I will be taking part in a Holiday Home Tour hosted by Tracey at A Cottage Industry on Wednesday, December 19th.  Check her site for all the lovely details of the tour.

My inside decor is all about tradition, but I have a wonderful new piece in the midst of my traditional things.  It’s a stunning hand-blown glass rose in the richest cranberry red which goes perfectly with the Christmas decor on my dining room table.

This rose was hand-blown by a new friend and lovely glass artist who, judging from this piece, does some amazing work!  I love it paired with my crystal Christmas trees and set on the mirrored tray which graces the center of my dining room table.

And here (below) is a group of my favorite characters which greet you from my hearth, while surrounding my wonderful collection of candles.   There are nutcrackers along with a vast assortment of stuffed animals… everything from Rudolph, the Abominable Snow Monster, and the Burl Ives snowman… to Eyeore… to a dog who, when unzipped and turned inside out, becomes a present… to two love-geese with interwoven necks… to some sweet little mice with stocking caps… and the list goes on.

I hope to have some photos of some of my heirloom decorations in my next post, which will include handmade stockings for all five of our family members and a beautiful hand-stitched tree skirt with thousands of sequins.  Until then, Christmas blessings to you!

With the warm lights of Christmas glowing all around us, it’s impossible to ignore that the bright Season is upon us. 

For me and my house, we are roundly decorated from room to room and surrounded with familiar lovely things.  We have three trees and each with its own personality.  The kids have a tree which they decorate all on their own with ornaments they have made or been given.  Then there’s another tree that we collaborate on, which resides in our den, with all colored lights and colored ornaments.  But there is one tree which is mine to complete all by myself, so I will begin my Christmas postings with it.

This particular tree has all crystal, gold, silver, and white ornaments with traditional white lights.  The skirt is a beautiful lacy cutwork tablecloth which I have draped around the base of the tree.  Most of the ornaments, aside from the gold and silver balls, have been given to me by family members and precious friends. 

A beautiful heirloom Gorham angel graces the top of the tree.  This is a treasured wedding gift from one of my dear college friends, and it has been with me for twenty-one years and through six moves.

Along with all the ornaments that are heirlooms from family or gifts, I have also made some ornaments from very simple materials.  First there are the shells that I sprayed gold or silver.  I then glued a loop of ribbon to the top from which to hang it and wrapped and glued pearls around the loop.

I also made ornaments from pinecones by spraying some small ones gold.  Then I glued one end of a strand about 6″ long of decorative braided gold trim into the top of each cone so that they would hang over the branch.

These were easy projects, but they add such a bit of sentimentality to the tree as the shells were collected on one of our vacations to the beach and the pine cones came from our yard.

What a joy to look at the tree and remember all the wonderful people who contributed to it and all the wonderful memories it evokes.  Enjoying the glow…