25 Days of Christmas ~ Sleep In Heavenly Peace

This is the view down the hallway from the living room. I found a teeny artificial tree in the attic that I had forgotten and decided to pop it into an old crock for the bedside.  At the time I didn't even realize that I would be able to see it from the dining room, the living room and the hallway, but I turn that little guy on first thing every morning and it glows at me every time I glance that way.

The tree sits on an antique birds eye maple dresser that we found at a garage sale this summer. It was marked $35 and Earl offered them $25 and they took it! I thought it was well worth $35, it came with a mirror which I am not using right now, but that's why I love to take him along. he doesn't hesitate to ask for a lower price and I get all shy about it.



I made the little wreath by adding greenery from the cedars in our yard to a little grapevine wreath I found at the church garage sale. I love the boxwood wreaths I have been seeing, but they are expensive, and if you know anything about me it's that I'm a  tightwad bargain hunter.

Free greens work great, and the smell of cedar is so beautiful!

The little cross stitch cottage pillow was made from a little old embroidered linen I found for a quarter at another garage sale. I really love the red roofed cottage so I made it into a pillow.

I also made the heavy red plaid flannel pillowcases. They are the coziest things, really soft, and the red plaid is perfect for this time of year.

 Can you see the lace trimmed sheet? Here is a detail of it. It's an estate sale find and it is a beautiful heavy cotton with 3 dimensional crochet across the top edge. I think I paid $3 for it and since I like to use all cotton sheets year round, (flannel is too hot!) the extra heavy cotton is a nice weight for a top sheet in the winter.



This is what you get when you are in a hurry to take photos, I messed up the first time I lettered this and didn't wipe it down very well, it shows a lot more in the photos than it does in real life!

At any rate, I had this old frame in my stash in the basement. I believe I purchased this frame with some old art in it when I was a young teen while I was at an auction with my mom. You can see I've been a bargain hunter all my life! I brought it up, dusted it off and freshened up the gold with some rub-n-buff  that I found in the craft drawer last week when I was organizing it. I had forgotten I had it, lucky me that I found it because I really needed it for the frame. Earl cut a piece of Masonite to fit and I painted it with blackboard paint and hung it above the bed. Maybe it will help me sleep, do you think?

Stick a fork in me, I think I'm done! With decorating for Christmas that is.  I'm pretty happy with things now and we have a party coming up Sunday.  After that it's too close to Christmas to bother doing much else.  Are you finished with your decorating?

 

25 Days of Christmas ~ Send a Card

I'll be honest, cards are often one of those things that end up getting crossed off my list without getting done. there is so much to do at Christmas time! But this year God has pointed out the blessings I have with my family and as I look around I know not everyone has the same kind of big, loving, get together for every holiday family that I often take for granted.

There are lots of people who can't get together with loved ones because they don't live close, there are many older people who have lost nearly all their family and are very lonely.

I can only imagine what it means to them to go to the mailbox and get a pretty reminder that they are remembered.

It is a tiny thing for me to take the time to write out a few cards for the lonely people I know. It doesn't really take much time. Better still a visit with some cookies or a little poinsettia in addition to the card may be all the Christmas they have.  It's a gift that costs very little in time and money, but means so much.

Can you think of someone whose day would be brightened by a card in the mail?

May God truly fill our hearts with love and our lives with praise as we celebrate this Christmas season. ♥

25 Days of Christmas ~ The Dining Room

I spent the day Christmas shopping with my daughter Victoria. Snow was falling in big fluffy flakes and it was cold but not biting. Perfect weather to hit the streets and specialty shops of one of our outdoor malls. Everything decorated to a T and Christmas music playing in the stores.  I do most of my shopping online, but I really do love to get out and see the pretty atmosphere the stores provide.

