Christmas Eve morning Morgan and I went to Sandra's house where we had a cookie decorating and gingerbread house making party with her kids. Sure makes a pretty presentation here at home on some stacked glass cake plates.
I love to show off my collections and enjoy looking at them myself all month long. Jeremy got the Orchid for me. The house is all decked out for the season and we are enjoying the festive feeling it brings into our home.
I have this as my screen saver for this month. I love, love, love my little chubbies. They are tabacco tins by Bristol Ware. There is a Santa, Mrs. Clause, Snowman and Caroler for christmas. I have a set of all four for each of my kids and myself. I have lots of Santa's...it was the first one I discovered and my collection started. There is also a cowboy, businessman, singer, chef, and baker. I have a few of all of them. They are one of my favorite things.
The little house is something I got of Phyllis'. In the frame is an antique card and the book is a poem by Robert Frost called "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" which seemed fitting for this winter scene.
I found this little old santa this year at a flea market in Eugene. I collect old postcards, flower frogs and round graters and I've used them all here in the kitchen.
I saw blocks like these one fall in Salt Lake at a store so I copied the idea and made my own.
Many years ago this nativity set was on the cover of "The Friend" magazine. I cut out the figures and painted it all free hand. It turned out to be a really cute set and one of my favorites.
This year we went to the woods for a tree. We have been getting them at a tree farm for the last few years. The price kept going up and the choices were fewer and fewer. National Forest Tree Permits are only $5...what a deal. Gareld and I hurried up to Mt. Emily (we didn't get stranded like my sister did) and hunted for just the right one. I'm pretty picky. It decided to snow today but it added to the feeling of christmas. It was a fun outing. We got "the one".
Saturday was a great day. I decorated my tree. I have a tradition that started a while back. I do the tree myself. I guess when I started doing themes I wanted it just right so the kids got left out and I've done it every since. We usually had another tree somewhere in the house they could help with. I hope I haven't done damage and sent my kids out into the world not knowing how to decorate a tree. I like to be alone. I pop in two movies that I have watched every year while decorating and I have a good ole time. I used to watch them on video but Brandon and Monica got them for me on DVD so I can continue this quilty pleasure for many more years.
I like to have a theme or a color scheme each year. I've done Santa Clause, Victorian, Snowman, Nativity, Noah's Ark, Vintage Kitchen, Hunt & Fish, Patriotic, Gold (my least favorite of all) Red and Green, Green and White, Silver, All Natural, and I can't even think of them all. I started doing themes the year we lived in a bed and breakfast. I had a different tree in every room and it was a lot of fun to do. I then decided to continue it. This year I saw a really pretty one in a magazine that was green, white and silver so that's what I did. It is beautiful.
This is the floorplan that most fits what we want. We want the front of the house to face the valley....but we want the living room to face the mountain behind us so we can sit and watch the animals. I want a front porch, Gareld wants a back deck. We want an open kitchen, dining, living area big enough to have a large group seated all in the same room for holidays. We need a ceiling tall enough to hang head mounts although most of those will be in the shop room. We really like this and hope we can make it happen.
Here's a good reason to move off this road! We have been lucky though. For the 17 years we have been here and have been parking on the street this is the first really bad hit we have had. One time a bicyclist broke a tail light but they were nice enough to leave a note. This guy (or gal) kept going and left the car in the road until the cops knocked on the door at 4:30 a.m. Notice I park my car up on the grass. Morgan spent the night while Gareld and I were out of town and this is what happened. TOTALED. Now she has my car and I am driving the ranger. We are still waiting for the settlement.
