Christmas is Coming!

 Hi! It's mid-December, oh how time flies these days. And here I am awaiting Santa, the house all decked in its own small way.

The tree is decorated, the quilts are out, aired and admired once again.

I got a new little tree this year. It does not have integrated lights, so was very inexpensive. I love it! I've wanted a white tree for years, got a bargain with this cutie.

These are repro Shiny Brite ornaments I got at Home Goods. So adorable, wish I d bought more sets. Be sure to save the boxes, old or new.

My Noah's Ark is out with about 1/3 of the animals displayed.

A quick walk thru. Mo and I expect a few guests over the holiday weeks, but I mostly decorate for myself--and for you! I hope you enjoy a peek around.

Tiny treasures hidden in the stacked Shaker and pantry boxes.

The quilts are the first Christmas decor to emerge, I love seeing them. Some are aired, then used on beds and sofas. 

Others are refolded and stacked.

And then there's all the Christmas minis I have made over the past years.

Mo is interested but perplexed. Though that may just be his resting Pug face? 

He LOVES his Trader Joe's  Advent calendar. But I fear he is learning bad habits, what will he expect come January?!

Presents are wrapped, hidden or mailed.  I finished the skating outfit for my little friend's soon to be supplanted by bigger/ better Dolly. So fun to design and make doll clothes.

Wine is chosen, menu is planned. Cookies will be baked next week, always the last thing I do. My mom used to make many cookies, all thru December. One year, I was very small, but a willing helper--she was in a frenzy baking for a party or cooky swap, but my dad ate the cookies as fast as she baked and decorated. Now remember these were young parents, maybe early thirties, and though later bickering became an art form, back then they rarely argued.  I was the big eyed spectator to this tiff, unforgettable. [Kids see all, recall all.]

So as Daddy's hand reached for yet another cookie [Pfeffernüsse? eew], my mom lost her temper---burst into tears,  grabbed the tray of cookies and dumped it on the kitchen floor at my dad's feet. Screeched, "I will NEVER bake another cooky. Ever." And she did not. She followed up unbeknownst to us, by selling all our cooky cutters to an antiques/ vintage dealer friend! And years later when I came home from college, my dad and I went to make the cookies---not a cookie cutter was to be found. Mom was unrepentant. "I told you so fifteen years ago..

My dad went to his workshop and created the white star cutter in the pics below [left]. Was it made from aluminum siding or a gutter? I treasure it. The colored handled ones remind me of the vintage cutters my mom gave away. 

After the cooky fiasco, my mom---undaunted--- instead embraced the creation of a traditional European Christmas bread, stollen , recipe from her own mom. Normally a wonderful educated gourmet cook and baker, her stollen was truly terrible, worse than her famously bad meatloaf. We'd use it up by making french toast or bread pudding on New Years Day morning. (Stollen is  a braided yeast bread with nasty candied fruit similar to Panettone, but a flat braid.)

Pfeffernusse recipe: HERE   "FEH-fer-noose"

Stollen recipe: HERE

Holiday  memories, family stories, do you have one to share?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

beach pics/ Wednesday: a clear storm, as we call them here. High winds from the south over the ocean. 50+ mph gusts. Huge waves. I had to wash my salt encrusted windows today.

And rainbows from my chandelier prism suncatchers greet me now each morning.

Happy Holidays!