All I Want for Christmas…

Have you ever asked for something for Christmas so outrageous there is no way its going to show up under the tree…
Unless of course your significant other has a very creative sense of humor…
Years ago when my husband asked what I wanted for Christmas I responded..How about a BMW!
Low and behold he delivered the requested gift.

The next year he asked the same question  and I quickly responded, how about a Lexus?!
Again he delivered…

This year he didn’t ask… but he  knew exactly what I wanted…its the topic of my favorite Christmas song…

What did you get for Christmas?

25 days of Christmas…Home Tour (day 12 &13)

Thanks for stopping by the 25 days of Christmas home tour...we are half way through the month and I wish I could stop the clock…As much as I enjoy all of the planning, decorating and shopping for the big day, there never seems to be enough time to just stop and enjoy the season.

Then on top of all of the making of Christmas you still have to make time for all of the everyday things; grocery shopping, laundry, hair cuts, dog grooming and doctors visits. And on top of it all a little out patient procedure that requires a minimum of 3 days for recovery…who’s got time for that, I ask you…obviously I do.

This weekend started off with a bang…I received an email from GMA…yes Good Morning America. The producer of the segment “There is a Hack for that”…asked if I would be interested in submitting a video demonstrating my hack for the re-purposed pumpkin snowmen I posted on my blog.  Timing couldn’t have been worse, the aforementioned outpatient procedure and an extremely busy schedule left me no choice but to decline the request to submit a video submission for the show segment.  I am still kicking myself at missing out on a dream come true opportunity; New York in December, GMA and of course a minute in the spotlight.  C’est la vie…life goes on.

Finally, it doesn’t take a lot of money to add a little color and sparkle to your holiday decorations. I purchased this tube of plastic ornaments from the big box store, replaced the paper plates in this two tiered metal basket with the colorful ornaments and stacked up my Christmas dishes next to the display.  All it takes is a little creative thinking…

Here’s wishing you a colorful Christmas Season.

25 days of Christmas…Home Tour (day 11) Gift Wrapping…

A Christmas Home Tour wouldn’t be complete without packages under the Christmas Tree…

In keeping with the season of giving…I thought it would be nice to take a look at the many options we have when it comes to wrapping up the gifts we have so carefully and thoughtfully purchased for our loved ones.

Of course, there is the option of having your gift wrapped by gift wrapping expert in the department store where you purchased the gift.  There is the option of dropping your gift in a gift bag…adding a little tissue paper  and your good to go.  You can throw all caution to the wind and go with a roll or two of wrapping paper that catches your eye, cats in Christmas hats or sledding snowmen.

My gift wrapping choices have run from one extreme to the next.  I lived through and endured years of the Christmas gift bag. I have embraced the use of plain brown paper and packing string. However, there is always the official Santa paper that is reserved the gifts that are delivered by Santa Clause…

There have been years when the presents under the tree were wrapped in remnants of Christmas paper from previous years and adorned with the a colorful assortment of bows.

Most recently, I have taken great care in choosing a color theme for the annual wrapping of the gifts  My husband has been entrusted with selecting the wrapping paper and I have to say that he has a great eye for task…

This year our packages will be wrapped in color coordinated paper selected by the Man of the house. They will be tied up with ribbon and dotted with bows and lovely name tags.  Some will be hidden in the wonderful burlap Santa sacks I found at Target…

Here’s wishing you a Santa sack filled with all of your Christmas wishes.

 

25 days of Christmas…Home Tour (day 10)

Greetings from our home to yours. This is day 10 of our 25 days of Christmas…home tour. Today I am showing off my sideboard or is it a buffet...This is the kind of thing that consumes my thoughts from time to time.

According to Houzz there is a difference between a sideboard and a buffet. All be it a small difference, its in the legs.  A buffet has long sexy legs and a sideboard has short “athletic” legs. Obviously I have a sideboard…

My sideboard is where I store my cloth napkins and assorted beverage napkins with really cute sayings. You will also find a wine opener, bottle stoppers, extra coasters and a stash of candles of all shapes, colors and sizes.

I picked up this stoic buck during one of my many Christmas shopping sprees.He looks like he could be one of Santa’s reindeer.   Where it is exactly I found him escapes me at this moment.  It could have been Hobby Lobby or Pier 1, I know it wasn’t Target or Home Goods.  I do remember that I spent a bit of time looking for his Doe mate…

For Christmas the sideboard will become a well appointed backdrop for pictures snapped while people are sitting around the dining room table enjoying a few nibbles, a glass of Christmas punch and of course each other…

Here’s wishing you a beautiful Christmas filled with friends and family.

25 days of Christmas…Home Tour (day 9)

Thanks for stopping by our 25 days of Christmas Home Tour.  The decorating continues…Today is dedicated to the dining room area which is really an extension of our family room. The sideboard has been decorated for a week…but the table centerpiece wasn’t quite coming together until the last couple of days.

Today I scooted out of work a couple of hours early to tackle my Christmas shopping list. I also needed to pick up a few floral stems for my table centerpiece.  I am still working on the place settings for our annual Christmas day family breakfast.

My sweet friend and I made a trade…She got one of my vintage  baby bed springs and I got a set of chunky mercury glass candlesticks and an extra large mercury glass vase.  She then proceeded to throw out a challenge…” I can’t wait to see what you do with these”…so here you go MS.

