
It it says "Our first Christmas," we have it. It is a product of getting married in December!

A Jamaica wreath from our honeymoon, Our First Christmas, and Josefina (the American Girl)

I LOVE this "Mrs. Moose" ornament and the "O Come Let Us Adore Him" ornament.

Definitely our most dramatic "Our First Christmas" ornament--wedgewood. Moose and I wrap this one up every year ;)

I took our Christmas cards from the past several years, clipped them with mini clothes pins and hung them throughout our tree. It is such a fun way to look back at how people have changed!

Congratulations! You made it!!!!
Thank you for "touring" my home. I love decorating it for each season and it is special to be able to share it with you. 

Family Photos Roberts and Saville style

Thanksgiving week, we experienced family pictures with BOTH the Roberts and the Savilles. Some would say that this is a unique form of torture, but I happen to be all about the festivities of Christmas photo taking!

The Roberts have been taking Christmas photos for Christmas cards for literally my whole life. We've done coordinating sweaters, pictures at parks, laying on blankets...you name it, we've used it as our family picture. We try to get more and more creative each year because, well, duh! No Christmas card is worth anything if it's not better than last year's lol :)

This year, we had an ironic encounter a few weeks prior to picture day that led to one of the best pictures ever! A gentleman drove this super cute antique truck to my parents' yard sale and mom declared that she had to have it for family pictures. The ironic part is that he is actually the son-in-law of a church member, so dad had the contact info of the man!

Well, our gracious photographer (Margaret) came, the truck came...and less than 30 minutes later we had the following:

Margaret says we're pretty photogenic. I think it is just that we've done it for so long, we realize that we can sit and smile quickly and end up finished so much faster! If mom doesn't get one she's pleased with, we do it all over...so it is best to make mama happy! I love the way they turned out.

Saville pictures were a mere 5 days later. Whitney, Angela, and I decided to gift the Saville parents with an official photography session. The last one we had as a family was missing several kiddos and was no longer our "complete" family. We scheduled it, planned wardrobes and told them the night before. They were so excited!

We got up on Saturday morning and met our photographer, Kam, who is a precious friend of the Savilles. Minor problem: text messaging auto correct sent the wrong location to Kam...so, we waited for about 20 minutes while Kam and her husband waited at a different location. Oops! After fixing the location mix up, we had a great time. The pictures took a little longer than Roberts photos; however, we were hanging out with an 18 month old, a 2 year old, and a 4.5 year old! We ended up with some phenomenal pictures, like these:

Both sets of family photos turned out so great! I couldn't be more pleased with what we got.

We dressed in coordinating, but not "matching" outfits in both groups. We tried to make sure each couple had a pattern, and each family chose 2-3 colors to focus around. We then mix and matched styles to make a coordinating photo without looking too matchy matchy. Both sets of pictures will fit beautifully in my house and created some awesome Christmas Cards. I was thrilled with the results!

If you live in the Atlanta area, you should contact Kam at http://onegirlphotography.net/. If you're a SC local, Margaret Berry can be contacted on FB. Love them both for their unique styles and adaptability to our families' unique requests!!!

A Quick Preview and #SavilleLifeInPictures2014 week 50.

The Christmas Holidays are SOO the best! They give me a ton to write about. 😊 So, coming up this and next week:

The Family Photo Saga

Tour of (my) Homes

Friend Party and Live Nativity

Hanging the Green and getting in the Spirit

I'm so excited to share many of our Christmas traditions with you all! 

But first, Saville Life in Pictures for week 50. Week 50, y'all!  I can't even believe I've kept up with it for 50 days, much less weeks-but here we are! 

Day 341: just a little outdoor decorating!

Day 342: Apparently I have a big toe problem. Holes in both toms! These are now on my Christmas list, as I wore them 

to school and the kids constantly pointed out my sad shoes. 

Day 343: some nights are made for getting cozy by the Christmas tree!

Day 344: 40 women coming to my house the next day. Getting prepped and ready!

Day 345: Had a blast at Tour of Homes. This was definitely my favorite tree, but it might be because I have a thing for Owls! 

Day 346: affectionately known as the day I finished my Christmas shopping. 

Day 347: few things make me happier than these friends and our annual Christmas party! ❤️💚❤️

Keep up with us all year on Instagram @1988megan! 

And get ready: blogging is back with a vengeance. 

#SavilleLifeInPictures2014. Weeks 48 & 49

Day 327: home! In the torrential downpour! Glad for visits with family, but love to be HOME!

Day 328: DWTS finale. Camped out in front of the TV. 

Day 329: spent my week in 7th grade and can't help but chuckle at their humor. "Because when you say it slowly, it sounds like bust her butt!" 

Day 330: got Micah and Chelsea's Christmas tree up! It is only 12 feet tall, after all!

Day 331: thanksgiving! Ours was full of food, family, naps, and shopping. It's the beginning of my favorite season!

Day 332: our Black Friday concluded in Charlotte with family. Getting ready for Footlocker with family. 

Day 333: really enjoyed myself at Footlocker regionals. So proud of Morgan and all of the Palmetto XC kiddos who ran!

Day 334: our friends are the best! Love that we enjoy doing nothing together. 

Day 335: ice cream and Christmas lights for a fun weeknight treat. 

Day 336: my view for the night! Love the lady Mustangs!!! 

Day 337: Apparently my car battery grew blue gunk...which is unhealthy! This resulted in me needing rides and a lunch. Thanks mom for cutting the edges from my PBJ. :)

Day 338: this is how my silly hubby felt about being at church for practice on this night!

Day 339: basketball is literally my favorite thing. 

Day 340: Starbucks Selfie! 

Keep up with us all year on Instagram @1988megan