A Quiet Corner

In this corner of our house, there's a lot of peace and quiet.  This little room doesn't receive much action, it's kind of small and not really much going on in there.  But it's a great little room for snuggling in to the big comfy chair to read a good book or to nod off on a weekend afternoon nap.  Of course, if someone's on the piano it's not too quiet, but it's still a comfortable room that wraps you up and makes you feel all warm inside.

 

Christmas in our Living Room

I'd like to share some more photos of our living room.  I had a lot of fun putting this room together.  We began on the day after Thanksgiving, purchasing the tree from the local farmer's market.

Belated Blooper Before and After - Half Mustachioed Santa

A week or so ago, there was a blog party at Between Naps on the Back Porch where posters would show their blog bloopers from 2010.  At the time, I didn't think I had anything to offer, since I've only been blogging for a couple of months.  But then as I was putting away the Christmas decorations last week, I found that one of my Santa figures had a little boo-boo that I hadn't noticed before.

This particular Santa had made a prominent appearance in two of my most popular blog posts - the one about my German Smoker Santas and the one about my Christmas Eve Table.   In both posts, this poor Santa showed off his little boo-boo for all to see.

Christmas Eve Table

Welcome to our home for Christmas Eve dinner.  I know, it's the day after Christmas, but heck, things were too busy to post this on Christmas Eve!

Rather than cook a big meal on Christmas Day, we always make our big Christmas meal on Christmas Eve.  That way the cooks (usually me and my husband) can spend Christmas Day with the rest of the family, relaxing and enjoying our new "toys" and each other's company.  This year, we celebrated Christmas at home with just my husband, our son, our daughter, and me, we had no other family visiting with us this year. So it was a quiet Christmas Eve dinner in our dining room.  

Simple and Fun Vignettes

I'm having a party at our home tonight, and so I've been spending the day mostly cleaning up, but also putting little touches of Christmas cheer here and there.  Thought I'd share some of the little vignettes I put together today... Hope you enjoy!

Christmas 2010 Tour of Our Home

I've been posting here and there all month long with photos of our home and our Christmas decorations.   In preparation for The Nester's Christmas 2010 Tour Of Homes party, I've put together this launching point so you can see all the various things we've done this year.  Hope you enjoy!

Family Room Mantel

I'm not sure why, but it took me a really long time to decide how to decorate the mantel this year.  I spent probably 2 hours on this, and about 1 hour 45 minutes of that was in fussing with various items!  The whole thing really only took about 15 minutes once I decided what to do!

Living Room "Santa" Tree

This year our living room tree is themed as a "Santa" tree.  I thought this would be a great way to showcase all of our Santa ornaments that we've collected over the years.  I also picked up a couple new ornaments this year, just a few that caught my eye for one reason or another, nothing extravagant.  And last year in the "after Christmas" sales at Michael's, I had picked up a few Santa ornaments then.  So I figured we'd have plenty to do a whole tree.

"Vintage" Santa

I have what I loosely call a "collection" of Santa figures as a major part of my Christmas decorations.  About 15 years ago, I attended a local craft fair, found three or four Santa figures, and declared that I was going to collect Santas.  Never mind the fact that at the time we had no money, and I had no idea how to make a real "collection."

My collection does not contain anything of any monetary value.  Mostly I just purchased Santas that caught my eye, sometimes while traveling to commemorate a special trip.  Often my family gives me Santas that they think I would enjoy.  My father has hand-carved some caricature Santas, and those are especially wonderful.  But as far as "value" goes, I don't think I'd get much if I sold most of my Santas.

This Santa is a case in point.