Bonne année ~

 

~ It's time to celebrate! ~

 

Wishing you a very Happy New Year

 

 

 

May the new year be filled with peace, happiness, and joy, for each and every one of you.

Merry Christmas ~

The house is decorated; the cards have been sent; the gifts are all wrapped and the baking is done. The preparations for the Christmas Eve dinner are almost complete. So there is little else for me to do but to wish you all a very

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Entry hall tree

 

I hope that your holiday is filled with joy, love, and happiness.

 

Christmas Mantle ~ 2013

Every year I try to do something a bit different to decorate the mantle ~ this is how it turned out this year:

 

 

 

 I started out with a basic green garland and kept adding lots of other things: pink ornaments, flowers, pine cones, ribbon, bejeweled fruit, and a wonderful sparkly garland that looks like bits of crystal...it alone can make anything lovely. My daughter made the little bird ornament ~ so cute!

 

Silk roses, wired ribbon and twinkle lights.

 

Completely over-the-top, but I love it. And now for the best decorative ornament of all...

 

Miss Twiggley! 

 

 Sitting up on the mantle under the little Christmas trees, supervising the work and being very, very well behaved!

 

Joyeux Noël

 

Kitchen Wreath ~

The little crab apple trees are almost completely devoid of leaves, but there is a lot of fruit for the birds to feast on through the winter months.

 

As for me, this time of year, and any time of year for that matter, I use the branches as a framework to make wreaths.

 

The branches are very pliable and easy to shape. 

 

A simple twisting and weaving and Voila! A Christmas wreath for the hood over the stove in my kitchen ~ 

I added a dried moss garland and some little apples. So simple, just the natural look that I wanted.

 

As I sit here writing this I am listening to a new Christmas Cd with a nice mix of music: The Piano Guys; A Family Christmas. A lovely addition to the festivities.

 

I hope that all of your holiday plans are progressing well ~ this is such a happy time of year.

 

joyeux Noël

 

This post has been linked to: http://www.adelightsomelife.com/

 

Tweaking for Christmas ~

This little tiered stand is very versatile, I change it out whenever the mood strikes, I think that I got it at Bombay Company and it is really meant to be a tea stand. It's size allows it to sit on the floor or on a table or counter. Right now it is sitting in a corner of the kitchen holding some white, covered dishes. So...wasn't it natural to tweak it a bit for Christmas...

 

 

 I added a few bits of greenery, in this case lavender, some apples, a couple red ornaments and voilà!

 

So much impact for such simple additions; I love when this happens.

After the holidays I might change out the china pieces in place of pots of herbs, (or maybe those copper pots I think Santa is bringing me) but for right now I am loving how it adds to making the kitchen more festive for Christmas.

 

Thank you for visiting.

 

Joyeux Noël

 

This post has been linked to: http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/. http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/ 

 

Le petit train de Noël ~

Last year I made this Christmas wreath for the big window in media-family room. I really like it and I think it is very pretty but the room said, "More".  So...

I went down into the basement and unpacked this little holiday train I bought many years ago from Bombay Company, filled it with gifts, and sent it on it's way with happy thoughts and Christmas greetings to you!

 

All aboard, off we go to a wonderful and joyous holiday season

 

Choo-choo!

 

I hope that you are having as much fun with your Christmas preparations as I am.

Thank you for visiting

 

Joyeux Noël

 

A lovely little surprise ~

Last summer I redesigned the border under my deck, reducing the planting area and expanding the adjacent gravel area. I thought that I had removed all of the plants but this group of Paperwhites somehow got overlooked. At first I wasn't sure exactly what they were, but here they are a lovely little surprise, surrounded by gravel with absolutely no care, blooming right outside my back door  just in time for the holiday.

 

 

I have never tried to force Paperwhites because they bloom so readily in the garden this time of year and I have quite a few planted in various places, but it would be nice to have potted ones in the house, so next year they will be a first on my list and now I must start collecting interesting containers to put them in...that should be fun!

 

Thank you for visiting.

 

Joyeux Noël

 

Un petit-déjeuner d'inspiration ~

This morning while eating breakfast and planning my day I was leafing through last years Christmas issue of Jeanne d' Arc and found a very pretty way to put together a Christmas cloche for the kitchen island ~ and the best part, I had everything to do it with!

 

I brought this cloche in from the garden, washed it off, and added some apples, the silver trays my brother gave me last week were already sitting on the island, I think they add a touch of elegance.

 

 

 

 

A fast and easy way to add holiday cheer to the kitchen...and I didn't use one bit of glitter... not that I won't later.

 

~ Joyeux Noël ~