Holiday Winddown

I really can't believe that Christmas is already a memory for 2012! Truly don't know where the time goes. Oh, I had such good intentions this year but somehow I ended up further behind than I have ever been. But, as always, we made it through and it was a wonderful, chaotic, noisy, thought-filled, loving few days. Every thing was perfect-maybe not always to the eye or the taste buds but always to the heart.

We were at daughter #2's house for Christmas eve and Christmas morning. Then we headed home and all converged on daughter #3's house for appetizers and a rousing bocce ball tournament. Then we were all back at our house for the big gift exchange and dinner. Dinner ended up being much later than even I had estimated and even though I had a lot of the meal prepped, there are always some things that can't go together until the very end-one of those being my corn casserole. It is a very simple recipe, but apparently I was spending too much time answering questions on how prople could help and not enough on that simple recipe. I got it in the oven quickly and 45 minutes later, it was still liquid. I just thought it was because I had doubled it, so I put a few more minutes on the timer and even though it was really bubbling, it wasn't "setting". I then switched it to the upper oven and cranked up the heat and still nothing! It wasn't until I noticed the 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread muffin mix still unopened on the counter that I realized I had failed to include them. Everything else was ready so we started putting things out. One of my girls suggested that I sprinkle the mix on now and stir it in. Certainly couldn't make it any worse, so I gave it a try and low and behold, it came together rather quickly! There is ALWAYS a story with me. Some day I will tell you about the mint sugar scrub I made for everyone but that will be another post.

Have a few more rooms to take you through before I share Christmas pictures. At least all of this decor is still up-and will be until Jan. 3rd or 4th or maybe even the 5th! Come on along.

 

 This is my collection of cross stitched Santas. Each year a new pattern would be available and I couldn't wait to get it stitched, matted and framed. Since I no longer cross stitch, I don't know if they still put out a new pattern every year or not. I haven't even put these Santas out for many years but this year I decided to do so. Didn't really have anywhere else to hang them, so the sunroom it was. The little kids actually commented about them and loved having them in "THEIR" ROOM.

How does a Christmas cactus know it is Christmas and time to bloom. My mom got this as a gift at her nursing home last year. After the holiday I brought it home and faithfully watered it. I looked at it about a week before Christmas and it was bare and I felt like maybe I had done something wrong in its care. Imagine my surprise when I found all of these blooms on Christmas eve. It is now blooming so beautifully-just like Christmas magic! 

I always like a little Christmas in every room of the house and since we bought such a large tree this year and had so much extra greenery, every bedroom got bouquets of pine. I also tied some on my bed posts-the smell is fabulous!

Aren't Christmas lights magical? We have white icicle lights down the entire length of our home and across the fence a bit. We also have lit orbs in the gazebo this year and a tree and  wreath on the front porch. All of that is beautiful but my the favorites are what my grandson calls the "magic melting icicles". If he is here at our house when the timers turn on all of the others, he gets to throw the switch on the melting icicles. I must admit, I too am mesmerized by them. I will stand at the window at night and almost go into a trance watching the light run down these beauties. I love them! One more bit of Christmas magic! I love everything about Christmas-don't even want to think about all of it having to come down. Hope I can come up with something wonderful to take its place-stay tuned. 

"Where's Waldo"?

Or something like that. That is the kind of game we play every year after seeing the most current rendition of the Nutcracker. Each year the troupe prides themselves in the adding and tweaking to make the production better and better. As we enjoy our looonnng dinner at a window booth at Harry's waiting for all of the lights on the square to burst bright, we talk about the changes we caught and how they affected the show. Each year we are truly amazed at the beautiful spectacle-especially the snow scene-being put on in a relatively small town in a realtively small arena. This year I had the audacity to suggest that maybe next year we would want to try a production in another city and compare. Boy did I get the dagger eyes! You see, THIS is the tradition!!! Wonder where they get that?

In any case, we had a wonderful time with our four oldest grand children - young ladies - this year as always. They have grown into the most fabulous human beings  - they always were but, wow, now they're all grown up. We had the absolute best time and I don't think there are 4 other people in the world I would rather spend an evening with!. We talked about so many memories and then we got brought up to snuff on all of their new goings on. So happy that they feel that they can share with their old Nana and Papa without judgement-but I didn't say without opinions-unconditional love.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into our weekend. I have a few more errands today and then I hope I will be home to wrap, bake, write out cards and take a breath! Also hope to finish up the house tour-if the remaining rooms are ever clean enough to photograph that is!

What a wonderful, silly, nostalgic, loving day we had. And then we ended up here. Everyone all snuggled up watching a Christmas movie. Does life get any better? Stay tuned.

Chestnuts Roasting.....

Well, not really but this is the room where they would be roasting if we were so inclined. This is our family room and no matter how many sophisticated trees and mantles I see in people's homes or on blogs or Pinterest, I can never pull myself away from the "homey Christmas" I want need in this room. Most of the other rooms in the house have white lights-the only exception is the sunroom which is also where the kids gather-but I HAVE to fill this room with colored light! It is happy and childlike. I guess it takes me back to when my 3 were young and living in this house and this room. When we added the fireplace to this room, it truly became a family-room. We spent so many hours right in this room watching TV, playing games and entertaining so many of the girls' friends. We even had many a cheerleading or Anchor club gathering right in this room-and if it was even remotely cool, there would be a fire blazing.

And so, this room still evokes so many wonderful memories. After the TV is turned off each evening, my husband and I sit there in the dark with only the Christmas lights glowing and find it hard to pry ourselves up and into bed. It is beautiful at night!

And, in just a very short time, this is where our whole family (17 people and 4 large dogs) will once again gather to exchange gifts, play games, visit and just embrace everything that this wonderful season provides.

