12 Days of Christmas! I Christmas House Tour Video & Giveaway. {CLOSED}
Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas!
I am SO excited to share with you guys that every day for the next 12 days, I’ll be vlogging (think day in the life, waaaay oversharing, Q+A videos), sharing the video here on Crumbs (and on youtube!) and holding a giveaway of my favorite things!
Here’s a peek at some of the Christmas decor in our home. So sorry if I make you nauseaus with my shaky camera skills and poor editing – I’m still learning! There are a few things I left out because I have constant #mombrain and either forgot or wasn’t able to get it together in time. Things like my favorite mini Lenox nativity set (I have no idea where to place it this year, since Max will shatter it), the Pottery Barn Kids advent/Christmas countdown calendar (that is sewn completely crooked but I refused to send back because I opened it ON the first day of advent and was determined to have a cute calendar… ), our favorite Christmas pillows and outdoor lights, etc. I wanted to wait until everything was perfect, but if I waited, I knew I’d never do it and I’ve wanted to make videos FOREVER now.
The first year we were married, Eddie surprised me and bought a tree, decorated it and made his man cave apartment a winter wonderland for us. It was actually the second tree he bought, because the first was waaaay too big, but final sale. So we ended up with two trees! That year, we put up two trees and bought lots of ornaments at Michael’s and Joann’s. That’s where the majority of our ornaments are from, along with a few Martha Stewart from Macy’s that are about eight years old and some new ones from Michael’s this year that I bought for the white tree.
I bought the white tree last year at Treetopia on sale after Christmas. The copper/blue tree is from Target this year, and by far my favorite one. The red/green decorated tree is from Frontgate and will hopefully last us a million years.
My mom made our house incredibly magical when I was growing up. In fact, she still does and I’m hoping that I can get a video of hers before these 12 days are up! She’d stay up all night for days to turn the house into a Christmas wonderland for my brothers and me. It was the most magical time EVER.
Needless to say, I’ve been a complete Christmas freak since I was a kid. When school started up again, I’d wake up early and go downstairs just so I could sit by the Christmas tree in January before we got on the bus. It was my absolute favorite!
Eddie and I were determined to make our house as Christmasy as we could for Max this year. Eddie decorated gingerbread houses for eight hours because he is a perfectionist, and even set up his own tree downstairs in the basement that I didn’t get to capture. It has been so much fun and I love sitting under the lights every night.
Enjoy! And scroll down for giveaway #1!
GIVEAWAY!Â
Every day for the next 12 days until Christmas I’ll be giving away some of my favorite things. I want to show every bit of my appreciation for you guys sticking here with me for over seven years, reading the rambles that I write and making my recipes and leaving comments and supporting me 100%. Even when I write horrific run-on sentences and use 34 exclamation points in one post. And say “literally.” Ugh.
THANK YOU so much for being here. You changed my life and I am forever grateful for you.
Today I’m giving away a mirrorless camera! If you read my favorites post, you know I use one all the time and I even shot a few pieces of the video here with mine. I was super excited to giveaway the Samsung nx300 that I always talk about, but unfortunately it’s no longer available. Instead, I’m giving away the comparable Sony alpha a6000, which I’ve even considered switching to. This giveaway is not sponsored or affiliated with anyone and is given by me. It is open to EVERYONE EVERYWHERE! Wahoo.
To enter: leave a comment on this post sharing your favorite holiday memory!
For a second entry: SUBSCRIBE to the howsweeteats youtube channel. There is a red button on the right side and you will only be notified when I upload a new video. This is the best way to be notified of a new video/giveaway in these 12 days too! Leave a comment telling me you did so.
For a third entry: follow howsweeteats on instagram. Leave a comment telling me you did so.
The giveaway will only be open for 24 hours (!!) so be sure to enter and share! A winner will be picked at random. Come back for a new video and giveaway tomorrow. xoxo
1,439 Comments on “12 Days of Christmas! I Christmas House Tour Video & Giveaway. {CLOSED}”
My favorite Holiday memory is when I flew in to Boston (from SWEDEN!) to surprise my whole extended family! Nobody knew I was coming and when I got there, everyone was out eating dinner at a nearby restaurant. I walked into the restaurant and right up to the table where my aunts, cousins, uncles, grandparents et al where sitting and just casually said “Oh, hey everyone”. Seeing everyone’s reactions was the best thing ever. But what really got me was my grandfather, who instantly got up and hugged me like crazy and through tears kept saying “I love you, I love you, I love you!” For the rest of the weekend everyone in the family kept telling me how amazing it was to see my grandfather’s reaction because he’s never got that emotional about anything before, he never cries and he never says “I love you”. It is the best and warmest holiday memory I have, and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.
