Taking Reservations Now...

Well....Happy New Year's Eve to everyone!

It is beautiful here today with snow and sunshine.

I am wishing that we had guests in our little cottage for New Year's Eve....but we don't. The cottage is empty. It's a shame. The view of the snow and the mountains is so gorgeous today.

I am hoping we have visitors next year for New Year's.

The Christmas tree is still up and the fire is going......

There's a television in the bedroom if you can stay up late enough to watch the ball drop in Times Square all nestled in your bed...

There are good snacks in the kitchen...

The bedroom is cozy and the mattress is comfy...

There's a place to sit with your coffee or tea on New Year's Day and gaze out at the mountains and the snow.....

and it is just a short walk to the house for breakfast....

Yes, I hope we have guests next New Year's....


Here's wishing you all a wonderful evening and a great start to 2010!

I look forward to continuing my blog into the new year and meeting more blog friends.

Brothers

My oldest son is 20 and my youngest is 9.

When there is is a big age difference between your children, your wish is that they will become close, in spite of the age difference. During Logan's visit before Christmas, he and Jackson spent some good quality time together.

Logan helped Jackson with his ice skating and he finally pulled away from the wall....yipee!

They played on the floor in their jammies with the new Lego sets.

It was so nice to see them bond. . I hope they wil get closer and closer as the years go by.

A mother's wish.

As this year draws to an end, I hope you are doing well and savoring the last bits of the holiday season.

Best,

Merry Christmas To My Blog Friends...

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family who visit this blog.

I have enjoyed sharing here this year. This is the Christmas card we sent out this year.

Thank you all for your comments and support. Wishing you all a magical Christmas Eve.

First Christmas Ornaments

These are the first two ornaments I purchased as an adult for my first "tree on my own".

These ornaments have been moved around a lot! They have followed me to many different places on my journey over the last 30 some years.

Each year I take them out and they delight me. They bring me back to that first Christmas tree in my first apartment with my best friend Shari. How exciting to have our first grown up Christmas.

These ornaments have survived three kids through toddlerhood, a few cats and now a puppy. They mean the world to me because of the memories they bring flooding in.

This is why I love Christmas decorating and reminiscing about all the Christmas pasts and how lucky we are to hold those memories close.

Who knew all those years ago that my friend/roommate Shari and I would have our boys home from college and all the love that our lives have brought us...

Ahhhh....this is what Christmas is all about. I hope this Christmas Eve finds you happy and warm with the ones you love.

Learning To Bake....

My 10 year old daughter wanted to make gingerbread cookies for her last day of school.

I was so proud of her because she managed to do most of it herself! Mixed the dough, tolled it out, cut the cookies and decorated!

I am proud of myself because I didn't try to "control" the whole thing. : )

I think they turned out pretty darn good and she said they were a hit with her teachers and classmates.
Letting your kids help you in the kitchen and teaching them to be independent isn't easy....it is always more work and more mess!

BUT, the rewards of seeing them accomplish something like this make it all worth while!

Hope you are enjoying a cozy Sunday afternoon and doing a little baking yourself.

Almost Forgot About These...

I found these adorable snow couple last year at a holiday boutique.

I had forgotten about them until I was looking through last year's Christmas in the cottage photos. I went in search of them and here they are.

They just look so "right" sitting in the kitchen window with the snow in the background.

My son just finished his last final and will be flying up tonight with his girlfriend Renee. I am so looking forward to having them here for our "White Christmas".

Master Bedroom Lights

The last tree is in our master.

I love the white tree with the white lights in here.

I just used an off-white wide ribbons with coppery twig design (Wal-Mart) and some coppery brown ornaments.

I added some of the little handmade mittens that I made from Dawn's tutorial on The Feathered Nest.

On top of the tree I place my great grandmother's handmade crocheted gloves from the shade box.

Perfectly simple and beautiful.

Now that all the decorating is done I can just sit back and enjoy the lights and this holiday agic.

Isn't that (and being with family and friends) all about?

A Very Significant Tree

The white tree in our study has a Venetian theme. We used a beautiful sheer gold scroll ribbon on it. The ornaments include some Venetian masks, some beautiful jewel ton angels I collected years ago and some very special Christopher Radko glass ornaments.

In 2000 we began this collection of "Celebrate Adoption" ornaments designed by Christopher Radko. We brought our daughter home to her forever family in 2000. Each year we order the ornament for that particular year. I can't believe we have ten already!

Here is the very first one and probably my favorite.

This is the room where my husband watches television. One of his favorite places in the world is Venice. We visited there in 1996. The mask we used for the top of the tree was purchased from a street artist while we were there.

I love the way this tree turned out.

It is the perfect place to display our growing collection of adoption ornaments. What a wonderful gift to pass these on to our daughter someday.

Rustic Tree for Jackson

Here's my son's tree. He has several of my handmade ski and snowshoe ornaments. He also chose some of his favorite family ornaments .

This is a Pottery Barn quilt I purchased in 2000. That was a big year for us. We brought my daughter home from Russia and then my son was born i a few months later in December.

This quilt is an heirloom to me. I will pass it down to my kids and each year when I take it out I will take a moment to remember how blessed we were in the year 2000.

A few of the Department 56 cabins sit on his desktop, including a campfire and kid's roasting marshmallows for s'mores (one of Jackson's favorites, to be sure).

The lights make this room feel even warmer and more secure each night.

Sweet dreams happen here.

My Daughter's Christmas Room

My daughter's tree is done with the same blue that accents her room.
I still can't believe we found this blue ribbon at the dollar store! I just love it!
I made some "custom" snowguys for her tree in her colors. I just love them.

Blue glass balls and bead were added. She chose some of her favorite family ornaments. The tree topper is a Russian nesting doll that came from Russian (along with my daughter) almost 10 years ago.

The tree "skirt" is leftover fabric from her bedding.

Here's a view of her room from down the hall.

She made the snowflakes on the door.

Her desk top has a Department 56 French Cafe and it is covered in some unbelievably soft white chenille fabric I had on hand (snow!)

This is the white tree with the color lights. It can be seen from down the hall and also across the back porch from the main hall of the house. It is so soft and pretty.

I just love tucking her in with the lights glowing each night.....