A Very Merry Christmas

We are so lucky to have my family who lives here in VA AND Greg's family who are now in FL here to celebrate Christmas with us.  I couldn't have asked for better parents or in-laws, I know that is a rare treat, and one I sure don't take for granted!

I did a little Christmasting up of our house before everyone arrived, starting with our mantle.

The framed horse is a pencil drawing done by Greg's grandfather, we love it and it stays in place even through Christmas!  I added red Root candles along with some darker burgundy ones I had for some color variation.  Our garland is artificial and pre-lit but I added fresh magnolia to bulk it up and give some texture and height to the mantle.

The lighting of the tree is a BIG deal for me.  With all my years of Christmas decorating I can light a mean tree, our 7 1/2' Frasier Fir typically has about 1,100 lights, that's right, my general guideline is a minimum of 100 lights per foot of tree and then some for good measure:)  We didn't even need lamps on in the living room!  Ha, just kidding, well, partly...

All done!  I start with the gold Abaca deep in the tree to add some light, sparkle and texture.  We add ornament after ornament until we've gotten through our boxes.  It's so nice to look through our treasures we've collected over the years and to add the things that were passed down. 

Please meet the newest addition to our lives, they were a joint anniversary present and we've had them a little over a month and are IN LOVE!!  Pips, the girl is on the left and Fawkes the boy is on the right.  We rescued them from the shelter and couldn't have gotten better kittens!

Our table all set for Christmas dinner.  The silver urn was a family heirloom on Greg's side and we're thrilled to have it, I added fresh greens to it as the table centerpeice.  It's filled with Magnolia, Boxwood, Cedar and Arizona Cypress.  The brass candlesticks were my MIL's and she's passed them down, so I included them, personally I like mixing metals so they were "in" for me for Christmas.

I made 6 of these mini-centerpeices in Jefferson cups, also passed down.  They're a mix of boxwood, white carnations and white mums.  Simple, clean and low so we could see our guests!

I hope you and your families had a wonderful holiday.  Please do share what your traditions are!  And thank you to all who read my blog, comment and even those who don't.  I know you're there :) and appreciate your kind words, support and encouragement.

*Amy