Christmas Goes out with a Bang

This evening  we are celebrating  Christmas one more time  to finish up this yuletide season... a dinner party with some very special couples from our church and choir.  We decided we were a bit tired of Christmas food so  we opted for  a spaghetti dinner with all the trimmings!

I changed up the table arrangement just for the occasion!
I remembered my festive green and red/pink placemats I purchased last year at the end of season sale and thought what a grand way to freshen up a new yule look!!!

My Johnson Brother's Christmas tree plates  pair lovely with the   White Essential  plates I   purchased this year from Home Goods...  I love that they were  fired in Portugal...  I like their quality and I think  they will serve us well as we  enjoy our pasta!

I am so pleased with my  cute napkins and jingle bell rings I  purchased for a song  this week at Pier1.

 To jazz up the scene I also  bought  those two tree ornaments in such bold colors they  tend to  inspire thoughts of a festive New Year  on the horizon as they take top billing  on the  brass candlesticks!!

You might notice the design on the placements  are  beautiful  ornament shapes in many shades of red and green..I am happily using the same understated  centerpiece that  is happy and bright,  but doesn't interrupt the flow of  lively  banter..  and we will definitely  be bantering tonight... so many  Christmas  stories to share... I can hardly wait!!!!

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Checking It Twice

It has been a very merry Christmas so far  and  time is surely closing in on us...  We were out today taking care of last minute business  and  hopefully from now on  it will  be  a  relaxed joyous time with just the two of us... we  celebrated Christmas with our children over Thanksgiving..  And I do plan some festivities  between  Christmas and New Years...  but  it will be a quiet contemplative Christmas and I am looking forward to it!!!

I really enjoyed  creating  my Christmas table this year.Nancy's Daily Dish posts on facebook really inspired me with all of her red transferware  photos, like this one !

So I  chose my Churchill red transferware and coupled it with Royal Stafford  Black Christmas pattern..all upon a black check table cloth!  I  think it looks  festive and  a bit country shabby!!!

 Other red transferware patterns are displayed throughout the room

 I love using battery operated  fairy lights on the table  along with  luminaire candles

They glow so beautifully as dusk overcomes the light of day

This year as I decorated the  small  seasonal tree in the archway,  I chose  ornaments hung with  black and white check bows and  red and white striped  ones...

 Merry Christmas, to one and all!!

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Emmanuel Has Come

Since we have already shared Christmas with our family  over Thanksgiving at Folly Beach, S.C.  which was  delightful , therefore, I  am making slow progress to  decorate here around the house. I need a bit of inspiration.... So, I am taking a walk down memory lane...

In 2011 I must have been in quite a rosy mood...  I suppose that  was because my husband had retired,  but ,also, because I had just  recovered  from a rather serious  operation and was  found to be  cancer free.

2011  must have been a great Christmas because I did see that it was  the first year our  kids came home on the train  for Christmas.. so I can understand the enthusiasm

I do love  candle lit rooms  ...  the Christmas glow is magical!

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Autumn Arrives Around the Home

Well,  I  like so many  across the east  are  pretty tired of  rain, mustiness, and  mildew,  but the  glorious colors of Autumn  warm the cockles of the home!!

A soft golden tablecloth with  blue transfer ware and  Autumn accents   set the tone  for  my  seasonal  changes around the house.

Add  some well placed sunflowers  ..I love  to see fields of them as we drive  through the country... I wish I could get a  great photo of them, but, alas, they  are always  blurry.. but I praise God for their beauty  each time I see them!!

Hubs  got my new   garland  above the mantel... it  set  everything off  very well!

 I added  my  proud  rooster to  the    drop leg table,  it seems the farm is being  hailed  this season as it should....  I am a farm girl in spirit!

It was so easy to  add a few sunflowers and  orange accents to  my summer  bouquet on the credenza.

 Sunflowers  brighten up every space!

Overall,  this corner  seems much more cosy and ready for   seasonal gatherings  and  fun times.

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Cooler Days on the Way

"Lord, May it be time! 

The summer was very big. 

Lay thy shadow on the sundials, and on the meadows let the winds go loose. 

Command the last fruits that they shall be full; give them another two more southerly days, 

press them on to fulfillment and drive the last sweetness into the heavenly wine." 

- Rainer Maria Rilke

And as the calendar  joins with the weatherman it appears we do have two more sultry days and then a time of refreshing cooling will spread deep into the mountains and valleys of  our  lovely environs!

I am praying this will usher in the end of the dog days of summer..SO  early autumn is showing her gorgeous petticoat around our home..

What was once a welcoming tea table has now been simply set to welcome the coming autumn

A pewter bowl lined with lavender holds the spicy colored branches  of fall, 

a single sun flower lingers before the fields perish and  return to the ground in their  vernal rest! 

                 

Now this is some thing new for me...

 Usually I go for more delicate and less humble  items for the mantel..

 But I think it is because my heart has been captured by the late Tasha Tudor and her love of all things simple and homemade that  these items found their place of honor on the mantel today.
Each item handmade...the gathering basket,  my mother made the  crowing rooster  several years ago while she was on the craft guild circuit,  and

 a hand turned bowl of fruit.

 I am rather charmed by  the mantel this year!

 Then I am using my new Johnson Brothers plates I  recently ordered from Replacements.  I love blue against the colors of autumn....  the lighter colored blue napkins remind me of the crystal blue sky of September..

 Small touches of autumn resonate around the room,  but the table takes center stage

 My centerpiece was so easy.  I removed some summer stems of the  green plant to make way for the  autumn sprigs  of  heathery colors of late hydrangea, and  the last roses of the year. I few fallen leaves  and it resounds  the  magnificence of September into October here in the mountains of SW Virginia!

                     

I think the dark maroon of the runner just sets it all off... My mood is so bright just knowing that I have  set a tone for the coming days of autumn that thrill my heart so much!!

       

                                "By all these lovely tokens 

                                             September days are here, 

                                      With summer’s best of weather 

And autumn’s best of cheer." 

                           -  Helen Hunt Jackson, September, 1830-1885

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