Saturday, November 23, 2013

Christmas ... some of my favourite things ....


Since you've asked to see some of the
final results of our Christmas decorating
I'm quite happy to oblige.   

(Go ahead, twist my arm!!)


Well.   The holiday decorating is about
75 percent completed as of this posting
with the exception of the den where I
still have the small tree to decorate, plus
a bit of tweaking here and there where
needed.

Every year I get so excited to open up 
all the boxes and storage bins and start
pulling out the ornaments that I love so
much.   Our tree features ornaments 
from all over the place ... Hallmark 
and Michaels,  Winners and Simpsons
(which no longer exists) and Pier One
... to name a few.    


Here is the tree, all lit up and glowing
with lights and glitter and joy!!   One
thing that I really love when it comes
to choosing an ornament is sparkle!
If it sparkles it's mine!

I'm also a traditionalist when it comes
to Christmas.   My colours are red,
green and gold.    Well, most of the
time.


The odd purple ornament with gold
design is quite acceptable when it's
as beautiful as the one above.   And
when it has a reflector style centre to
catch the christmas lights and shine 
even more, well, I'm okay with that.




The room divider is a great place to go nuts dedicate to
Christmas decorations.   I strip it of the usual
stuff that is there for half the year and pack all
that away where ever I can find a spot.   With
fingers crossed that I'll be able to find it all again
in January.   Ahem.

Many of the crystaline pieces ... trees, sleigh and
the one Santa to be specific .... all light up which
makes it easier to see everything at night and makes
it all quite festive without trying to jury rig strings
of lights ... trying to hide the cords and find a 
way of plugging them in without having extension
cords covering the floor and going in every 
direction. 

I also use those little battery operated tea lights
for added light instead of real candles .... which
make me nervous.


The book case has some favourite ornaments
including my Rudolph pieces and my favourite
snowmen pieces.


I picked these guys up one winter season from a 
local drug store and they were on sale for a ridiculous
cheap price.   


I love these guys!!   This one has a place in the
back for tea lights ... and again I use the battery
operated kind.


Rudolph and friends.   These were Hallmark
ornaments from quite a few years ago.


In the kitchen I've decorated the hutch shelf with
my favourite angels and Santa.    


In the living room I put bows on each of the
lampshades.   Some of the bows I have made
myself ... such as this one.


Many of my bows were made for me by my
friend Tony.   He makes me one every year.
We have an agreement you see.   Each year
I send him a box of my Christmas baking,
including a batch of scones which are his
particular favourites.   And in return he sends
me a hand made bow.   

These bows I put out wherever I can find
a spot that will show them off to their best
advantage ... and wherever the cats can't
get their paws on them.

************************************

Decorating went well for the most part this year
with one or two exceptions that did delay us a bit.
Unfortunately our Christmas star for the top of the
tree conked out and in spite of our best
efforts to resuscitate it it was quite dead.   I've been
looking for a replacement but can't find anything
that appeals to me.    I'll keep looking but if I don't
find anything suitable I'm not going to worry about
it.

Then there were the fancy little hooks that we use 
to hang ornaments on the tree.   Much to our 
annoyance and dismay we could not find them 
anywhere!!!   I use to keep them in one of those 
plastic margarine containers but we couldn't find it 
this year.   

We opened all of the many, many (many)  boxes 
and dug through mounds of tissue paper and 
piles of Christmas lights, stuffed toys and whatnot ... 
without success.   Frustration was setting in. 
Precious time was wasting.  

Then I glanced at a foot stool where
small boxes of ornaments were already 
unpacked and waiting to be hung on the tree ... 
and remarked to my helper Darlene  (who was 
digging in yet another large box nearby) ... 
"If we can't find the margarine container of small hooks 
perhaps we'll have better luck looking in this little box 
marked SMALL HOOKS!!!"

A short break for egg nog was in order after that.


After a long, exhausting day of Christmas decorating
we were sorely in need of sustenance and relaxation 
(and in some cases liquid refreshment of the alcoholic 
variety)  so we headed off to the Copper Kettle pub 
in Glen Williams for a nice dinner with friends.
I had Steak and Guinness Pie for dinner, with
hand cut fries and steamed veggies and for
desert Chocolate Guinness cake.   Yum!!

Above is a photo of the usual suspects.   Me on the 
left .... Darlene third from the left .... DH standing
tall on the right behind everyone ... and Brenda
(seated in front) owner of the pub and dear friend 
... and our friends Pete and Terry. 
You should see Terry's tree.   Her tree makes mine
look like Charlie Brown's tree in comparison.  


See.

So, that's what I've been up to this week.
Next on the to do list is the overseas
letter and cards and then the regular
cards.   

Hope you're not bored to tears.

Cheers!!

3 comments:

Rowyn said...

Thanks for sharing Judy, your decorations are beautiful!

Andrea said...

Beautiful decorating. I'm very traditional too. Love the figurines.

Judy S. said...

You really have been busy! Love those snowmen! Can you tell I read this post after the first one? Gosh, it really is December tomorrow, isn't it?