Christmas Catching Up

Hey there, strangers.

It sure has been a while, and for good reason!  First of all, for the tail-end of November and almost the entire month of December, I was sick with what can only be described as The Plague.  The long story short is this:  IF you find yourself with a phlegmy cough, do not, I repeat, DO NOT wait more than a week to be seen.  Because you WILL become short of breath to the point that walking from one end of your bedroom to the other makes you sound like you just ran a half marathon; you WILL cough up blood over the course of the next several weeks as your hacking continues; and you WILL be prescribed an inhaler that makes you feel as though you just drank twenty cups of coffee in all of about five minutes.  No, it won’t be pleasant, and your doctor won’t be too pleased, either.

The icing on the cake is that this all started on the day my mother-in-law decided to put up her Christmas decorations.  The BEST day ever.  To get sick, apparently.  I was zhusing the ribbon on the dining room tree when I suddenly became very sweaty and started to black out, softly mumbling something along the lines of, “I need water.  I’m gonna vom.”

Yeah…

Anyway, after a long sickness that started to make me question whether my moment of death was fast-approaching, I am feeling much better and my coughing only happens when my throat is dry, which is normal for everyone, right?  So I’m better.  One-hundred percent.  Hallelujiah.

On top of THAT, I started a new job!  I have been in training, whether face-to-face or online for the whole of December, and technically my first real day is, well, today.  🙂 I’ve been studying my schedule and I really do think I can continue with this blog and I’m going to try because it is so fun for me.  It’s a creative outlet that I enjoy and that I want to foster, so let’s do this.  My goal is minimum three posts a week.  We’ll have fun.

Since I didn’t get to write about all of the beautiful Christmas decor in the house, I will share some pictures in this post, just of my favorites.  Also, forgive the crappy cell phone pictures — someday I will have a real camera and my picture-taking skills will impress the pants off of you.  Literally.

This is the foyer.  These trees are flocked and they have all sorts of crystal and white, glittery ornaments all over them.  Also owls, furry owls.  A lot of the crystal “ornaments” are actually prisms from chandeliers.  Really beautiful and a great idea!

This tree is in the dining room/library.  My mother-in-law made most of the ornaments out of used books.  I should have gotten a close-up — it’s really something.  There are also frames on the tree filled with black and white family photos.

This is the only vignette I can semi-take credit for.  The idea — my mother-in-law’s.  I never really realized what a total perfection freak I am until I started putting this together.  It looks like it took me, what, five minutes?  Oh-ho-ho no.  I obsessed over this and moved things an 1/8th of an inch this way and that way and added too many ornaments but waaaaait no that’s too many and then how to distribute the pearls?  Messily?  Neatly?  Neatly and with maddening forethought while still trying to achieve the messy, I-threw-this-together-in-five-minutes look?  Yeah.  That’s it.

This is the brick room — my favorite room in the whole house.  We call it the brick room because the floor is made out of bricks.  I know, we’re really creative and clever.  This is where we open presents on Christmas morning.  The best and most lively room at Christmastime.

This tree is even prettier lit up, but, you know, cell phones.  There is gold mesh ribbon wrapped around paired with a feathery garland.  Red, gold, and some birds live on this tree.  I can’t really pick a favorite tree, but I think if I was forced to, I would choose this one.

Here’s the mantle.  That garland = large and in charge.  And heavy.  Really heavy.  My mother-in-law bought it and then filled it with ribbon, birds, tassels, etc. to make it look super full and garland-y.

Here’s a close-up.  And I love those stockings.  I want to wear them on my feet and go to a party, they are so pretty.

The other great thing about the month of December is that it is SAFFRON BUN SEASON!

This is only half of the beautiful, glorious dough that we made and then made into buns.  I don’t have a picture of the finished buns because, well, we ate them all.

I have been making these with my mom and brother ever since I could walk.  They are a family tradition that goes way back, and it just doesn’t feel like Christmastime without them.

Finally, Christmas Day was a really special day with both of our families, and we both felt so blessed to be surrounded by so much love.  Especially with our new little nephew being a part of the festivities — it made it even more special.

I hope you all had a really wonderful Holiday season, no matter what you celebrate.  I’m looking forward to spending more time here in the coming year, and I can’t wait to share with you my love for design and decorating that runs so deep sometimes I can hardly breathe.  If there’s something you’d like to see here in the coming months, please feel free to e-mail me.  All of my contact information is in the tabs above.