 

Today you get a glimpse of the dining room decorations.  I switched out the chalkboard above the buffet for a large mirror that was in the bedroom. I think it bounces a bit more light around this northeast facing room. It has a tendency to be a bit dark in the afternoon and evenings so I lit it up. The buffet lamp came from a yard sale for 25 cents. Yes you read that right. How can you not buy a 25 cent lamp? It works fine and I'm trying to decide on a different lampshade but for now the one it came with looks fine. I think the 25 cent lamp goes so well with the roadside find free buffet don't you? Lol

The bouquet of flowers is from my sweetheart ♥

 I pulled a small, forgotten tree out of the attic, I love when I find something  pretty that I had forgotten! I lit it up and added silver balls and glass chandelier crystals and put my little glitter village underneath. The silver ball wreath was made several years ago as an advent wreath for the table. I think I only used it once, it took up a lot of room.  This year I took the candle holders off, fluffed the balls and silver foliage and poked a battery operated string of lights that I picked up at the dollar store  through the back.  It's on a hollow wire form so the battery pack tucks right in behind unseen

 My favorite part of the arrangement is this old silver tray from Earl's grandmother. I loaded it with all my silvery mercury glass votives, some extra mirrored balls and silver ornaments and each afternoon I light them up. They glow most of the evening and just add a warmth to the room that I love.

So there it is. I'll try to show the rest of the room when I show you the kitchen decorations.

And how are you doing with your Christmas shopping?  Are you done?

25 Days of Christmas ~ Buche De Noel

 

I have to admit that a large part of the way we celebrate Christmas is with food. Christmas cookies, breads, gingerbread houses, appetizers, with so many parties and get togethers scheduled we focus a lot on yummy recipes to share.  Since Earl loves nothing so much as a ridiculously complicated recipe, one of the things he loves to make at Christmas time is Julia Child's recipe for Buche de Noel, or yule log. 

It is re-donkulous in it's complexity and takes him a good 3 hours. 

I watch.

Since last January he auctioned off a full year of desserts to benefit our churches Mom Squad ministry, this was the final month for him to bake something yummy for the winner.  So of course he had to go out with a bang, and that could only be this recipe.  The mushrooms are meringue and the yule log is made by rolling an almond sponge cake around a chocolate Italian meringue filling laced with cherry liqueur. Did I get a bite? No. Will he have enough energy to do this for the family this year? Probably not. I can't blame him and in truth the last thing we really need is another one of these cakes, although I sincerely believe January is the month of atonement for the Christmas cookies. A little less to atone for is a very good thing. Besides, I know that sooner or later he will feel compelled to pull out the cookbook and make this again, and next time this cake is staying home:>)

Do you have any special treats you only make for Christmas?

25 Days of Christmas ~ The Gingerbread House

I missed posting yesterday. It had been my intent to post every day until Christmas but it was a very busy day. First church, then lunch out, a snooze in the big chair by the Christmas tree then we made dinner for our favorite boy and his parents, and Uncle Art. Dinner was amazing, (if I do say so myself), grilled venison roast, roasted potato wedges, a wonderful salad brought by our guests, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. And for anyone who doesn't care for venison (and that turns out to be no one in our family!) I made a Baked Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken recipe that I found on Pinterest.

Lord have mercy! It was super easy, fast and it tasted amazing. I made it with boneless skinless chicken thighs and I can't wait to make it again.

After dinner I whipped out this gingerbread house kit to decorate with my godson.

 It was a blast.  I had extra candies and chocolate chips for him to use. This was my first time making one of these, the end pieces came cracked so I hot glued them to cardboard. Holy smokes, who makes these things? I tried putting it together with the frosting, I really did. I ended up using hot glue to hold it together and warning him that only the candy decorations would be edible.

He was alright with that.

Sorry for the blurry pictures, little boys move so fast.

 We sent him home at bedtime with the house he made and a bag of extra candy.  Sorry parents!

In spite of how frustrating the house was to put together, I loved this project. It was nice to have a little one around to do a Christmas project with!

Do you have some littles to do projects with?