Christmastime is Here

Merry Christmas!

I meant to do a post earlier with some Thanksgiving pictures, but now it’s a little late!  Did anyone make the eggnog coffee cake?  I did, and then made it again!

We had decorated for Christmas early so our magazine photographer could get some shots, and were pretty excited to forego the fall decorating since we did so much of that for the Fall magazine photo shoot.  But on Thanksgiving Day, I didn’t feel like missing out on our usual Spode turkey plates, so we did a quick table-decorating and changed it from Christmas to Thanksgiving.

The table runner I made out of turkey dishtowels that were on sale at Williams-Sonoma last January when we found out we were going to be in the fall issue of American Farmhouse Style magazine.  There were still lots of fall decor items on clearance there and at Pottery Barn, so I was able to get some stuff before it was too late.  I planned to use these napkins and table runner in the magazine photo shoot, but the editor thought they were a little too fancy so I used a plaid blanket for a tablecloth instead.  So this Thanksgiving, we got to enjoy them ourselves!

Here’s some more of the table:

The turkey platter is from the 1950’s, but I saw that Pottery Barn made dishes in this exact same pattern this year, which is a big improvement on their turkey plates of the past.  The glassware is vintage.

We have several sets of fall-colored vintage glassware (browns, golds, greens), and I often mix and match them for Thanksgiving.  I thought this mushroom-colored set was best for this table setting, though.  Under the runner is a simple tablecloth from Ikea and the chargers are actually pizza pans from a thrift store.  They also showed up in the magazine photo shoot!  I glued burlap to six of them and left the rest silver, so I can use them with any dishes.

This year we ended up with two smaller turkeys.  Dave has always been in charge of preparing the turkey (wifey won’t touch it), and he has been teaching the boys to take over turkey-duty in the past couple of years.  This tradition used to be met by dismay from the small men but now they like it.  Bennett (girl) leaves the room crying and saying she will never eat meat again, but we try and teach her that God made turkeys to be dinner.

Here’s Deacon inspecting his handiwork:

Since our extended family is far away in Washington State, we have a quiet day with just us.  This means that I get a break while Dave directs the kids to peel potatoes and then they play games while I get more breaks and coffee.  It’s one of my favorite days of the year.

And here they are playing games, while I looked at vintage magazines in a comfy chair.

The next week it was my birthday, and then it was dear little Bennett’s birthday!  She turned 9 and looks every bit of 19…

The coat was her main birthday gift, and she adored it for a solid five days before accidentally leaving it at a coffee shop.  We found out it was missing after seeing her in her old coat for a few days.  After no luck finding it in our house or garage, we practiced retracing our steps until she realized where she had left it four days earlier.  (We taught the kids about retracing steps when they couldn’t figure out where they put Dave’s car keys.  Turns out they left them outside overnight on top of his car).  Thankfully, her coat came back and all is well with being nine.

We also lost a frog in the house three weeks ago that the kids captured in a pond and brought home, but I’d prefer to forget that ever happened.

But now it’s almost Christmas! Here’s a pic of a cozy spot in our living room.

Here’s our vintage mercantile fixture, all ready for Christmas.

Lucy the kitty loves the Merry sign most.

Here’s the deck, which we can normally use for at least part of the winter here.  I am a big fan of tulip chairs!

Here’s another place on the deck.

Dave insisted on hanging the vintage sleds at an angle, which looks alright in the picture above but overall looks wonky.  I agreed to see what it would look like.  I hate it, actually.  It’s a little late (and cold) this year to change it, but next year they will be different.

Okay, I know you want to see, so here’s a picture.

Here’s our famous door-wall bedroom, all cozy and warm!

We have lots more pictures on our Instagram feed, so follow along if you don’t already!

Merry Christmas!