Christmas Around Our Cottage Home

 

Our Christmas Pets

All friends enter in the back porch door. 

You will see this metal Santa on the door

 at Christmas Time.

I have been stuck on this post for sometime.  I decided today to publish it just as it is.   The problem is some of the photos are driving me nuts because I have been taking the pictures with my phone.  The big problem is the color.  Honestly most of the wall colors are inaccurate.  I promise we do not have lollipop colors in this house.  The greens are crazy making!  Yikes.  We've asked Santa for a new camera for Christmas!  Yay!  We will move past the perfectionism of having everything just so-so, to the spirit of the Christmas decorating and the whimsey and fun of it.

We are staying home for the holidays this year.  Don't we all love to be home for Christmas?  And yet we are feeling the missing sneaking up on us for all of our sweet kids and grandkids.  It is bittersweet ~bitter for the missing, sweet for being home.  The cup is always full either way.  We feel so blessed  with so many modes of communication now available we can still be together. 

When Christmas comes and we start to unpack the decorations I am always a little shocked/embarrassed by how much stuff we have accumulated over the nearly 45 years.  I love Christmas and I love decorating for it.  And I love Jim for always hauling it all out for me and biting his tongue as he does it.  I know what he is thinking...."Bon...Seriously?"   By the same token he knows what I am thinking when I see the bizillion tools he has collected.  See how I rationalize it?  Do we need it....no.  Do we love it....yes!  Many of the things we both have has been given to us.  You may see some of your gifts posted here.  However, true confessions...I do manage to find something each year I just have to have to feather the nest. Sheesh.  I need a meeting when it comes to Christmas decorations.  I fully admit it.  When two passions collide...ouch!

This year we have a lot of little vignettes.  I like to decorate the whole house.  The part that is challenging is changing it up a little each year when you have been in the same house for 35 years. It seems there is some kind of a house tour we are invited to participate in most years and I don't want the people that come to be bored with the same ole same ole.  And it is the designer thing needling me inside my head to freshen it up somehow.

Right here in our dining room is where we normally have our big tree.  We decided not to have a big one this year.  More room when we have our big family dinner, less hassle, etc. It sounded like a good idea at the moment but we will not be skipping it in the future.  It is the focal point, not of the season but of the house.  I miss it.  But for this year only, we will enjoy this picture from another time.

Dining Room and Smidgen of the Library

 

This is an old closet that Jim made into a butler's pantry 
for me with shelving and a glass door.  I love it. 
It makes entertaining so much easier.
It is a Christmas present he gave me one year.
I can keep all of our special dishes here.

I have set the table this year with this lace over 
red tablecloth and these yule napkins I found 

at Room with a Past

and our Christmas dishes and our silverware.

This is a little pedestal plate with

 faux goodies on the table.
Remnants from our business that
I couldn't part with. 

These are real sleigh bells that 

belonged to my Dad's parents.

The Kitchen

What it normally looks like above 

and the Christmas I add on 

the other side of the room below.

 

I got this great shimmery Christmas Tree
 in New England last year~perfect for suitcase transport.
I love it with our coppery Santa here in the kitchen.
The spotlights over head make it so sparkly.

Copper Tree and fireplace

Family Room Bath

Office Nook and Family Room

This is what it looks like most of the time.  There is no room for anything to be added really and no way to rearrange the furniture.  So we add a table top tree, some art, a wreath and some Santas and call it done!  There is a fireplace like the one in the kitchen on the wall not shown in these photos.  I spend 90% of my time in this area of the house.  I love the giant window looking out to the back.  That window is where the deer at the top of the blog post came to peep in.  And the window by my desk is fabulous too.

 

I adore this glass container so I decided to try to make a snow globe or "ice cube" for my desk.  I have loved having it right here.  The fragrance is divine when I put the lamp over it and it heats up the Epsom's Salt "snow."  Love my little skier and white Christmas.

Our Guest Room

(All ready for you!)

Main Bathroom

 

 Our Bedroom

The Merry Christmas sign is my find of the year.

  Room with a Past.  

I can never get out of that warehouse

 sale without a treasure.  Never.

I am not a huge fan of gold accessories for decorating but since our bed is trimmed in gold I do use it for Christmas in this room.  I do love it with the white and it seems to tone it down some.  It is kind of whimsical in a cottage so that part is fun.  The paint...just squint and think an antiqued yellow and not this dark but not washed out either.  I like to keep our family pictures in this room and so I love the little metallic angel that says 'I Love Us'....meaning our big wonderful family, blood and otherwise.  Jen has had it for years and I am so happy she gave it to us for our anniversary this past summer...but not before she bedazzled it with copper glitter.

 



Partridge in a pear tree




Tall candle holder was a gift from Lee and Dave
 for my birthday this year. 
 I love it and keep it in here all the time. 
 So pretty lit.

 

That is it for this year.  I hope you have enjoyed stopping by.  I am so glad I spent hours on this post so that next year when the boxes come out I can actually remember what I did this year and make the changes to tweak it a little.  And next year if you come in the front door you might see this again.

Caged a bit of the wildlife roaming these parts!

 2013
And for sure you are going to see something like this going on!