P.S I’ve followed you on Instagram (and commented there) and followed you on YouTube too. Loved your cute holiday decorations video in this post, so cute. And Max, at the end, so charming! :)
Hi Jess! My favorite holiday memory would probably have to be my grandpa reading The Night Before Christmas every year on Christmas Eve when I was growing up. After he passed away, my grandma decided that she wanted me to read the story instead of her, as was to be expected. I’m the youngest in my family, so I was surprised and touched at her suggestion that I do so. I miss those times!
Also, I subscribed to your youtube channel and I was already following you on Instagram :)
I love reading to my little girl all the time but on Christmas Eve with a good Christmas story it ends up being magical for both of us.
Wow, that’s a gift!
Love this giveaway! I have the Sony A5000 and have been wanting to upgrade– I would definitely recommend it for you the Sony line is awesome!
My favorite holiday memory has to be Christmas 2014– I moved to Germany on Dec 22 to give my long-distance relationship a shot. It was our 2nd Christmas together, but the first where we would be living together. So it felt extra special celebrating. We visited many Christmas Markets leading up to Christmas and my now-husband surprised me with a trip to my favorite city Prague!
P.S.- I am following on Instagram and Youtube as well! Love your posts!
Love your blog, only sad I didn’t know about it when we lived in Pittsburgh, we could have been BFF’s!
One of my fave Christmas memories is laying on my belly for hours playing with the nativity under our tree. It was so magical, and I feel super lucky to be able to display it now in my own home. It’s a treasured piece of the best times of the childhood.Â
Also, I follow you on YouTube, Insta & twitter:)
We always sang to the Merry Christmas Brenda Lee Christmas album…(Jingle Bell Rock was my favorite) when we decorated our tree. My dad had a wonderful voice (the rest of made the animals howl). Then we moved on to Nat King Cole, & all the other oldies. It was always the one day that everything was right with the world!
My favorite Christmas memory is riding through the Christmas lights on a hay trailer.Â
I subscribed to your YouTube channel.Â
I’ve been following you on instagram for quite a while. ?
I love all the pictures! Â Thanks for letting us see:)
I loved coming home from Christmas Eve mass and finding that “the elves” had left us brand new cozy pajamas!
I have followed you on instagram since you had Max! (alabasteranna)
My favorite memories are either in the kitchen baking the family Christmas cookies or decorating the tree. My parents have collected lots of ornaments over the years, and it was always fun to hear the stories year after year, like the quilted paper ones my mom made for rh5eir first Christmas a a married couple. They also made sure my brother and I had a new ornament each year so that when we formed our own households, we would have our own collection to start with.
Thank you for making Christmas just a bit more special!
My favorite memories involves doing something similar to what you’re doing.  When I was young, my mom would also decorate our small Cape home at Christmas time.  She would set up a lit Santa and a hand carved wooden sleigh with reindeer.  After my mom passed away, I received the sleigh and the Santa.  When my kids were young, I would leave tiny presents in the sleigh that my mom had wrapped for decoration, but I would add two newly wrapped presents (one for my daughter and one for my son).  I would do this for the 12 days of Christmas.  Every morning  they would be so excited to find their presents.  Their energy and excitement was so fun and it tied three generations together.Â
Favorite Christmas memory is decorating the tree on Christmas Eve and eating Chex Mix!Â
Thanks for giveaway!Â
Favorite memory is baking and decorating gingerbread cookies with the kiddosÂ
My favourite memory is driving through the neighbourhoods to Serb all the lights! (I also follow you on instagram!)
I get my favorite Christmas memory every year, and that is cooking and celebrating the holiday with my family and friends. I love your blog, you have given me so many ideas for my gatherings. One of these days I am going to get up to the Crate in Greentree and cook with you at one of your cooking classes. Your house is so beautifully decorated with the sparkle of the season, and love seeing your adorable little boy. Merry Christmas to you and your family!!!!
Hello, I love reading your blogs. I especially enjoy your recipes. Your home looks absolutely beautiful. When I was growing up, my parents didn’t have a lot of money, but I was very excited about Christmas as a kid. I now have grandchildren that I make it magical for!
Oh my gosh! Love these pictures :) My favorite memory is having to wait up until midnight (we used to celebrate Christmas Eve and Birthdays on Christmas Day) with all my cousins to open presents! The excitement building was too much to handle sometimes and we got in a little earlier lol! Now we try to recreate that same feeling with our own kids as we still gather (cousins and all) at my aunt’s house!
I love this time of year YAY!