After sticking the floral stems in the vase and adding white chunky candles to the candlesticks I decided the glass candlesticks looked a little cold…”Baby it’s cold outside” began to play in head. So what does a girl do when it’s cold outside… I wrapped them with a vintage mink collar I picked up at a resale shop.  And whats mink without a diamond brooch…now that’s a stylish centerpiece.

Wishing you a Christmas wrapped in something warm with a little sparkle for extra measure.

25 days of Christmas…home tour (day 8)

Day 8…of my Christmas Home Tour almost slipped by me. I’ ve been putting the empty storage boxes back in the attic, helping Chef Danny with dinner and wrappimg presents. Not to mention trying to choose a health care plan for the employees of our small business.

When I finally sat down to relax and watch one of those sappy predictable Christmas movies that I am addicted to, I was
faced with my undecorated fireplace. So I decided to tackle the project and share it with you.

The fireplace is always a challenge to decorate. As I am sure you noticed there isn’t a mantle. I wanted a 8″ cedar beam for my mantle. But thats another store for another day.

Back to decorating the fireplace…
I began by adding the lighted birch twig garland. Then I attempted to hang the matching wreath with a command hook. I quickly discovered these hooks dont work very well on limestone.

Next I started adding layers, the lanterns and candlesticks are from Tuesday Morning. The lighted birch twig garland and wreath are from Target. The winter swan is a vintage barn find…finally a little snow fluff, candles, Christmas pouporri and bows.
I have to say Im not especially crazy about the overall look. I really want to hang the wreath and maybe add a couple of pillows for softness and it absolutely needs some color.

Wishing you a warm hearth this Christmas season.

25 days of Christmas…Home Tour (day 7)

Welcome to day 7 of my  25 days of Christmas home tour.  I have to admit I may have bitten off more than I can handle by committing to a 25 day home tour. So today I’m keeping it simple…

This is my collection of vintage Santa PEZ dispensers.PEZ candies were originally developed in 1927 by an Austrian candy company. The first PEZ dispenser was similar in shape to a cigarette lighter and dispensed an adult breath mint marketed as an alternative to smoking. In 1955 PEZ added heads to the dispensers and marketed them to children. Since the 1950’s over 1500 unique PEZ dispensers have been created. Santa Clause was among the first characters created.

Wishing you a delightful and unexpected Christmas!

 

25 days of Christmas…Home Tour (day 6)

Welcome back..the 25 days of Christmas, home tour continues. Today we are in the kitchen. If your kitchen is anything like ours, it is where everyone wants to hangout.  As much as I try to limit the things that draw people into the kitchen it doesn’t seem to help.

I usually set up the buffet in the dining room and the bar on the back patio.  But no matter how hard I try to spread the party throughout the house everyone crams into the kitchen. The girls are sitting two to a chair…the guys are leaning against the counter.

So with everyone hanging out in the kitchen I decided that I should spend a little time decorating this very popular room in our house.

This is our candy station…a few Christmas favorites to satisfy the sweet tooth.  My favorite Christmas candy is dark chocolate covered cherries.  I know they are available all year but I only buy them in December.  This treat reminds me of childhood Christmas’ so I indulge my need for nostalgia by enjoying a few of these sweet treats.

If you have been touring our home these past 5 days you may have gathered I have a few collections. Here is a one of my little collections; vintage Christmas ornaments and vintage scales.

Wishing you a Christmas season filled with a collection of memories.

Re-purpose those Pumpkins…

My re-purposed pumpkins from a couple of years back have been getting a lot of attention this year. Oh be still my beating heart I am flattered. So much so I thought I would share them with you again…They have been featured a half a dozen times on different web sites with permission and over 30 times without permission but at least some of them gave photo credit…The pumpkin-snowmen were really easy to put together…If you decide to re-purpose your pumpkins for the Christmas Season post a picture of them here for others to find, you will be given full photo credit. The scrooge does not live here!

Christmas Entry…Re-purposed Pumpkins

Check out some of the other Christmas crafts and hacks that can make your life easier and save you some money along the way…BuzzFeed, Love this Pic, CountryLiving.com  and now RedbookMag has asked to include them in a story they are working on.  Who knew a few leftover pumpkins, some paint and buttons would get so much attention. I will be re-purposing this years pumpkins over the weekend…stop by next week to check out the great pumpkin remake 2015.

25 days of Christmas…Home Tour (day 4)

Welcome to our 25 days of Christmas…Home Tour…Day 4.

The entrance to our home always conveys the message, Welcome to Our Home…A welcome sign, a wreath on the door and sometimes a little more. Of course the colors always reflect the seasons or the holiday.

Considering this is day 4 of our 25 days of Christmas Home Tour…I probably should have started here on Day 1. However, I don’t start decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving and it took me until yesterday to finally decide what I wanted on the front porch.

I quickly snapped these photos this morning while waiting on my sweet geriatric shitzus to take care of there morning ritual…

I love the contrast of the vintage olive bucket filled with the colors of the season…red, white and green topped off with a few branches that sparkle.

Wishing you a very welcoming holiday season…Merry Christmas!

 

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