And so, I guess I went through all of that to explain why my decorations are not much different than they were last year or any other year in fact. I just love all of these things and I need to be surrounded by them this time of year. It may not be the most up-to-date color scheme or modern appearance, but hey, I'm old enough now that I don't really have to justify. Hope you enjoy looking around.

Note- still not one gift under the tree, but at least the base is now skirted. My mom made me a tree skirt many years ago-back when no sane person would try to cram a 9' tree in an 8' room-so it no longer even covers the huge tree stand. But, since I feel the need to use it every year-one more of those memory things- I start by spreading out a dark green sheet. It is not the most decorative solution but soon that tree will be filled with wrapped gifts-well, maybe not soon but before we start to open them I hope-and none of this will be seen any way.

I really did use every ornament we own on this tree-not just because it is a truly large tree but also because when everyone is here, the girls will start pointing out all of the special ornaments and if I miss one, feelings will be hurt! Not to mention the fact that it is a wonderful trip down memory lane as each ornament is unpacked each year! They kind of serve as a living scrapbook. When our first grand child was born, I started buying special ornaments depicting a special moment of her life from the previous year. I have continued that each year for each of my grand children. It is fun, and sometimes difficult, to track down just the perfect ornament but so far each child has one for every year of  his or her life and my hope is that they will carry these memories with them to their first tree in their first home and share all of these memories over and over with their spouses, children and yes, even grand children. I probably won't be here to see that but I sure will be smiling from above.

I think I have shared about this toy wreath before. My sister-in-law and I both fell in love with one very similar in one of our favorite country stores many years ago. This store carried only very beautiful things and their prices were ridiculous-could be why they went out of business, but, I digress. We decided that we could make our own so we set out to find lots of vintage toy ornaments-new and from our own collections. Then, the day after Thanksgiving-when so many of the rest of the family headed out to shop-Cyndi, my mom and I had a craft day and put together our wreaths. Many of the ornaments on that wreath were used on the trees I would have in my own bedroom when I was young and the evoke so many wonderful memories. A few even have the price stamped on the bottom in purple ink-does anybody else remember when they did that?-and they were 10 cents! Some day I will take a close-up picture of that wreath when there is not a mirror behind it to flash back at us and I will share some of those stories. Bet you can't wait!

So, that is pretty much the family room. Have a few rooms left to share so hope you will come along for the ride. It may be a few days before I am back again as this is the weekend the 4 oldest girls come into town and we go to the "Nutcracker" and then to dinner on the town square at Harrys. We will be surrounded by the millions of lights of "Light Up Ocala". Hopefully we will listen to some live music, take a carriage ride around town and still make it to the live Nativity that our church puts on every year. Then it is home for hot chocolate and either a good Christmas movie or a rousing round of Michigan rummy. Can't wait! Stay tuned. 

Look Who Came to Town!

O.K. So this was finally supposed to be the post where I showed you the decorations in our family room. But, as you can see, I digress. I am having too much fun this year. I have been out and about a lot and this jolly old fellow "spoke" to be on one occasion. I have learned too often what happens when I don't listen and since he was the last of his kind, I bought him even though the price was a bit more than I wanted. It was one of those things where I knew he would be on a bigger sale very soon but would he still be here? "He" won out and came home with me and I think he looks fabulous in the living room!

Here is my attempt at a Christmas tree veggie and cheese tray for a party my hubby and I went to. It's hard to see but since I needed it to be big, I covered a large piece of foam core board with aluminum foil and then I edged it with pine garland. I bought 4 small red bowls, filled them with dips and nestled them in the free spaces to serve. I tried some new dip recipes-2 were low fat for people watching their diets and 2 were full of fat for people like me who are simply watching everything I can stuff into my mouth. And, guess which ones were better? Of course, it doesn't hurt that these were recipes from Ina Garten. One was a sun dried tomato dip (red in color) and the other was a fresh herb (green). Both were delicious and you can find them on my Appetizer and Dip Pinboard.

Then, the next day, I was invited to join daughter # 3 and grand daughter #5 at the Nutcracker Tea. All 3 of my girls danced from the time they were 3 until they went to high school at Jeanne Benson Dance Academy. Jeanne went on to found the Marion Ballet and for about 30 years, they have put on the Nutcracker during the holiday season. First we went with our girls and then we started taking our grand daughters. For a city as small as ours is, the performance is really quite spectacular and every year a few changes are made making it better and better.

They are now doing this tea on the first Saturday of their performances. It is a wonderful way to introduce young children who may not be able to sit through the whole performance to the world of ballet and the story of the Nutcracker. Many of the performers were there, the story was told, refreshments were served, the Sugar Plum Fairy did her solo number and there were many photo ops. It was a wonderful morning followed by lunch at one of our favorite little boutique restaurants. The weather was wonderful so we ate on the porch and watched all of the seasonal bustling going on just a few feet away. And, we had wonderful food followed by the most delicious fresh coconut cake-a must-have for me no matter what we are celebrating!

So, you see. I have been enjoying the many festivities that accompany the holiday. I haven't finished shopping, done any crafts, wrapped the first gift, baked the first cookie or written the first card but all of that will come in time. This has been a difficult year and I am truly taking time to stop and smell the roses-or poinsettias in this case.

 

  

Did want you to see that I finally got not only all of the lights working on the tree again but every ornament we own has found a home on this beauty this year. Don't look too closely to this picture as there isn't one present under that tree not to mention that there isn't even a tree skirt. That will all come in due time-for now I am heading to a Christmas Open House for friends I taught with many years ago. Looking forward to catching up and once again savoring the moments. There will be more to come. Stay tuned.