Christmas Around the House

12/16/08 I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this post. Today I'm hooking up with Kimba's Open House.
Hey, I wouldn't redecorate the house every time I had new visitors, right, so why do a whole new post?
12/15/08 Today I'm linking up to Hooked on Houses Christmas house tours and Southern Hospitality's Deck the Halls. Be sure to visit them!

Welcome! We'll start at the front door. My two little topiary trees are the ones I got at Old Time Pottery for $9/pr, prelit. I had the urns, we filled them with rocks from the drainage ditch behind the house and I topped it with moss. I'm pleased enough with them, particularly for the price.

Here's a nighttime view.


The wreath itself I've had since our first Christmas together (16 years ago!), but a couple of years ago I redid it with the white and silver, and I still like it. Most of the items came from Dollar Tree.

Just inside the front door is the Christmas tree. We have a real one this year, for only the second year in the last ten. We got an artificial one when Firstborn was one; I guess we were worried about him eating needles or something. Anyway, this is a Fraser fir, and I like the look, but the branches are a bit wimpy and tend to bend down from the weight of the ornaments.


I heart my glass icicles. I think they add the perfect finishing touch. I got the letters from Restoration Hardware two years ago, and I really like them. I wish I had a lot more. This photo made me notice the little snowman hanging way out by himself on the top left. Hmmm. I have since made him mix and mingle with the rest of the crowd.


I'm lovin' this year's pinecones and aged silver objects from Dollar Tree.


My little Christmas village is on top of the china cabinet. I do not have the knack for arranging this.


On the ledge behind my corner kitchen sink I have this little tree. I decorated it with my small collection of miscellaneous old silverware that came down to me through my Grandma.


This sweet little ladle is only about 4" long.

Thanks for coming! I'm glad I could share this with you! I've been a little bummed this year that none of my family will be here. We often the last several years got at least a brief visit from my sister and her family when they were driving down to college to pick up my neices, but the last one graduated last year, so no more. They have their own grandbabies and extended family, and a 15 hour drive south just doesn't happen unless necessary.

In fact, my family is spread out across two countries (US and Canada) and it's not often that we are able to get together for Christmas. So we will enjoy our day at home, and probably stay in our pajamas. But I'm happy to have been able to open my home to you!

Souper Saturday--Made-up Minestrone

I didn't plan ahead for tonight's soup, so I again had to work with what was in the house. After much thought and a recipe search, I came up with minestrone. I didn't really use a single recipe, but just looked at a couple of different ones to get the idea of basic ingredients.

So, here's what I did:

Sauteed chopped onion and garlic in olive oil. Pureed a can of tomatoes and added to pot; then I decided to put it all back in the blender to blend up the onion chunks (kids), but of course I could've just added the onions to the tomatoes in the blender in the first place. Back into the pot, and I added 2 cups of water and 2 packets of Trader Joes beef broth concentrate. Added a can of kidney beans, and a can of green beans (which I only had because the kids are having a can drive at school). In the fridge I had some leftovers from a couple nights ago; it was a simple skillet dinner of ground beef and elbow macaroni in a tomato base. I added that, a little more cooked ground beef that I had in the freezer, and some more cooked macaroni. I seasoned with a little basil, oregano and salt. I topped each serving with parmesan cheese.

I didn't expect the kids to eat the green beans; they all have a strong aversion to this particular vegetable, so I tried not to put any in their bowls. Still, the overall chunkiness of the soup made them suspicious. They did eat most of it, somewhat reluctantly. The boys added Tabasco. Handsome was very impressed on first bite, but I guess it became less impressive over time because he originally gave it a 6-point-something, and then rounded up to 7.

Ratings:
Handsome 7
Me 7
Firstborn 4
Skippy 5
Pinkerbelle 4
Average: 5.4

A Few of My Favorite Things

*My favorite new-to-me Christmas song: Christmas Children by SHeDAISY. I couldn't tell you even one other song that this group of sisters sings. Even though this song was released on their album Brand New Year in 2000, I had never heard it until a couple days ago. You can listen to a clip on iTunes.


*My favorite hot chocolate recipe: Creamy Hot Chocolate from Eagle Brand. I replace some of the water with milk. With whipped cream and sprinkles is all the better!

Photo from flickr.

*My favorite winter comfort: flannel sheets and a down comforter. Heavenly!


*My favorite Christmas movie (other than It's a Wonderful Life, of course): The Bishop's Wife from 1948.


*My new favorite Christmas cookie: Blackberry Sage Thumbprints from Better Homes and Gardens. I'm going to a cookie exchange tomorrow and I wanted to bring something new and unique, so I went out on a limb with these. They are really lovely! The sage adds an interesting, almost floral note that pairs well with the blackberry preserves.


