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!
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}”
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Your house looks amazing! My favourite Christmas memory would be when my niece was 1 and a 1/2 and we wanted her to understand that it was a special day so we filled the living room with balloon on Christmas morning. She was so excited and walked about collecting them all day ☺️
My favorite Christmas memory is singing Silent Night by candlelight at church!
I already follow you on instagram!
excited for this video series! my favorite holiday memory is family breakfast on Christmas day! all our favorite foods, followed by opening gifts, and of course tons of laughter!
One of my favorite xmas memories is the year it was just my mom, my sister, and me. We had no money for gifts
but we did get a little tree. We wrapped up things we already had, like I had a pair of earrings my mom
always admired so I wrapped them for her. It could have been a dismal holiday, and it was sad that my dad wasn’t there, but somehow the whole thing was magical. Merry Christmas!
I make new favorite Christmas memories every year. I can’t wait to see what memory Christmas 2016 brings.
I think my favorite holiday memory is when we decided that we were going to start doing something as a family (my parents, husband, and brother) either the day before or on Christmas. The first year we went to Rock City, because the whole park was decorated with Christmas lights. It had been raining that day, and it was super foggy, and we were going up the mountain. You couldn’t see two inches in front of you, and my mom was Freaking. Out. We had fun at her expense, I know. But then we made it to the lights, and I think the fog and misty rain made it so much more magical. We were pretty much the only people there, and had so much fun!
I follow you on YouTube and I’ve been following you on instagram for ages!
My favorite memories are of cooking with my mom and sister and watching Christmas movies. Now trying to continue those traditions with my boys
Mt favorite holiday memory is baking Christmas cookies, tea rings and cinnamon rolls with my mom
A nearby Boy Scout group had a tree lot next to a state park where you could cut your own tree. We would go every year and sometimes take aunts, uncles and cousins with us. It always snowed and the scouts served the best hot chocolate from a big iron pot heated over a campfire. It was the best!
My favorite Christmas memory is the excitement I felt as a child as my sister and I waited in bed until the time we were allowed to get up and wake our parents and grandparents. We’d giggle and chat about if we thought Santa had already been there and what he left for us.
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I subscribed to your YouTube channel (Amy Cooley). Thanks!
The first Christmas for each of my 3 children the look of sheer joy and excitement on each little face.
Christmas Eve at both of my grandmother’s houses. Bonus if some sort of family drama occurred, like cousins punching each other over toys! Loved growing up with my family close by.
My favorite holiday memories are from when my boys were younger. The wonder and excitement in their eyes was contagious!
Can’t wait for this series!
I think my fav ‘growing up’ memory was the year my younger brothers & I got new bikes for Christmas! It was a white Christmas & we were so excited we rode around our neighborhood in our short pjs then came crashing into the house because when the sheer joy gave way to cold air we realized we were FREEZING!
Subscribed on YouTube – longtime follower on Instagram :)
I’m following you on IG (@amymaddux). Thanks and Merry Christmas!
There is a home in my community with outrageous Christmas lights. Every year we take at least one evening to walk around their Christmas display. It’s a tradition we look forward to as a family every year!
Also- I follow on IG (ealong88)
Oh gosh. There are so many memories I adore. My birthday is on Christmas Eve too so all of the best parts of my childhood sort of happen around Christmas! haha. But there was one Christmas we had just moved into a house with some land. I was probably 6 and my brother 3. I had asked for a purple horse and my brother asked for a green horse. Easy requests, huh? Anyway, on Christmas morning we’d opened our gifts and were started to play when my mom told us to look outside. There was my dad with two Welsh ponies! One with a purple harness and lead and another with a green halter and lead. : ) The funny thing is that my parents were not the people to buy us the Barbie dreamhouse or an American Girl doll because apparently that was too expensive. But for some reason, probably my dad being a former rodeo cowboy and racehorse owner, they were totally excited to get us horses!
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My favorite holiday memory is when I saw my little girl quickly kiss Santa bc she thought he was magical.
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Icing Totto Cookies with my Mom! She would count out even amounts and make 8 or 9 different colored icing.
I follow you on Instagram!!! Merry Christmas!!
Christmas at my grandparents on James Island, SC. Family all together- my granddaddy irritated by all the excessive spending, grandmommy so thrilled to give- it was the best.
My favorite memory is decorating the tree every year with my mom and sister. We played Christmas music and had cookies ready to eat. My mom also put lots of Christmas decorations up all over the house and I love Christmas decorating now because of it! We also made gingerbread houses with our grandmother…leaving little red hot candies on the balcony of the gingerbread house for santa’s reindeer! Love this time of year!!!
Hi Jessica! My favorite holiday memory is baking Greek Christmas cookies and bread with my YiaYia! She made me special aprons (seamstress by trade) and had so much patience when I was learning how to measure flour correctly. She was never worried about the mess. She would tell my sister and I stories while we baked- about when she was a little girl in Greece and what it was like to live there. My favorite cookie is called Koulourakia, a shortbread-sugar cookie hybrid, that you roll out into a short log (or snake, when we were kids-lol), bring the two ends together, twist two times, and brush with egg wash before you bake. I have carried on the tradition with my boys and this year, my sister and niece will join us since we live close to each other again!
Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas!
Favorite holiday memory from this year is taking my three-year old niece to the Christmas tree farm and turning around to find her bent backwards nearly horizontal trying to pull the most Charlie Brown looking sapling out of the ground by its roots like it was a weed. Her expression so clearly said “What the heck?! This always works at home! You get a good grip, put a little back into it, and puuuuuullllll.” She is going to be my holiday pal, no matter how pathetic the tree she loved them all and was already begging in July to make “No-man” cookies.
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eeeeeeee!!! I love your house soooooo much it’s sooooo awesome. My favorite holiday memory was when my family came to visit me in San Diego (we were stationed there and I was going to school) and we went to Coronado Dog Beach and it was sooo beautiful and sunny and everyone was so happy. I will never forget that blue sky on Christmas even though I have had my fair share of white christmas’ being from Ohio.
I follow you on everything ever, you don’t need to tell me twice. :)
Hope your guys Christmas is as magical as ever.
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Favorite holiday memory: getting covered in flour during holiday baking with my mother and sisters :)
and I follow your adventures on YouTube! :)
fave when me and Tom visited Singapore to see our baby, she was over the moon and we had a great time
My favorite holiday memory is decorating cut out cookies with my 2 boys! Also – subscribed to You Tube! Have been following on Instagram forever! :)
My favorite memory is sitting at the top of the stairs Christmas morning waiting for my Dad to set up the video camera before we could go down and see the living room filled with gifts! (He would always joke that there wasnt anything there)
Woohoo! My favorite memory is getting a gerbil (yes, a gerbil) when I was 7. I’d wanted a little furry friend for so long! His name was Buster, he lived for 3 long years, and he actually kind of sucked and was really mean. But still the best Christmas ever.
I subscribed to the YouTube channel, and I already follow you on IG ;)
I used to love going to my grandparent’s on Christmas Eve with all my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We would run and play in the basement and Santa came every year with a bag full of gifts. I loved that time with family!
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Well I don’t really celebrate Christmas but every year we get together with family and friends, sometimes going up north for a few days and sometimes staying in the city, but always eating too much and spending a ton of time with each other just catching up. And then I get to spend a few days with just my hubby, I love it. And I follow you on Instagram and am subscribed to your YT channel!
You have a beautiful home, I love your decorations! Thanks for sharing such an intimate part of your life with us.
My favorite holiday memory is waking up early with my brother and sister on Christmas morning!
I already follow you on Instagram!