Happy New Year!

While many people put away their holiday decorations shortly after Christmas day, I like to be old fashioned and leave mine up until at least the twelfth day of Christmas which is January 6.  In reality, they often stay up even longer depending on motivation and availability of time. The big busy crunch in December usually means that I don't start decorating until the week before Christmas when I can take my time and enjoy it so the decorations aren't up a lot longer than those of others.  We're just on a different schedule.  Since my church choir is having a twelfth night get together at our house on the Saturday following the actual night, why not just leave everything up?  Besides, this is the only entertaining we've done this season and while, like Linda (Linda Letters) I've decided to do things simply for the joy of it, it's still nice to decorate for guests.   Anyway,  if you don't drop by in person, here's some of what you'd see if you ever visited.

For the first year there's something on the outside of the house.  Come on in, it's cold outside!

The angel's names are Jeanette and Isabella.  Get it?  Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella...

Entry

A sharp right takes us into the music room.

This old bird-cage action (worthless as an instrument) piano came from an estate sale somewhere here in Washington, was schlepped to my hometown in Alaska by someone who was starting a second hand store, sold to a friend of mine, and when she wanted to get rid of it, it became mine and then moved back to Washington.  Crazy.

The glass Christmas tree collection was begun in the first year we lived in our house and now-friend and glass guru, Florence, gave me the first one as a thank you for spotting water coming out of the house next to ours which she spend several years lovingly restoring  and then sold.  (She never lived in the house and wouldn't have noticed the flood for several days.)  Anyway, she continued giving me trees for a few years but then thought that I would be tired of them.  On the contrary, they grew on me so now I get one each holiday season to add to the collection, which now has outgrown it's space atop the melodean that has been in my mother's family since about 1850.  Some are now elsewhere but I love looking at the little forest and thinking of our friendship and our time in the house. 

Turning left we go to the parlor.

Using the cello, a gift of Laura (Gravy Lessons)

Fireplace with the nativity set that we got on our first Christmas together.

 Opening the pocket doors, we get to the living room which still needs to be cleaned up a bit so you'll just see bits.

 This year's tree.

Northern nativity that we got when we visited Alaska to surprise my sister for her 70th birthday.

From our antique mall days come these German wooden figures which went missing for several years only to be found in a really obvious place.

This vase with sparkling hair sometimes doesn't get put away at all.  It was made in Vermont and we got it there when we surprised our uncle on his 80th birthday.

Something shiny and new from Home Goods, my new favorite store.  Only drawback - they don't sell plants.

Copied this idea from a couple of places.  It's a great way to display the glass ornaments, missing hanging thingies so were purchased for very little at Bedrock Industries.

Dining room. The roses need lit tea candles and will get them before the party.

Looking from the dining room back into the living room. The hanging candle lanterns will also get lit and the doors will both be open all the way.

I got a couple of these wrought iron votive candle holders at Watson's annual sidewalk sale several years ago.  I'd salivated over one of them but it was far too expensive for me.  After a year or so, it vanished and I thought it had sold.  There were actually two of them and they showed up at the sale (takes place every July but Watson's often has "Yard Sale Pricing" sales tables (anything  under 20 dollars is a dollar, and so forth.)  Hooray!   They've always had candles and lent a nice glow to occasions but take a bit of time to light.

I was playing with some glass balls thinking that I might decorate one of them,  soon I was using floats from the garden, scouring the attic for mishaps that were going to be thrown away by glass blowing friends and robbing the tree of a few things. Since the candle holders got filled with spheres, light was needed.  Fortunately, there were more strings in the basement.  To cover the bare lights, some "shimmer cloth" that I had to buy at an 80% off after Christmas sale, came off the spool.

Since the box with all of the beads was still upstairs, some of them found their way on.  A glittery star or cool glass something or other would be the perfect topper for this "tree" but having neither that would work, this dove descending was pressed into service. 

Leave it to me to take a piece, elegant in it's simplicity and turn it into something that a drag queen might find a little over the top.  Oh well, it makes me smile.  What doesn't make me smile is the thought of taking all of this down.  My goal is to have it all boxed and put away before the Northwest Flower and Garden Show which is only seven weeks away and marks the beginning of the garden season for us in these parts.   May your new year be filled with laughter, love, prosperity, and peace!