*My favorite family activity: Friday Pizza Movie Night. Virtually every Friday night we have pizza and watch a movie together, and have been doing so for about six years. Usually I make homemade pizza, but sometimes we order (like tonight). We throw a foam mattress on the floor for the kids, turn out the lights, and lounge around together. We do it all year, but it's especially cozy in the winter.

Photo from flickr.

Check out Thrifty Decor Chick for more lists of favorites!

Flannel Sheets--Wohm and Tozy

There's nothing like climbing into bed on a cold winter night to the warm softness of flannel sheets. Every fall I pack away the smooth, cool cotton and switch everybody over to flannel. For some reason, this year I had forgotten all about it until today when Skippy mentioned that he had been cold last night. Well, he should be comfy tonight with his flannel, and a comforter in place of his thin summer quilt.

Even at eight years old, they're sweet when they're sleeping.

Pinkerbelle already had a down comforter, and she sleeps hot anyway and usually kicks all her covers off, so she might be a little too warm. Note the sleeves pushed up. But she wanted her flannel fairy sheets. It also appears that she was playing with a flashlight before she fell asleep.

As for the title of the post: at dinner we were reminiscing about the Christmas season the year Firstborn was two, and still an only child. Many evenings the three of us folded out the couch (we had one of those apartment couches that flip out into a bed), cuddled up in blankets, drank hot chocolate and watched Christmas shows, like Frosty and Rudolph. Firstborn called it getting "all wohm and tozy". Good times.

Garland and Mantel

12/10/08 I'm joining the party today!


I must say, I'm very happy with my festive mantel! Yesterday, I started out with the supplies I had purchased on Monday, and after a little tweaking today, I think I'm done.

Electrical cords are a necessary evil; not much I can do about it.

Using Nester's suggestions, I entwined two garlands as my base. I used a 9ft x 10" and a 9ft x 6", on sale at Old Time Pottery for $2.99 and $1.49, respectively. To fill it out a bit more, I wrapped it with a fluffier garland from Dollar Tree, which was just a single green strand and would have been fairly useless on its own.


It still needed a little more bulk in the middle, so I found the branches that had been trimmed off the Christmas tree and stuck a couple in. (The problem with that is that I don't know how long they will stay fresh. Probably not 4 to 5 weeks.) Then I started working with the rest of the stuff I got at OTP. The grassy things were $1.24 each (fall, 75% off) and the white twisty things were $.74. I gave the white things a light coat of satin nickel spray paint, and though you can't see it here, they already had a little sparkle to them.

I pulled them apart into smaller bunches, and stuck them in the garland here and there. I also used some silver ball picks I got at Dollar Tree a year or two ago, and some pinecones that I got at Salvation Army on Monday ($.49).

I like the twisty things a lot.

I used a Command hook at each end of the mantel, and one in the middle flat on the front. There is a cable tie looped around some of the garland in the middle and hooked onto that Command hook.
On the mantel, I used my beaded trees from DT, a round mirror that I bought several months ago at Goodwill and forgot about until I found it in a closet a few days ago, a smaller square mirror that I got at DT a while ago, and two glass urn-y things (can't think of the real name) filled with silver ornaments from DT. The barn stars, clock, and finial are always there.

I forgot all about the stockings until a couple minutes ago. Since they are very light, I just hooked them onto the garland itself. Actually, I'm not sure which I prefer: with or without stockings. Thoughts?

Don't forget to go to Nesting Place for more garland loveliness!

Sneak Peak

I'm pretty pleased so far...more tomorrow!

Not Christmas

I have been working pretty much all day on Christmas decorating. It does not look like I've been working all day. Nevertheless, I promise to post about it when I'm done. Maybe tomorrow. In the meantime, I wanted to show off another of my Dollar Tree purchases.

I have seen these wall stickers at some, but not all, DTs. We recently put some flower stickers in Pinkerbelle's room (I bought them three years ago, and she finally got me to put them up). They are removeable and repositionable. A fun way to decorate on a temporary basis. Great for renters.

So anyway, yesterday I saw these, which are exactly the color of the shower curtain in the kids' bathroom. This is $1's worth; it took me approximately three minutes to put them up. It will add a little character to the room, at least until we get around to painting. Oh, wait. There aren't any 'rooms' anymore; they're all 'spaces'. Have you noticed that? It will add a little character to the space. Okay, I watch HGTV too much.


Look how well they match. It's like they were made to go together. The shower curtain is from Kohl's, about two years ago.

How cute is that?!