My favorite Christmas memory was sitting at the top of the stairs with my brother and sister, waiting for my dad to put on the Johnny Mathis record (winter wonderland!) in the stereo. We weren’t allowed to come down until he had the music going and the camcorder set up :) that album is my childhood Christmas. And my dad always used to say that my mom didn’t decorate for Christmas, she transformed the whole house. It’s true! She made it magical.Â
I loved baking Christmas cookies with my Grandma.
We used to do a little santa train of siblings from our bedrooms to the lounge and our piles of presents on Christmas morning. It got us SUPER excited for present opening.
My favorite Christmas memory started when I was an adult – my parents divorced on Christmas day when I was a senior in high school, but my dad remarried to an amazing, Christmas LOVING woman a few years later. Every Christmas morning my 5 siblings and I sit on the stairs and share the meaning of Christmas before we can come downstairs. We take turns for hours drinking coffee, eating cinnamon rolls, and opening presents by the tree. It’s a cozy, loving time I look forward to all year :)
Following your YouTube channel now!!
And following your instagram (for a long time now ha!)
And I’ve been following you on Insta for years! XoÂ
Love this! Â My favorite memory is baking old fashioned Christmas cookies with my grandmother. And we still do it every year. She is 94 now, so can’t do much of the baking, so she directs and I follow her directions. We do it every year on the Sunday before Christmas for about 8 hours, until we can barely stand up and there are mountains of cookies filling the kitchen.Â
I also follow you on Instagram!
The past few years, Christmas has become even more exciting because we live far from family but get to go home and be with all of them for Christmas. That and I have 2 kids, who are now 10 and 5, who make Christmas that much more special. I’d say my favorite Christmas related memory right now is from Thanksgiving. My daughter asked us all what we were most excited for regarding Christmas and my 5 year old son said, being with family. Melted my heart :)
I follow on instagram and youtube!
I love your decorations! My favorite memory is really a collection of memories of Christmas morning when I was little. I would always run downstairs and jump on my parents’ bed and ask my dad to check if santa came. He would quietly sneak out into the living room to check and report back and then we would go out together to check if the cookies and milk were eaten and read the note “Santa” “left for me.Â
I am following you on Instagram as well!
Happy holidays!
Favorite memory- opening one gift on Christmas Eve with my sister and having all grandparents sleep over so we could wake them up early!Â
And I now follow you on YouTube!
I’m subscribed!Â
I follow you on Instagram.Â
So many memories! My mother loved Christmas and tried to make them all special, so there’s always baking, making candy (its not Christmas without black walnut fudge!) ,house decorating, choosing the perfect tree, and wrapping packages and beautiful hand-tied bows. One of the funniest memories I have is the year my great uncle gave us an uncooked Christmas goose. HE wrapped it up, and gave it to use TWO WEEKS before Christmas. Not knowing it was a gift that would spoil (he didn’t TELL US THAT), mom stuck it under the tree. In about a week, we noticed an odd smell, but thought maybe a mouse had died n the house? Christmas morning, opening that box cleared the room. Mom went running out and threw it in the garbage. We were all laughing and gagging, too!! Turns out my rather eccentric great uncle had given EVERYONE food. Which was spoiled and rotten by Christmas morning.
I subscribe to your instagram! <3
I just subscribed to your Youtube channel. YAY!
my favorite memories of Christmas’s past… My family (7) of us in total, started to write a Christmas letter. We all took turns each year and wrote a letter to our family, it centered around, thankfulness, gratitude, blessings and mostly the LOVE we have for each other.
My favorite Christmas memory is from when I was little – my sister slept in my room with me so that we could wake up together and go downstairs at the same time for presents!
I am following you on Instagram :)
My mom collects hallmark ornaments. It’s truly special because each one of them has a memory with them or marks a milestone in our life. It’s like our family’s life history on a tree. It’s the magic of Christmas!Â
Laying under the lit tree looking up through the branches. I still do it!
My favorite holiday memory is making cookies with my mom and my sister. I still make a lot of the exact same cookies, except now my daughters help me!Â
It’s hard to pick just one memory, but I LOVED Christmas when we were little. It was the most magical season. My mom too, would make our house a magical Christmas wonderland, dressed from head to toe. We had a tradition on Christmas Eve and would all gather around the sparkling tree to read ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas together. Afterwards we would each open one special gift, which was always an ornament, and more often than not, a pair of matching PJs for my sister & I. To this day, I’m so incredibly grateful that I have an ornament for each year of my life so that I can look back and recall all those Christmas we shared. Merry Christmas! xo
My favorite memory of Christmas is the cookies my mom would make. Â Every kind of Christmas cookie…days of baking.
These pictures are beautiful! Truly magical indeed. Favorite memory?????? Santa came to the house for a visit and dented the front door knocking on it with his cane! I got a toy vanity that year that I loved!
I already follow you on instagram.