A Home For The Holidays

A Home For The Holidays

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The Lovrien family’s Christmas décor captures the magic of the season

Marshall and Shelley Lovrien’s historical home combines classic features with an open floor plan to create a truly beautiful and inviting atmosphere that is perfect for entertaining.

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The Lovrien family, Marshall, Shelley, and daughters Leah (4), Isabelle (2), and Madeline (7).

The couple, who lives in Aberdeen with their daughters, Madeline, Leah, and Isabelle, bought their house three years ago and did extensive remodeling to make it their own. “We gutted basically the entire first floor, but still kept those original details that you can’t find anymore like the oak woodwork and leaded glass windows,” Marshall explains.

The house is over one hundred years old and has been in Marshall’s family since his childhood. A big part of the remodel was designed around their favorite family traditions of decorating and hosting guests for the holidays. They added two fireplaces to the home and chose the mantel heights carefully to make sure they would be tall enough to accommodate their Christmas stockings. Each stocking has a member of the family’s name sewn on it and hangs from the mantel until they are filled with treats by Santa on Christmas morning. They also strategically placed outlets around the home in locations they knew would be perfect for plugging in their lighted garland strands and wreath. The ceilings on the main floor are just over 9 feet tall, perfect for fitting in their two 9 foot Christmas trees.

When it comes to decorating the house, the Lovriens work together. Marshall says he usually is the one to have a vision for an idea, but Shelley is the one who comes up with a plan to execute it. Each year it takes the family about two full days to put up all of their Christmas decorations, which is part of the reason why they get them up as early as November 1. Marshall says, “The tradition of decorating early I think started when we moved back to Aberdeen in 2008 and began hosting Thanksgiving at our place. We wanted the decorations to be up in time for that, but also we decorate early so we can just enjoy it all. The Christmas season is so short and goes by so fast with all the different parties and events. If we get the decorations up early, we can go to all those things without worrying about it and instead spend our time making memories doing other things with family.”

Shelley adds that they keep their Christmas lights on longer than most because they add warmth and brightness to the otherwise cold and dark winter weather outside. Their daughters are also responsible for keeping the tradition of early Christmas decorating going. Marshall says, “All three of our girls were born at the end of November, so the tradition of putting up the decorations before Thanksgiving has stuck because we’ve always wanted to have that done before we came home from the hospital with a new baby.” // –Jenny Roth

Nov Dec 2017