Christmas on the Front Porch

For the past few weeks, I’ve shared how we decorated for Christmas at Bliss Barracks as well as my childhood home, Loblolly Manor.  Both homes have been decorated completely differently so it’s been fun to enjoy a traditional Christmas style at one house and a French Country style at the other.

I’ve been adding a few festive touches to my own home, Journey’s End, since just before Thanksgiving but it wasn’t until late last week that I finally got the front porch finished.  My goal for the porch this year was to have something that could be easily transitioned into the New Year and used throughout the winter season.  Given our holiday decorations were inspired by “Heaven and Nature Sing,” it seemed fitting to use cedar trees, pine cones from the yard and burlap wrapped pots.  Of course, it wouldn’t be a pouch tour at my house unless there was a bit of plaid.

Welcome to Christmas on the front porch…

This year we decided to hang simple green wreaths with plaid ribbon on all of the windows.  Since this wreath on the door makes wreath #5, I decided to layer it over one of my favorite reindeer bags (Thanks 2 Bees) and make a bow from burlap ribbon.

We lost 9 trees during Hurricanes Matthew and Hermine so I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the trees that weathered the storm than to highlight these cedar trees.  They have been sprouting up in the most random places on the property.

I wrapped the pots in burlap feed sacks which are always versatile to use in the Fall and Winter seasons. All of these pinecones came from the tree limbs that were damaged in the storms.  We still haven’t finished burning all of the piles yet.

Both of our seating areas are used pretty frequently.

As you may have guessed, Florida winters are fairly mild so we’re able to sit out here in a cozy pair of sweats, snuggled up in a blanket and read magazines or books.

I’m always cold so I usually have something hot to drink too.  How cute are these little Santa mugs?

You can’t tell it from looking at these cookies but they have caramels in the middle and I drizzled the top with chocolate and a pinch of sea salt.  They are melt in your mouth good.

Tis the season for plaid! I love love love anything and everything plaid any time of the year.  Did you guys have a chance to check out the Christmas Gift Wrap Blog Tour last week? There were some seriously creative ideas.

I’m not sure if you can tell it or not from this point but the ribbon on the wreaths are navy plaid too.

They’re hanging on all of the windows

We broke the porch into zones a few years ago and it has made a huge difference in how we use the space.

There’s more room on this old trunk turned coffee table so we usually have it packed with different goodies for an afternoon of fun. You can learn how to make these milk glass inspired cake stands here.

I was so excited to find this sleigh made from moss and sticks a few months ago.

Since both of the couches are white wicker, I decided to layer the linens and plaid a bit differently on this end. I wanted them to complement each other without being too matchy-matchy.

This is my favorite faux fur pillow.  I would take 10 more just like it if I could find them.

Back when I was in graduate school I barely had a porch at all so it feels like a blessing to have this one now.

I know I say this after every porch tour but if you guys lived a little bit closer, we could totally have a cup of tea, cocoa or coffee out here and laugh the afternoon away.

See you guys back here tomorrow.  I’ll share how we decorated the dining room using greenery in the chandelier, simple sprays from the front yard, ornamental kale a few paper whites. Until then, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo