Pink Roses

Merry Christmas...

from my family to yours...

wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

with love and best wishes...Suzanne

Christmas cheer...

I love to put votive candles in pressed glass punch cups from the flea market...they give an amazing glow all over the room...

One of my favorite decorations made by my friend Julies mom...a tree made of safety pins and beads...stuffed with lights.  The FIRST thing I put out every year...

 Stacks of Christmas books...

and music of all sorts...

A few trees I made last year, with vintage enamel pins...

 

   and vintage rhinestone pins...

A bottle brush forest...

Doing the last minute cooking/shopping/wrapping today...you may be too...hope your day is filled with Christmas cheer!

mission accomplished...

My parents were surprised. shocked. stunned.

I called my mom from the airport in Pittsburgh, as I was getting the rental car, and casually asked "so what are you and daddy doing?"  She said they were going over to my sisters house, because both of her boys were home, and they wanted to say hello.  I pretended to have an incoming call from one of my kids, and told her I would call her back later.  We got the car, and drove to my sisters house, so excited that we would be able to surprise everyone at once.  As we were walking up the front sidewalk, my dad looked out the front window and said " That boy sure does look like Christopher".  Then one of my sister's friends said "There's your sister".  By the time we got to my sister's front door, people were running outside...screaming, hugging, crying, laughing...

Everyone was surprised, and so happy to see us...made us all feel so good!

My dad and the grandsons...ages 18, 16, 14...

My parents told us a million times..."This is the best Christmas gift ever"...

 

The kids and I felt the same way...we feel like we have already had our Christmas, and not one package has been unwrapped!

surprise...

 

                     (Christmas 1990...my parents house)

We always spend Christmas with my parents at their home in Pennsylvania.  It's been a labor of love the past 21 years to lug kids and presents and Santa stuff all the way up there, and all the way back.  We only missed one year, after September 11, and my husband was recalled to active duty in the Navy.  Life changed, the kids and I stayed home and decorated the tree red, white and blue, and covered it in tiny American flags.  It's all we could do.

This year, we had decided with the kids both coming home from college, that we would just stay here and let them relax and visit with friends.  On Tuesday the kids and I were discussing what to get Nana and Pop for Christmas.  Christopher said:

"there's only one thing they really want" 

We were silent. 

Then he said..."we need to go"

So I booked plane tickets, and rented a car, and today the kids and I are flying to Pennsylvania for the weekend to surprise my parents.  Merry Christmas to them!

I'll be back Monday night...hope you have a great weekend! 

color...

 

Before you start thinking that I live in a house without ANY color, I should invite you to come past the entry and into the heart of my home where we spend most of our time...the family room...  

We snuggle here at night, light a fire and watch a movie.  I took these pictures a few days ago, and everything was messy...bins of Christmas stuff everywhere, the ladder and vacuum cleaner out...lets call this "reality blogging"...

I collect vintage Christmas tree toppers, and have them displayed using some milk glass vases as holders to give them height...

The mantle scarf is actually an old wool felt valance I bought at a flea market years ago for $1.00...  it's a little short, but I just hang the stockings at the ends...here's Elizabeth's I made years ago...

The tree was in progress that day...

I'm happy to say it is complete...

Now to get some presents for under the tree...

little things...

Little things are making me happy today.  Sprinkles on the kitchen counter.  A sure sign that Christopher is home.  An old Christmas corsage and a vintage santa pick, stuck into an empty pepper tin to make a decoration...

It is so creepy /scary/tacky,  that I almost love it.  I made it as a joke for Elizabeth.  She drove home from college last night (4 hours in the pouring rain and dark-even when I told her not to) and arrived at midnight. 

2 babies home=1 happy mommy!

Here are some other little things making me smile...

Enjoy the little things today!      

Blog Party!

 

Welcome everyone, and a huge THANK YOU to sweet Heather for hosting the blog party open house today!  There are over 100 blogs participating, so there's lots to look at in blog-land this week!  Today I am showing you my entry, but I will be posting a new room every day this week, so stop back if you have a chance...

I always decorate the banister with garland and lights, and I love the way it makes the staircase glow at night...a little mistletoe hung in the doorway with ribbon...

I used glittery white poinsettias and silver glittered leaves and sprays of pearls throughout the garland...

We had a huge storm a few months ago and a big tree branch fell in the front yard.  The branch was covered with this great grey-blue lichen, so I saved it to make a winter snowflake tree.  The branch is about 10 feet tall, so the only place it would fit was on the landing in the entry.  I propped it in the corner and hung lots of different snowflake ornaments from it...

On the table I stuck with a neutral color scheme...

I used my favorite covered pedestal and placed a makeshift nativity inside, on a bed of mica...

I have several whole nativity sets, but years ago I found this little plastic baby Jesus and manger at a flea market all by itself.  I brought it home and surrounded it with angels...ones I had been collecting.  It might be my favorite "Nativity" even though there are no wise men, or Joseph and Mary..

I was going to replace the balls of crochet cotton with Christmas ornaments, but I really like the way they look in there...I just dressed it up with a vintage pearl choker and rhinestone shoe clip that I bought from Carol Spinski...

 

a crown and an angel on a old ceiling tin box...

a footed silver divided tray with chandelier crystals & chocolate...

a shabby chic bottle brush tree...

mercury glass votives...

I found this beautiful painting at a Catholic thrift store this past Spring...the frame is damaged, but I love it. 

I hung a few of the hearts I collect above it...

So that's my entry...I showed my dining room in my last post...more rooms every day this week...Thanks for stopping by!

anthropologie-ish...

The other day I mentioned that I was a little bit lost without my usual decorate-by-numbers scheme I have been using in the dining room for the past 12 years.  This past spring I changed the walls from red to linen white, the furniture went from cherry to various shades of chipping white, and the table went from rectangle to round.  Everything is different, so I had to re-think my whole decorating plan.  I was determined not to buy anything new, and be creative with stuff I already had.  Every year I use this silver champagne bucket in the center of the table with poinsettias in it...(click here to see last year)

This year I wanted to change it up a bit, and so I thought...what would they do at Anthropologie?  The answer was: use something ordinary and common, but use it in a way you would never expect.  Sticking with the cream, pink and silver theme, I looked around the house to find something in those colors.  I found what I needed in my knitting stash....

I stuck a silver tinsel tree in the center of the bowl, and wrapped it in a pale pink scarf that I knitted last winter.  Then I placed various balls of pink and cream yarn on top of the scarf...

It's quirky, but I'm kinda loving it...not quite sure if it's a hit or a miss.

I'm using silver chargers with creamware plates and the napkin holders came from Anthropologie's after Christmas sale a few years ago.  I did have to buy a new tablecloth because I didn't have a round one.

Little damask votive's from Michael's, 40% off last spring...

Here's the finished table...

 

and the sideboard...

 

 

I keep switching things around, but I am going to stop now...there's a 10 foot naked tree in the sunroom calling my name...

Christmas past...

When the kids were little, we decorated the Christmas tree with brightly colored unbreakable ornaments.  Miles of wooden bead garland, lots of  wooden primary colored animals...

and every letter A-Z...with a few extra "E's" and "C's"...

we had all the numbers too...

and lots of birds and bears, because those were my childrens nicknames...she named herself "birdie" (I'll tell you the story sometime...but everyone still to this day calls her "bird"), and he was "bear boy", "pooh bear", "the bear boy"...

Just reminiscing about Christmas past as I unpack the ornaments today.  Now that the kids are grown,  our tree is full of breakable vintage shiny brite ornaments...but there are always a few birds and bears thrown in there too! 

My bear boy finished his last college final this morning, and will be coming home this afternoon for 3 weeks!  Maybe with him home I will finally have the Christmas spirit.  I know I'll have laughter...and laundry...and Mexican food for dinner tonight!

Have a great weekend!

how's it going?

In an effort to keep it real I'll just let you know that the tree has been in the stand since Sunday and I haven't put a single light on it.  Haven't even trimmed those crazy stray branches.  Every morning I wake up and hope that the tree decorating elves have broken in during the night and decorated for me.  Every morning I am disappointed.  At least the house smells like Christmas!  How's it going for you?