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}”
My favorite holiday memory is making oodles of cookies to give to my family.
I’m following on Instagram and YouTube!! So excited to see your videos on my subscription feed. My favorite memory is decorating my Christmas tree :)
I always think of baking with my mom and sisters when I think of Christmas but I think I’d have to say my favorite memory was my sister telling us all she was pregnant after being told just months before that it couldnt happen. Best gift ever and now we have a beautiful baby to celebrate with this year!
My favorite Christmas memories are those first few moments each year that I glimpse on my little ones faces as they get their first look under the tree on Christmas morning.
I’m an IG follower too!
Gingerbread houses when my kids were little! So much fun. Got my first grand baby a few years ago and this week we’ll be making one!! So excited!!
Follow on instagram @jamiewalker22
Decorating Christmas cookies for hours with my family
My favorite memory is waking up on Christmas morning, coming downstairs and finding my dad asleep on the couch! My parents were divorced, and Dad lived in another state, but he drove in late the night before to surprise me that morning, and it made my day
My favorite holiday memory was when a police officer came to my house as a little girl to leave my brother, sisters and I each a toy. My parents couldn’t afford to get their four children gifts so that is a memorable experience I’ll never forget.
I loved being the first to arrive to my grandparents for our own little Christmas before all my cousins arrived. They made it feel so special!
I also follow on Instagram!
I have been following howsweeteats on IG for a while now?
6 straggly ponytails. 12 tippy-toes. clouds of Peter Pan flour. innocent giggles.
my favorite holiday memory happens to also be my favorite memory of my mother.
every single-digit year of my life, around the holidays (because my birthday typically falls on thanksgiving), my incredible selfless mother would host a birthday party — but not just any birthday party. she would roll up her sleeves and make homemade chicken noodle soup, with whatever macaroni shape was popular that year, and dye the broth PINK for me. yes, pink! what more could a seven year-old dream of? she would then call me, and my five best girlfriends into the kitchen, and line the countertop with flour. she would have gingerbread men & women cutouts, vanilla frosting, sprinkles, edible holly. the whole deal. she would teach us how to make homemade dough, place our new friends on a cookie sheet, & patiently wait while they bake– which was never easy. but the decorating was fully up to our imagination.
even now, without my mother to help me in the kitchen with my gingerbread, i’m convinced that i can still hear her say…”just 5 more minutes!”
and i respond by always listening.
I have subscribed to your YouTube channel (and I’m excited!)
Following on Insta!!!
My favorite Christmas memories are always of my mom and I making way too much food!
I follow on youtube and instagram!
I have followed @howsweeteats on Instagram for quite a long time. I think you may have been amongst my first 10 follows ?
Subscribed to your youtube channel!!! <3
My dad reading the polar express to my brother and me every Christmas Eve.
I have been following you on Instagram and love your posts @katielady_therd
My favorite Christmas memory is the year that I had pretty much stopped believing in Santa Claus until my mom convinced me she had seen his boot as he headed back up the chimney,
I subscribed to your YouTube channel!
I follow you on Instagram :)
Every Christmas Eve, my family and I make fondue down in our family room, everyone gathers around the pot, and we put on a holiday movie. It’s one on my favorite traditions and I have such warm memories of doing it growing up. I’m already looking forward to doing it again this year!
Subscribed to your YouTube channel! xo
I follow you on Instagram already :)
Growing up, the highlight of every year was creating a Christmas list. My brother and I would sit at our kitchen table, coloured pens in hand, and write till our fingers ached. Then we’d proudly show our parents (who were dismayed by their length), postmark envelopes to the North Pole, and impatiently wait for Christmas day.
My parent’s TV room/kitchen table area has radiant heat flooring. I have years of memories of coming home from the late Christmas Eve service in our dresses and tights freezing (in Minnesota) and my sisters and I would run in and lie down on the warm floor and giggle.
My favorite Christmas memory is as a kid, putting on performances with my cousins to entertain the adults at our family party every year. (I was obviously always the director so I could boss everyone around.)
I follow you on Instagram already! :)
And now subscribed on YouTube!
My favorite holiday memory has always been from my childhood. I always tried staying up late to see Santa only to fall asleep at the 11th hour. I remember one year, my parents woke me up in the middle of my slumber to alert me that they heard Santa coming down the chimney; but alas, I was always too late to see him!
I have followed you on instagram!
And subscribed on youtube! Cant wait to see more videos, really enjoyed seeing a cameo from Max in this one :)
Every year Dad would read me and my brother and sister A Christmas Carol. I think I have it memorized.
I follow you on Instagram!
One of my favorite holiday memories was when my oldest son (now 19) used to kiss the Christmas tree on his way to bed and say, “Night-night, Pismustree!” That same year, he also went shopping with is Dad and bought me a small glass vase that held 3 glass flower stems. He told me that now I have flowers that will never die. I love thinking of the memories my husband and I share! Thank you1
My favorite holiday memory is playing Santa for my younger brother.
I follow you on Instagram!
Subscribed on YouTube!
Following on Instagram!
Hi Jessica!
I am already subscribed to your YouTube channel, and I follow you on Instagram (@chelsieclara).
My favourite holiday memory is waking up Christmas morning and finding our Mom asleep at the back door with a massive puppy beside her…my parents had gotten my four sisters and I a St. Bernard pup for Christmas, but he was whining and barking in the middle of the night, so my Mom went and slept with him to keep him quiet as to not wake us up! Best Christmas morning surprise ever! Annnd, it shows the sacrifice our mothers make for us. ;)
xx Chelsie
I am subscribed to your Youtube channel!
I follow you on insta! @chelsieclara
Favorite holiday memory – definitely being in the angel choir at church every year! Putting on that white sheet and a gold pipe cleaner halo – I felt so angelic lol!
subscribed and already followed on insta! :) my favorite christmas memory, or tradition, is our family’s christmas eve every year! we go to mass, drive around and look at christmas lights, then come home and get pizza, make cookies, and watch a christmas movie in our pjs :) it’s a lazy, dreamy post-finals paradise
My favorite Holiday memory was receiving a giant pink Barbie house for my sisters and I! I just KNEW Santa was real after that!!
Loved putting the train around our christmas tree
Love, love, love your beautiful home! I subscribed on you tube and already follow on Instagram!
It has been such an adventure following you all these years!
My favourite Christmas memory is an Icelandic tradition we still follow! We serve rice pudding after Christmas dinner and whoever finds a blanched almond wins a prize. It gets highly competitive and is lots of fun.