A Blizzard and a Birthday

A blizzard hit us in southeastern Massachusetts last night through today. It was my birthday yesterday so some of my birthday plans got curtailed. Andy was going to take me to the Newport mansions to see the decorations and holiday carolers, but the snow prevented us from going. We had dinner at a nice restaurant nearby and then watched my new favorite movie "Julie and Julia."



Last night the snow was really coming down and the wind was whipping around like crazy. Ellie poked her nose out for a sniff.



She didn't want to go outside, but Mother Nature was calling so she donned her bright orange coat and we shoveled a little path for her.



The snow at night was beautiful to see.



You can really see the blizzard conditions in this photo. This was just the start of the storm so the snow wasn't that high yet.



The next morning we awoke to this....






The view outside my kitchen window.





The first thing I did when got up and outside was to fill the bird feeders (notice I wasn't even dressed yet... I still have on my black velour pajama bottoms).



The birds enjoying the feast.






Morning doves huddled in a tree.



A blue jay hiding in a bush.


When the storm was finally over we ended up with almost 2 feet of snow. Now the fun begins.... digging out! We'll definitely have a white Christmas.

A Little Bit of Christmas Everywhere

As promised here's a few more pictures of my Christmas decorations.

My little Christmas village.... Ignore the wrinkled curtains - apparently I forgot to iron them. =0





Here's the centerpiece on my coffee table (aqua wicker trunk). I took a few items that I've had around the house - nothing was bought new - and made a sparkly centerpiece. This is just a round tray filled with a few glass marbles and then topped off with a glass mosaic bowl filled with some scented red bark, red Christmas balls, and a white pillar candle.


My sofa table is simply decorated in red, white, and silver.



My baker's rake in the kitchen get's festive with some colored lights.


The centerpiece on my kitchen island was also put together using things I had - a small, square, white dish, a silver reindeer, a few pine cones, and some dinner candles.



The centerpiece on my dinning table is yet another mishmash of stuff. This is an old silver plated tray that I got years ago at a yard sale, filled it with fake snow (I could have also used Epsom salt or white candle shavings for snow), pine cones, moss, candles for sparkle, and 2 mercury glass Christmas trees.





Of course I couldn't ignore the light fixture over the dinning table so I put some Christmas balls on that too.



I took a few more pictures that I'll post later this week. Nothing like overdoing it for Christmas. :)

Doggie Hang Over

Here's Ellie recovering from a doggie hang over. It's just how I feel right now.



It's Christmas time and our weekend was packed with over night travel to another state to attend a company Christmas party, a visit to Andy's college friend, and then a long drive back home to Massachusetts to go to yet another party. We took Ellie along with us everywhere and by yesterday she was completely wiped out from way too much stimuli - dealing with a hotel room, long drive in the car, several new doggie friends, and far too many people who thought she was the cutest thing on earth in her little red holiday sweater. Phew!! I sure wish I could just shut down for a day to recover like she did... ahhh the life of a dog!

It's Done! Phew!

I finally finished decorating our gargantuan Christmas tree. Here is the result!



And, a close up....




I never have a theme to my Christmas tree and don't like it when everything matches on our family tree. Most of my ornaments (except for some "filler" balls) have meaning. Some were gifts, others were collected during our travels, passed down from our families, handmade, or from our childhood.

This cute little angel ornament was handmade out of a clothespin. Isn't she sweet.



This star is made out of sea shells - how appropriate for our region of the country.



Here are a few lighthouse ornaments. We've actually got a lot of these and have picked them up in sea side shops to our many visits to the Cape.




Here's a little cloisonne hummingbird ornament. I have several of these too and they were gifts from my Mother. I love them!



Of course, our tree wouldn't be complete without Andy's professional sports team ornaments. He loves his Red Sox and Patriots ornaments and always proudly displays them (I try to hide them but he always moves them to the front... *sigh*).



Here are the first two ornaments I ever bought for my own tree. I won't say how old these are. ;)





Well that's it. Soon I'll be posting pictures of the other decorations around our house.... that is as soon as the boxes get put away. Santa still hasn't sent his elves to do that. Darn!

This Tree Scares Me!

I've pretty much finished decorating the entire house for Christmas - except for this...



This is our new 9 ft Christmas tree that my wonderful guy surprised me with over the weekend. I actually love it - we've got cathedral ceilings so a tall tree works well. Andy has been eyeing this tree since he saw it at Lowes last week. It's fake and pre-lit (thank God I can't imagine stringing lights on that thing), but it's probably the most realistic fake tree I've ever seen. It really is stunning. The only problem is that I've never decorated a tree that large before. All the ornaments I have fit a smaller tree around 6 feet and with something as large as 9 ft I don't know where to begin -- and I don't even think I have enough ornaments.

Anyway, for the past few days I've been just ignoring it in hopes that Santa's little elves will decorate it while I'm sleeping. So far that hasn't happened. Yes I do believe in Santa... can ya hear me Santa? I've been good this year... can you pretty please send me some elves to get this tree done?

In the meantime I'll just admire my mantel.



Oh, and these empty boxes....



I've got tons of them all over the house that need to be put back in the basement. Do you think Santa's elves will do that too? Well, one can only hope.

Indoor Bulb Beauty

One of the joys of winter indoor gardening is watching forced bulbs bloom. I love all the different unique containers that can be used and how beautifully you can decorate with them. While I'm still waiting for my amaryllis to bloom I did some poking around cyberspace to get some inspiration. I hope you enjoy these beautiful pictures and get some ideas too.

Photo credit: Country Living

Photo credit: Country Living

Photo credit: Jackson and Perkins

Photo credit: Good Housekeeping

Photo credit: Country Living