Tag: Christmas

The pace for Christmas season 2021 is set to slow in order to savor the season, embrace the true meaning of it all, and cherish the memories old and new that rush my mind and heart.

Christmas season 2021 Pretty At The Holidays highlights a collection of gorgeous images featuring scenes of the season guaranteed to inspire and impress.

John Loecke & Jason Oliver Nixon – Photo Hector Manuel Sanchez
Styling by Kendra Surface – Southern Living Magazine

“Freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin—
inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night.”
—John J. Geddes

House & Garden – Photo by Mark Fox

“The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious
faces with a Christmas greeting.”
—Louisa May Alcott

“Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it
by giving the light of love to those who need it most.”
—Ruth Carter Stapleton

Flickr

“We count down the days, just to experience it nearly
exactly as we always have.
It is so comfortable, familiar and perfectly nostalgic
that, frankly, we have no desire to improve upon it at all.”
— Joanna Gaines

Kitchen Ghosts

“Christmas magic is silent.
You don’t hear it—you feel it.
You know it. You believe it.”
— Kevin Alan Milne

House Beautiful – Photo by Gordon Beall

“Some Christmas tree ornaments do more than glitter and glow, they represent a gift of love given a long time ago.”
—Tom Baker

“Christmas is a piece of one’s home that one carries in one’s heart.”
— Freya Stark

Victoria Magazine

“As long as we know in our hearts
what Christmas ought to be, Christmas is.”
– Eric Sevareid

Victoria Magazine

“Bless us Lord, this Christmas, with quietness of mind; Teach us to be patient and always to be kind.”
— Helen Steiner Rice

House & Garden

“Let us keep Christmas beautiful without a thought of greed.”
—Ann Garnett Schultz

Summer Adams

“Christmas is like candy; it slowly melts in your mouth sweetening every taste bud, making you wish it could last forever.”
— Richelle E. Goodrich

Retro Christmas Tree Cake

“May your hearth be warm, your holidays grand, and your heart
held gently in the good Lord’s hand.”
— Unknown

Carolyne Roehm

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold,
everything is softer and more beautiful.”
— Norman Vincent Peale

Festive anticipation is super setting in as Christmas week draws closer, and I fa la la la love it!

Flights carrying loved ones begin to arrive, Dave the Builder is patiently awaiting a pan of Fantasy Fudge brimming with chopped walnuts, and as much as I would love a visiting elf to grant me the pleasure of wrapping all the gifts for me, that’s one Christmas miracle I’m pretty sure is not going to happen.

Holiday happenings, tasks, and undertakings can bring immense joy, however, the holiday hustle an bustle can be quite overwhelming at times.

Balance is a key component of design and decorating, life, and essential at this the most wonderful time of the year.

I’ve adopted a slow the pace, win the race attitude towards Christmas season 2021, seeing the beauty and the meaning of the season through a different lens.

Years of holiday decorating, open houses, and professional retail antiques and design business services brought joy, but I noticed by the second week of December I lost all interest in the holidays.  Can you say oversaturation?

For this reason, I keep my holiday social media postings light as well as my blogging in order to experience the joy rather than looking up and it being all over.

Remember this, my dear friends; the Christmas season is short at best. Treat yourself while treating others to the joy, the beauty, the goodies, and the glory of this beautiful season.

Merry Christmas, dear ones.

Festive photos of the Christmas season reminds and reinforces the notion it’s magically beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Christmas at Forde Abbey

“…freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin – inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night…”

– John Geddes

Victoria Magazine

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”

– Norman Vincent Peale

House & Garden

“Christmas isn’t a parade or concert but a piece of home you keep in your heart wherever you go.”

– Donna VanLiere

Pinterest

“At Christmas, all roads lead home.”

– Marjorie Holmes

Bless’er House as featured by Better Homes & Gardens

“Christmas… is not an external event at all, but a piece of one’s home that one carries in one’s heart.”

– Freya Stark

“Kindness is like snow- It beautifies everything it covers.”

– Kahlil Gibran

Martha Stewart

“The Christmas tree is a symbol of love, not money.  There’s a kind of glory to them when they’re all lit up that exceeds anything all the money in the world could buy.”

– Andy Rooney

House & Garden – Photo by Paul Massey

“Every gift which is given, even though it be small, is in reality great, if it is given with affection.”

– Pindar

Market Street – Corning, NY

“Christmas is like candy; it slowly melts in your mouth sweetening every taste bud, making you wish it could last forever.”

– Richelle E. Goodrich

Better Homes & Gardens – Photo by Jason Donnelly

“The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.”

– Louisa May Alcott

South Tirol, Italy

“Thank you, Dear Creator, for Life.  Thank you for Dreams.  Thank you for Ideas and Thoughts and Feelings.  Most of all, thank you for choosing me to grow – just for today – and to know the Wonder of Your World and its many Possibilities.”

― Janie Jasin

Victoria Magazine – Photography Marcy Black Simpson
Styling by Melissa Sturdivant Smith

“Some Christmas tree ornaments do more than glitter and glow, they represent a gift of love given a long time ago.”

― Tom Baker

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Let’s take a look at the history of Christmas ornaments, shall we?

History shows the decorations used to trim and bedeck Christmas trees included white candy canes, fresh apples and pastries shaped in the likeness of flowers, hearts and stars.

Garlands of glass beads, tin figures and the famous glass bauble made in Lauscha, Germany by Hans Greiner captured the eyes and the hearts of admirers.  Artisans crafted the original ornaments in the shape of fruits and nuts.

