Have you put up your Christmas tree?

I have truly enjoyed seeing your gorgeous Christmas trees you had put up for Christmas… I was just wondering how long you keep them up! Mine are still up…

[Well, as you can see, mine aren’t REALLY the real big and tall trees. I didn’t put one up for Christmas last year. Instead, all I had were these blown glass tree ornaments. And I haven’t put them up yet.]

I generally leave my Christmas stuff up till about mid- to end of January just because I always ended up putting up and re-arranging stuff on Christmas Eve. Plus, I like the Christmas cheer to linger just minute longer… so, here are some more Christmas accents:

Have a fantastic weekend, Everyone! See you on Monday!

Thou didst leave Thy throne

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown,
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room
For Thy holy nativity.

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

Heaven’s arches rang when the angels sang,
Proclaiming Thy royal degree;
But of lowly birth didst Thou come to earth,
And in great humility.

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

The foxes found rest, and the birds their nest
In the shade of the forest tree;
But Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God,
In the deserts of Galilee.

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

When the heav’ns shall ring, and her choirs shall sing,
At Thy coming to victory,
Let Thy voice call me home, saying “Yet there is room,
There is room at My side for thee.”

My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus,
When Thou comest and callest for me.

Nativity Set by Royal Selangor

Hymn by Emily E. Elliot

***

~Christmas Blessings to you from my home to yours~

You may click here for more Christmas posts!

Christmas on the mantel

I thought I would show you some Christmas accents I have added to the mantel:

Byers Choice Williamsburg Carolers in the midst of permanent garlands and fruit sprays:

A bit of brass accent – you can sort of see the Colonial Apple Cone stocking hanger (on the lower right) and a Florentine brass candelabra:

Speaking of stockings, I added a blown glass stocking ornament to each of the stocking this year. I thought the ornaments added a bit of whimsical charm to things. The stockings are from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. I love the look of satin mixed with patterned velvet:

Thanks for visiting me. I hope you enjoyed my Christmas display with a bit of Colonial flavor on the mantel. Till next time!

It’s beginning to look a lot like…

… CHRISTMAS in my house! I managed to get most of all my Christmas stuff up for this year! I love to decorate for Christmas — each year I try to come up some new ways to display what I already have. Oftentimes I have to re-do certain displays multiple times until I am satisfied with the result, but to me, that’s part of the fun!

Here is something new for this year – I decided to include some Christmas colored threads as part of my Christmas decorations. I thought it was only fitting for the home of a needleworker/quilter:

I had made this little grapevine wreath to go specifically with the broken arch colonial looking glass (mirror). I added a bit of sparkle this year by adding that little heart ornament:

These are all the pictures I have for today. I have more coming… stay tuned! :) Have a lovely Tuesday!

Christmas Tablescapes and Centerpieces from…

… Christmases Past, mixed in with some accents here and there. Tablescapes and making centerpieces are probably my favorite aspects of homemaking.

As you can see, blown glass ornaments are definitely not just for the tree. Since I only do floral sprays accented regular Christmas balls on our Christmas trees whenever we put up a tree, I get to have all sorts of fun with my small collection of treasured European blown glass ornaments.

(Click here if you are interested in making that napkin fold yourself)

The very first Christmas centerpiece I made one of the earlier years of my marriage, and yes, we are still using the original pillar candle. :)

One of my favorite Christmas centerpieces – an antique rotating painted nativity scene within the Christmas pyramid.

Natural accents – the Heavenly Bamboo berries are just simply, heavenly! They last a couple of months without any deterioration.

Thanks for stopping by. Now I am going to look at your different Christmas eye-candies. Have a joyous weekend!

Blue Transferware and Traditional Christmas

When it comes to Christmas, my colors are definitely the traditional green and red, mixed in with just the right amount of gold.

But I am also very much a blue and white type of gal, and would not even contemplate shelving my blue and white dishes for Christmas.

So, here is my compromise — mix in the red and green in the midst of the blue and white, and I still get to maintain a traditional Christmas look. The following pictures were taken from past Christmases.

1. I filled empty serving dishes with green and red Christmas balls, and added other accents like a Christmas-related book and a holly garland. The book was a gift from a friend years ago, and the reindeer ornament was a handpainted ornament from one of my first American friends when I came to the States 14 years ago.

2. I filled unused teacups with some blown glass ornaments to create more of a focal point. Christmas sprays also come in handy in adding a little something. That Snoopy ornament always gets an honored place because it is from my husband’s childhood.

3. It’s the little things that count. Those red/gold stripe balls are probably my favorite-st. They are only about 1″ in diameter, and are perfect to go with my tiny salt dish.

4. I also like to use natural things to add to the festivity. Shown is a heavenly bamboo berry sprig.

5. I also placed Christmas figurines that have red next to the blue transferware pieces to force a bit of red in the color scheme. The figurines are by Swedish artist Carl Larsson.

So, with its “Christmas outfit”, my china cabinet that holds most of the blue and white dishes looks like this…

Thank you for visiting my show-and-tell. I hope you have a terrific weekend! I will see you again on Monday!