Thursday, December 9, 2021

Cheerful Christmas Decorating


The amaryllis that was just planted in my last post has come and gone.  It was in bloom on Thanksgiving and sure was pretty while it lasted.

The cactus that was loaded with buds has also done it's thing for the year.  I now know it is a Thanksgiving cactus.  It, too, added beauty to the house as we celebrated Thanksgiving.
Now they shall both be treated as houseplants until spring when I will move them outside.



I hope you are all doing well and enjoying these days leading up to Christmas.  Are you busy decking the halls or have you already finished?
Mine has become scaled down to a very manageable process.  I must say I am really enjoying it now.  Everything has been decorated for a week.  I do have fun tweaking things here and there.  
The little oil painting above was a recent thrift store find.  It was in a very dated frame and was tossed into a bin with a very low price tag.  I'm sure it had been cast aside in favor of modern pictures found at places like Hobby Lobby.  
The little boy pulling his fresh cut Christmas tree up the lane to the farmhouse transported me to days gone by.  The rolling hills covered in snow provided such a peaceful setting.  When I turned the painting over there was an address label the artist had placed there many years ago.  I don't know why her beautiful work wound up in the thrift store bin, but I wasn't about to let it remain there.



I did set it free from the dated frame and then added it to my hutch.
It's small size makes it an ideal piece to use in little vignettes around the house.



Another thrift shop visit yielded this DECEMBER frame.
Actually it was in a box with 11 more frames.  One for every month of the year and boy are they ever pretty.  
I spent some time last night going through my photo albums in search of a suitable picture for December.  It seems I stopped having pictures printed in 2010.  It sure was a trip down memory lane to look through all of those albums.  I then looked through the albums on my phone and still couldn't find a photo of all of my (small) family together at Christmas.  So, I settled for one of my son and his girlfriend with a snowman they built on one of the only Christmases that we had snow.
At the top of my to do list this year:
Get one nice photo of the whole family together for Christmas.

My Christmas decorating doesn't change much from year to year.
I kind of use the same elements in slightly different configurations.
This year I was craving the comforts of Christmas past in my kitchen.  Grouping select pieces of my vintage treasures with a bottle brush tree seemed to work on the countertops.


Christmas Cheer next to the stove.


Another little corner and a place to enjoy my favorite ornaments up close.


The view from the kitchen sink.


Couldn't resist these cheerful tea towels.


And it wouldn't be Christmas without the sweet little toy stove.
On a recent phone call with my eight year old grandson, he told me that the two things he wanted to do when he comes for Christmas are:
1:  Make blueberry pancakes with grandpa.
2:  Decorate cookies with lots and lots of sprinkles.

I can see I need to add something else to my to do list:

Purchase lots and lots of sprinkles :)




12 comments:

  1. Your home always looks beautiful. You have the touch for decorating!!
    I LOVE that little painting too. We carried our Christmas tree home after cutting it down out back!
    Hard to believe your grandson is 8 already.
    We have the tree up and decorated, mantel decorated, this years red ball painted, and I just finished writing out the cards.

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  2. Your Christmas decor is lovely, Kim, with pretty touches here and there. That's a really lovely little painting you picked up in the thrift store. Our home is decorated, too, and I'm working on the baking these days.

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  3. I think your thrift store find of the oil painting is a real treasure. I'm happy that you rescued it and gave it another life. All your decorating is lovely. The little stove and the cheerful kitchen towels!! I thought I was finished but yesterday I found a little treasure of my own and am excited to 'fit it in' somewhere.

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  4. You are looking very festive at your house. I love your display cabinet with the Santa mugs and the little painting you found.🎄🎄

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  5. The Christmas cactus is so beautiful! Even the pot is beautiful.

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  6. Love your touches of Christmas decor! The oil painting in darling. I'm glad you rescued it. Love your cabinets with the glass...would love that in my kitchen! My Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus (whichever it is!) rarely blooms. When it finally does, I only get two blooms. It gets a lot of light, too.

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  7. What a perfect Christmas post. Your decorations are so pretty. I love the little painting and so glad you rescued it from the bin at the thrift store. It's beautiful. I love the older things that bring back memories. Hope you have a Merry Christmas.

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  8. Hi Kim! I finally remembered to compose a comment elsewhere and copy and paste it in. Still it takes several tries.

    I have been on an amaryllis kick myself this year. My second attempt and it worked. My sister Kim says it looks too grand for my humble home, but I think it adds an elegance that is needed.

    Everything always looks so festive there. How neat that your grandson shared what he hopes for this Christmas at your home. I should try that with my teens and see if they can do as good a job of expressing themselves.

    Merry on!

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    Replies
    1. Vee,
      Thank you for jumping through all of these hoops to leave a comment. I have no idea why that is happening. I have the same thing happen when I try to comment at Lorrie's. Seems odd that it is so random.

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  9. Your home always looks so pretty, especially for the holidays. I had my sweet pixies out to enjoy but not as much as usual this year...trying to make it simpler. And one night just before I went to bed, I was reading blogs on my IPAD and read a post I don't see any more. I've been praying for you and hope you are healthy and the New year is better. Sweet hugs, Diane

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Diane. I appreciate your prayers.
      Glad you are still enjoying the pixies. I completely understand about doing it simpler.

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