William DeMuth created the first American-made glass ornaments in 1870.  American businessman F. W. Woolworth discovered glass bauble ornaments on his travels to Laucscha, Germany in the 1880s subsequently importing the Lauscha ornaments to the United States.

32° North

The F. W. Woolworth Company went national in 1910 with 1000+ stores introducing glass Christmas ornaments into its inventory.

Over the 20th century, Woolworth’s would import 200,000 Christmas ornaments and top $25 million in sales from Christmas decorations.

Over the last decade, decorating the Christmas tree has become more than strictly a holiday ritual and more of a trip down memory lane starring Christmas ornaments notably in what Christmas means to me magnificence.

Small in size, but oh-so-large in representation of our individual style, personal interests, defining milestones, landmark events, choice destinations, memories of yesteryear;  Christmas ornaments become delicate, shiny, glittery and wonderful winter wonderland pieces to add to or start a these are a few of my favorite things collection.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park  ~  Photo by Nick Yarnell

East Tennessee is our second home, and even though we will spend Christmas at home in Louisiana, the GSMNP ornament will allow us to be home for Christmas if only in our Great Smoky Mountains National Park dreams.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Load ’em up and let’s hit the slopes memories.

Ski Gondola 

Winnipeg Jets

Our Canadian snowbird eats, sleeps and drinks all things hockey, namely, the Winnipeg Jets.

Food truck popularity serves as an appropriate token of let’s eat fun.

Christmas ornaments somehow become more than objects of beauty, they become ornamental objects of ourselves and treasures from our lives and the lives of those we love.

Houmas House

Now for an array of Christmas ornaments celebrating the food, music, landmarks and culture of Louisiana  and ones that capture the essence of the there’s no place like home for the holidays sentiment.

Brown Pelicans

Kitty Keller Designs Cloisonne State of Louisiana 

The announcement of Ultra Violet as Pantone Color of the Year for 2018 coordinates with the holiday color fest.

A splash of non-traditional color livens the look, and complements the colors featured in the all I want for Christmas Limoges oyster plate and oyster ornament.

Hand Painted Limoges Plate With Sea Oyster Shell Decoration

Old World Christmas Oyster with Pearl Glass Blown Ornament

Beignets and Café au Lait at Café du Monde

Beignets and Café au Lait at Café du Monde is a delicious New Orleans tradition.

Coffee and Beignets New Orleans Christmas Ornament 

Our pets are members of our family.

Sadie the black Labrador Retriever and Beau the white German shepherd keep our nephews company on the hunt.

Creativity and color make up a large part of my day, every day.

French Artist Oil Paint Palette

It’s a color your world Christmas.

Old World Christmas Artist’s Palette Glass Blown Ornament

The piney woods are well-represented through adorned packages in shades of blush, gray, and gold wrapped to impress.

Decorate your Christmas tree as you would your home- with a sense of you.

In the spirit of The Twelve Days of Christmas, true Christmas traditions and because twelve is the exact number of photos that turned out to be share worthy, I present to you the Places In The Home Twelve Days of Christmas.

On the first day of Christmas my idea of true Christmas traditions sent to me

vintage inspired aluminum Christmas wreaths and shiny and bright ornaments kinda sorta just like the aluminum Christmas tree, color wheel and Shiny Brite ornaments my maternal grandmother had.  It’s all in the accents and accessories details.

On the second day of Christmas my idea of true Christmas traditions sent to me

the patience prayed for and the grace granted to find the beauty in everything and everyone.

On the third day of Christmas my idea of true Christmas traditions sent to me

an old world Santa figurine ornament in shades of yellow, cream, brown and glitter gold that cost next to nothing, and one I would not take a million dollars for.  Well.

On the fourth day of Christmas my idea of true Christmas traditions sent to me

a Christmas centerpiece rich in throwback tradition and vibrant colors compliments of nature’s beauty and the neighbor’s grown with love grove.

On the fifth day of Christmas my idea of true Christmas traditions sent to me

the aromatic trio of one orange, one bay leaf and a generous sprinkling of ground cloves soon set to simmer and scent.

On the sixth day of Christmas my idea of true Christmas traditions sent to me

a craving for a family must make and bake at the holidays family tradition, Mama Two sugar cookies.  The story of how her name came to be is almost as iconic as her family famous Christmas cookie recipe.

The name I assigned to my great-grandmother was born out of a childlike understanding.  Our holiday destination point was set for the great state of Texas to spread holiday cheer and to introduce my great-grandparents to the newest addition to the family (me).  My mother and grandmother took advantage of the over the bayous and through the piney woods, to great-grandmother’s house we go travel time to coach me into calling my great-grandmother “mama”- the term of endearment she had always gone by.

The story goes my mother tried her best at introductions and association in terms she assumed best suited for a toddlers scope of understanding.

This is mama (pointing to herself).

This is mamaw (pointing to her mother).

And this is mama, too (pointing to her grandmother, my great-grandmother).

Okay, I’ve got it.

This is mama.

This is mamaw.

And that is mama two.

There’s only one mama, silly.

Alas, the intended became the literal, and a lovely Christmas story to boot.

On the seventh, eighth and ninth day of Christmas my idea of true Christmas traditions sent to me

melted butter, sugar and spice

fresh coconut, fresh apples and fresh Louisiana pecans.

On the tenth day of Christmas my idea of true Christmas traditions sent to me

the sending to and receiving from neighbors, friends and family Christmas cards of season’s greetings.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my idea of true Christmas traditions sent to me

twelve days of Christmas color, texture and pattern.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my idea of true Christmas traditions sent to me

friends who are the jewels of life.

Merry Christmas, friends!