Christmas is all boxed up now, and the weather has turned from mushy-wet to icy-frozen in the space of one day. Personally, I prefer the colder temperatures in winter, and a little snow would be welcome as well.
Over the holidays we picked up our new kitchen chandelier. I just love the country look it gives to the kitchen. We also got the beadboard up around the sink counter, and it's all painted up. Those two details really made this a country kitchen for me, and I'm just loving it! I forgot to get a photo of the beadboard for this mosaic. The little plate here is one I picked up from the dollar store one year in a rush to use for Santa's cookies when my kids were very small. My kids then insisted that this plate be the official plate used for Santa each year ... and so it is ... or was, now we use it for our own cookies ;)
Now I'm going to do something which will probably make most of you groan ... I've wanted to post photos of some of my Christmas decorations since last year, but my time always runs away from me through the holidays and I've not been blogging too much while my family was home together. If you've had quite enough of Christmas and would rather not look at the decorations, you can slip away now ;)
I bought a set of pewter decorations through the mail from the Canadian Nature Federation way back before I was married. They're still my favourite decorations. The china bird was purchased at an antiques store years ago, and the mini Santa has a tiny bell inside him (he's really tiny and actually meant for a miniature tree).
The little mouse on a spool of thread and the little bear working on sleigh bells are Hallmark decorations that my husband and I picked out when we were first married. I like to sew, and he likes to work in his workshop. The partridge in a pear tree decorations are printed on leather, and I bought them at the One of a Kind craft show in Toronto many years ago. I couldn't afford the full 12-piece set at the time, and had to be satisfied with just these three. I probably picked these three because they depicted birds. And another pewter decoration from the set.
A couple more of the pewter decorations, and a glass moose my daughter picked out for my husband's gift one year when she was about 3 years old.
The first Christmas I moved out of my parents' house and rented a century-old farmhouse with friends, we brought home a live Christmas tree and I made all the decorations for it. These little felt mice and the hazelnut angels were some that I still treasure.
I have a few decorations that my kids made through the years. The globes hanging from the lamp are made from circles cut from old Christmas cards and then glued together. My daughter's handprint is made from cinnamon and apple sauce and is 18 years old! The star decoration is made from flour dough and made by my son in kindergarten. (my daughter is 20 and my son is 17 now)
The music box was a gift from a previous employer when my daughter was born, and West Coast decorations from my brother and his wife who live in Victoria BC.
A little fishing fox (I like his candy cane hook and the fish underneath him in the water). The trio of crocheted trees was a gift last year from a fellow blogger in New Zealand. The wooden Santa has about six nesting Santas inside him. We bought one set for each of my kids when they were small from a Christmas store in Toronto one year. Behind Santa is my special Venetian cat mask that I bought in Venice a couple of years ago. The little glass snowmen I bought on a whim quite a few years ago.
My kids and I love our nutcracker soldiers, and we have them scattered around the living room at Christmas. Father Time sits on top of the grandfather clock with Baby New Year standing by his side (you can just make out his black top hat). The angel is from my parents' decorations and she adorned their tree every year until my mom died. I repainted her wings in silver paint.
A ceramic snowflake with a piece of sea glass melted on top. I really like this new decoration from my sister-in-law. She always sends the nicest decorations. This particular snowflake was made by one of her friends in Victoria. The advent calender is from my childhood, given to me by my grandparents from Sheffield, UK, in 1964. I'm glad I still have this as it was the one thing I eagerly dragged from our Christmas box as a child each year. The photo is of my two kids when they were little.
My great-grandmother's buffet with various decorations set up around her old oil lamp.
A few years ago, we cut down some scraggly cedars alongside our fence. I peeled the bark off some of the twigs and keep them in this pottery vase. I hang a few nature-inspired decorations on it at Christmas.
And last of all, my tree! As I removed the decorations on the weekend, I took some photos to show my felt-circle garlands that I made a few years ago. I'd be quite happy with just this garland on the tree ;) I cut the circles from felted sweaters and using a very large tapestry needle, threaded them all onto crochet thread. The circles can slip around a bit which works well when I have to fit it over branches and around decorations.
And that's it folks! I make no apologies for sharing my Christmas things in January, but I did want to have a record of them on my blog. Hope your eyes didn't glaze over too badly ;)
Thanks for stopping by!
Wendy
