Christmas Cheer

Hello! Earlier this week my friend Elle [L] and I made our  lists of holiday and household must-do's and headed out to get a lot done before the cold weather arrived [today! brrr]. L is very efficient; if I go out with her, we get things DONE. And yet...in the midst of  buying trash bags and picking up dry cleaning, returning to Trader Joe's in search of the elusive onion chutney and bacon wrapped dates---we made time to stop at our favorite home and garden nursery for some Christmas joy.

Truly we weren't even shopping---I got a few more bulbs for January, L got some air plants for her always dying fairy garden. We watched with a twinge of envy though as a woman bought dozens of poinsettias and little trees and many festive pine/ candle/ berry arrangements. She said she was having a big open house party this week. Wow.
She must have had a generous budget! And  I could spend hundreds of dollars here, because the ornament selection is amazing.

The store is in a waterfront town, so they specialize in coastal Christmas.

Even coastal mantel decor.

We  liked the little starfish trees here, and seaglass bottles, white pillar candles.

Many other inspirations, too: good easy ideas for deck and porch pots.

I made a version of this one for my front doorstep, but with Trader Joe greens and a burlap bow. I'd like to add some holly too. I can't have any live greens or berries in my house because they can be poisonous if Mo eats them. As indeed he will.

This is the shop from the outside. Nestled among the greenhouses and floral workshops is the original mid-1800s farmhouse. I love that quirky window left of the front door.

Beautiful big slim trees, real. This room smelled so wonderful.

More trees and fireplaces.

Gorgeous poinsettias.

I love the pink shades.

I thought the birch logs with tiny pine trees and bows were interesting and "woodland" or Nordic.

More ornaments..

 They feature these city buildings / landmarks ornaments, but sadly all the NY ones were gone.

Tiny fairy snowmen....

A blue bucket full of fluffy snowmen.

The amaryllis were too expensive at 19.99 per bulb, but I got 5 paperwhite narcissus in a new unscented variety, for January flowers.

Someday L and I hope to go to the city, for the outdoor Christmas Markets. HERE But for now we're happy that we still share this outing every year, begun when we'd go to Fortunoff's to see the tiny trains and villages and all their gorgeous trees. Long gone now, but our tradition lives on.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

Adventures in Gingerbread Land

Hi! Nope, sorry, not a fun Kringle Market post [maybe later in the week]---but instead a tale about my gingerbread house experience. Ho ho ho. [sorry.]
For many years my children and I made a gingerbread house together. Over the years we made little cottages, surf shacks, ski lodges, and a lighthouse. We had windows made of candy glass, with lights inside. But in recent years, as my kids got older, their Decembers were too busy, usually filled with exciting ski weekends and other projects. And no gingerbread house. I admit I was very sad about that.
So this year when I saw the kits at Michael's Crafts, I decided I would make my own gingerbread house.

"It will be wonderful," I told myself. "No childish teasing and bickering. No little sticky hands in  the royal icing, no garish gumdrops and candy canes!" My gingerbread house would be a work of art, all brown crispy cooky walls and white spun sugar icing. My house would be in the Swedish style, sophisticated yet adorable. Neutral, natural. I had stars in my eyes, Christmas glow in my heart.

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Last week I opened the box.
I carefully drew my design on each section.

I fired up the hot glue gun and stuck the little house together.

And in the box I found a big tube of white royal icing. Yes I used it, despite years of perfecting my own recipe that has 100% success rate.
Omigosh, what a mistake! The store-bought icing was too thick to nicely flow from the pastry tip, too dry to stick on the walls---but too wet not to sag and droop.

I was out of coarse decorating sugar so I ''covered'' my flaws with white Martha Stewart glitter! Glitter fixes everything. Right? And if Martha made it...well.

Probably you can tell from the hot glue gun part that this is not an edible gingerbread house. Really, no one wants to actually eat a stale confection that has been sitting on the table for a month, gathering pug fur and dust. So glitter and hot glue are fine. (If you have your heart set on gingerbread, make a batch of little Gingerbread Boys to actually eat.)

I almost tossed it out. Then I dressed it up with  pine twigs. Is it a FAIL? I haven't decided yet. My audience here has been politely very silent.

I did find an interesting tutorial, from the White House pastry chef, of all people. Seems I should have decorated the walls and roof flat [no dripping!], waited a day for the icing to dry firm, and then put it together. Huh. Never tried that. Next time!

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And here's a link to a beautiful blog, where the designer creates her own perfect village. HERE
Someday I'm going to make a gingerbread Noah's Ark. But next year I think I'll just try another little cottage.

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Do you have  special family tradition for the holidays? Something you do or did with the kids or grandkids? My favorite--not a craft--was taking the kids ice skating at Rockefeller Center on the day their school let out/ half day---for the hols. Magic. Once it even snowed.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

note: all the pretty houses and Rockefeller Center are from Pinterest and/ or Google images.