Christmas Time's A Coming - 2012

 Oh the best laid plans of mice and men - and Grandma.   Today was going to be the big push to start work on special projects for the grandsons for Christmas.  But it did not happen, because one daughter had a writing deadline to meet and the other daughter's nanny called in sick.  Know what that means?  Right! Grandma and Pawpaw combined forces and did some babysitting to help out said daughters.  But, that is all right.  We will just begin the project tomorrow.  (I hope)

Tonight, I wanted to show you our sunroom, or what I can photograph of it.  It is a long, somewhat narrow room and I can't find a way to get a good photo of it, so I will just show you the highlights.  Pictured is my pencil tree.  It reminds me of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree and there was something about it that spoke to me and I just had to bring it to our house to live.  It is decorated with my favorite Christmas memory from childhood, bubble lights.  They are not easy to find, so I keep a good supply of replacement bulbs in case any of them burn out, which they do from time to time.  Did you ever have bubble lights on  your tree?  It is totally mesmerizing to sit and watch the different colored lights as they bubble away.  It is one of my most favorite things to do at Christmas time.  Most of the ornaments on the tree have been handmade by yours truly through the years and it just makes my heart happy to look at this tree.

We have a large entertainment center that holds our dinosaur of a television and all the other things that go with a television - DVR, Wii, DVD player,  and a wireless printer for the computer - so much stuff, so many wires.  Ugh.  Anyway, it serves somewhat as the "mantel" in this room and it has always been decorated.   Yes, I have a thing for birdcages.  Don't ask why, I don't really know.  They just intrigue me.  The birdcage always sits on the entertainment center along with the big red candleholder our youngest son gave me for Christmas years ago.  You see, I love red glass.  Did you know it takes gold dust to make red glass?  There's a bit of trivia for you.  The red goblets are used as tea light holders (have had them for many years), along with red glass candlesticks and red mosaic candles holders.  Throw in some large red and gold ornaments, glittered stars, greenery and lights and you have a beautifully decorated entertainment center.  If you look really close, you can also see the red jeweled garland that is intertwined with the greenery.

See that big blank space on the wall behind the candles sticks?  I am working on a project to go there and will share the DIY with you when its complete.  I can't wait to get it finished.

Our sun room is our tv/family room.  All of our movies and games are stored in bookcases, there are cabinets holding overflow of china and casserole dishes that won't fit in the kitchen cabinets, my telescope is housed in this room, and there is  a play space for the grandsons.

Next to their little table is a chalkboard that Dan and I made for them to do art on.  We used a piece of 1/4 inch masonite that we found precut at Lowe's.  It is 4' high x 2' wide.  Dan cut the trim from a piece of 1 1/4 inch trim.  We painted the entire thing with black chalkboard paint that you can get at any hardware or paint store.  We put an anchor chord on the top and anchored it to the wall with a cup hook.  The little ones like to throw some elbows when drawing on the board and we didn't want it falling on them.

Grandma drew them a little Christmas message.  Guess who's coming to town?

This little shabby chic hutch is one of my favorite furniture pieces in the house, have had it for years.   It is decorated with some of the Santa Belly candles I wrote about in my post of November 12, 2012.

There are 6 windows across the back of the room and last year I put garland and lights over them.  It was a major chore and I decided not to do it this year since we had to move all the furniture to hang the garland, so I used some of my Dollar Tree snow flake garland and I made some 10 " snowflakes from the Martha Stewart paper my daughter gave me.  They look very pretty hanging above the windows.

 Here is the last decorated cabinet in the room.  My favorite piece is the little frame that holds  an antiqued piece of fabric that was hand embroidered and says "Dear Santa, I can explain".  Makes me laugh every time I look at it.  The oil lamp on the right belonged to Dan's grandmother and is one of my prized possessions.

Every room in our house is decorated for Christmas.  The bedrooms have trees and small decorations, even the bathrooms.  I know it's a lot of work, but I love it.  Some day we will be unable to do it, until then bring it on!

Thanks for joining me on our tour of the little yellow cottage for Christmas, 2012.  I so appreciate your reading my blog and hope that it inspires you in some way.  Now, it's time for Grandma's workshop to get really busy!  I will let you know what we are making - so many fun things for the grandsons!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Memories are but a journey we take in our minds, but relive in our hearts.  unknown