The House, Decorated

I thought it would be fun to document some of our Christmas decorations in, and outside, the house!  This year, Bryce and I made the fireplace garlands, and while not perfect, we are learning and they seem to be getting better and better!  I remembered to start the paper whites around Thanksgiving so they were blooming, if a little leggy, for Christmas!

Our frog tree finally got a frog topper when an ornament broke and Bryce remade it to sit atop the tree!

Even though the children are young adults now, we always put out our favorite Christmas books and, in fact, added one to our collection this year!

Of course, the kitchen is where all the action takes place!  We added a small, green feather tree to our decorations this year and put our Chrystal and copper ornaments on it.  

I made a cranberry cordial this season, which was good but I'm not entirely sure I would make again.  It was so pretty though so perhaps it will be added to the repertoire after all!

We continue to also put up a fake tree in the den (originally bought when my Mom was in the cottage for Christmas) and now I can't imagine not having it as it adds such needed light to the den.  I put our vintage Christmas ornaments on it and old fashioned candles.

I absolutely love the garland Grace makes for this fireplace.  It's simple and beautiful and perfect for this old, large cooking fireplace.

Outside the house, we continue to string garland and lights on the old stone wall.  I made two wonky wreaths for the doors and something for the light posts too.  

I also put together an "arrangement" in our two antique urns on the patio.  I love using all foraged things from the farm!

Growing up, my Mom always took Christmas decorations down early saying it was "bad luck" to have them still up to ring in the new year!  It's ingrained in me so while I adore them during the season I start to see decorations as clutter as soon as Christmas is over so they are already getting packed away until next year!  

Christmas 2023 (of which is mostly food!)

Merry Christmas, I hope everyone had as wonderful of a Christmas as we did.  I did an absolute horrid job of taking photos this year, and didn't even get one of the 4 of us in front of the tree as we usually do.  Inexplicably, I have more photos of the food than I do of the people.  That needs to change in 2024!

We switched things up this year and spent Christmas Eve at my sisters house after our church service.  She and Bill served the most delicious meal of filet, mashed potatoes, clams casino and Brussel sprouts!  Christmas Day we had our traditional breakfast in between Santa gifts, and sibling/family gifts.  I always love our festive breakfast!

For a late lunch, everyone came to our house and we had ham, biscuits, roasted Brussel sprouts with pomegranates, creamed spinach and mashed potatoes.  For a small little appetizer we made baked scallops in shells, I loved how pretty they were and easy to eat.  Grace even got to use her oyster forks she picked up at the Paris Flea market.  

For dessert we had a black bottom tart with Eggnog Ice cream that Grace made!

Tree Trimming 2023

We got our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, when Harris was home, but found we just didn't have the heart to decorate it without the kids here!  I know that we will eventually have to decorate it without them but this was not the year.  We always get a Fraser Fir but this year the pickings were rather slim (literally, look how skinny the tree is)!  Bryce and I keep saying we are going to plant some Cannan Firs so we can cut them down ourselves but it hasn't gotten done yet...

Grace got home on Wednesday and Harris on Friday evening so we settled on Saturday night for our traditional dinner and decorating.

For the drinks, I made little flocked trees out of the tips of rosemary.  The only way I could figure out how to keep them standing in the glass was with a marshmallow "glued" to the bottom!  

The bread turned out super cute this year!

My Mom joined us as per usual and it was so lovely to have everyone around the table!

For dessert, Grace made poached pears!  They were delicious!

This year, the children's ornaments were a pewter Pitt ornament and a glass ice cream cone for Grace.  

A Few Favorite Things

I've been feeling a little out of sorts lately.  I'm not sure if it's the time change (it's dark sooo early), that I"m really missing the children (I am) or that I'm finding it hard to tune out all of the really crappy things going on in the world.  Or maybe it's a combination of all of the above.  At any rate, to cheer myself up I thought I'd write down a few of my current favorite things.  

The Lost Kitchen- I started watching this after Grace mentioned it and I am completely obsessed.  I love everything about it; the food, the aesthetic, the edible flowers, all of of it.  I can't wait to send in a post card this spring and hope and pray it gets chosen!  On HBOMAX (but originally on the Magnolia channel).

Benetton Sweater- I got my first Benetton sweater probably 20 years ago, at least.  And I still wear it all the time!  I've added a few others to my collection because they are the best!  They are wool, thin and classic (they were on the classic list from years ago and that's how I discovered them in the first place).  While I do like cashmere I sometimes actually prefer wool, it just seems to last longer!  

Le Parfait jars- I use these for everything.  We have a wall in our kitchen (see above) that has jars filled with flours, beans, popcorns, seeds, etc.  I love that they are functional and beautiful.

The Blue Mercury sale- Once a year I stock up on my beauty supplies when they go up to 30% off.  Yes, I have to spend a fair amount to get that percentage off, but it's easy to do with my staples (moisturizer, shampoo, and a serum get me there quickly).  30% is a lot to save and even though it's a bad time of year to spend that money, I find it's worth it and makes it a little more palatable to buy my favorite moisturizer!  

Speaking of shampoos, I started using Olaplex two years ago and it's been a game changer for me.  I have crazy thick, course hair and this has helped soothe it a lot.  It's expensive for sure but it takes me a long time to go through a bottle!  Again, 30% off makes it a little better!

The WorkShirt- This most definitely is in the category of self promotion but I still love our smock.  I wear it daily (except on the coldest of days) when working outside.  It's now stained, has a tear and is always wrinkled but it's my favorite thing to work in (and bonus, I have extras!).  I'm super proud of that creation!

Our hot chocolate- I made a fresh batch of our favorite hot chocolate and have been having a little mug (I use the children's old mugs because they are just the right size for a wee drink!) every night.  It doesn't get much better than a mug of cocoa, my flannel pajamas and a cat in my lap.

Facetime- I'm so thankful for FaceTime because without it I would feel so disconnected from Grace (would say the same about Harris but he actually prefers the phone). 

The Christmas Ball

Grace has had a very busy semester, she committed to a lot of extra curricular activities and it's been her hardest/biggest work load yet academically (do not fear for her... she's managed to fit a few trips in!).  However, I wanted to share the work she did for The Christmas Ball in St Andrews.  She interviewed to get on the committee freshman year and has worked on it each year since.  This year she was the Creative Convener on the executive committee for the ball, which means she was in charge of designing and decorating the entire ball!  

Each year, they have a theme for the ball and this years was the aurora borealis and northern lights.  It happened to work out to be the perfect theme because the lights have been very active this fall.  Grace took the picture below one evening!

Grace kept us updated on her progress as she decorated, planned and crafted!  Her biggest project was making an installment to look like the aurora borealis.  To accomplish this she hand sewed different fabrics together and to a plastic snow fence (so it would be flexible to be transported)!  I'm just amazed at how it turned out (it's 60 feet long!). 

She also hand cut out all the letters for the banner on the large tree and made a photo backdrop out of strips of leftover fabric (and lots of other details that I don't have photos for!).

She also really loved her dress that perfectly matched the theme!  And, just for fun, here she is at the last two Christmas balls!

She said that she had the most fun that she's had at a ball, so I think she felt good about it and the entire experience!  I'm super proud of her for all the work she put into it!