Finding Christmas

Last weekend I found the Christmas spirit that I was missing.

This is how I found it.

On Saturday morning,

we went to Bolton Spring Farm to pick out our Christmas tree.

While my three men were picking through the options,

(this is a very important decision, you know)

I had a cup of hot apple cider in the sun.

Wow, I realize that you can actually see my eyes behind

these shades. I need to get a new pair to hide behind.

I also checked out the roping.

Beautiful!

I want it all, to wrap around everything inside and outside the house.

It smells and looks sooo good.

But I don't think we're getting any this year.

Didn't stop me from taking deep breaths of their fresh pine:y scent though.

My men decided on a beautiful Fraser Fir tree,

A lot shorter, and more appropriately sized this year.

We took it home, set it up, and turned on the Christmas music.

We had more hot cider and some warm cider donuts, and started decorating.

Strange though, after the cider and donuts where gone,

so where my little helpers?!?

I added some Christmas on top of my grandfather's old silver tray.

And added some more "tablescaping" and "mantelscaping".

(Those are words I just recently learned.

For all of you also new to these words, they basically mean

to tastefully accessorize and decorate tables and mantels.)

I'm not showing more than what you see above

so that you may not judge me.

Hehe!

Oh, and I also decorated the wreath (doorscaping???) that my husband got,

with ribbon and owls so that when UPS and FedEx delivers boxes,

they have something peaceful to look at

before they meet my Security and Customs representative.

My Boston Terror, Mr Sanders.

Then I had to go in to Boston to help out at the annual Swedish Yuletide.

On my way there,

I passed by Christmas Carolers singing beautifully on Newbury Street.

Wow, now THAT gave a spirit boost.

I had a big Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks

and shopped a bit at Cartier.

Not really, I am on the chubby side, while my wallet isn't,

so that was just in my imagination.

Outside the Prudential, I saw the biggest Christmas tree ornament EVER.

No pictures from the Yuletide, I was too busy working,

but on the way home I walked through Boston Common and saw its Christmas tree.

So I'll show you that instead.

And lastly, I watched people skating on Frog Pond

to the sound of Christmas tunes.

At the end of this day, I had found Christmas.

Good thing, cause it's really getting close now.

Thanksgiving

The turkey is in the oven.

All the sides are prepared as far as they can be.

Keeping it simple this year (Demanding puppy on hands, remember?),

only the traditional must-haves.

Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potato-marshmallow casserole,

corn, cranberries, rolls and butter, apple cider and wine.

Pecan pie and cherry pie with vanilla ice cream.

Did I forget anything?

Oh, gosh, I'm making myself nervous.

Did I?

Doesn't seem like much this year.

The table is set.

We are thankful for most everything.

And, it's 5 o'clock somewhere.

Which means...

It's about time for a much appropriate Cape Codder.

2 oz vodka

4 oz cranberry juice

splash of lime

lots of ice

Finished it off with a slice of lime and cranberries on a rosemary sprig.

(My, those cranberries look more like kalamata olives, but they are not!)

Cheers and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween?

Happy Halloween Everybody!

Finally, Halloween!

The kids have been so excited and the waiting has been long.

It's the same thing every year, you think you've got it down.

You decorate your yard, buy your pumpkins, and carve your pumpkins.

You watch scary movies.

And you go from store to store to find the perfect(?)

Halloween costumes and scary masks.

You load up on Halloween candy to make sure yo don't run out.

You make scary treats, mostly sweet.

You decorate the house, inside and out with all that scary stuff.

That's what you do.

And we had done all that.

We were sooooo ready.

And then...(the sound of a record being scratched)

This happens.

A major snow storm (IN OCTOBER!!!).

The storm brought down lots of trees and power lines in our little town.

And most other areas in New England too, for that matter.

I heard reports of snow totals up to 32 inches (not here).

They cancelled school today, and tomorrow too.

It felt more like Merry Christmas than Happy Halloween with all the snow.

Then today, on Halloween,

we get a phone call from the town saying that Halloween is cancelled.

You said what???

You cancelled Halloween?

You can do that?

Not me, not us.

Our street never lost power.

The boys and I went "trick or treating" anyways

and did end up having ourselves a very Happy Halloween.

My Yard Turned Graveyard

I leave the house for one hour.

And this is what I come back to.

My yard turned graveyard.

Charming turned alarming,

spooky

and

bone chilling.

Eerie stones and bones everywhere.

It is today one week until Halloween night.

A night both scary and sweet.

My boys can't wait to "Trick or Treat".

The tall tree

There is a big presence of Christmas in our house. We are baking, cooking, decorating, wrapping, crafting and listening to Christmas songs. There is just a little over a week left now until the two big days. Yes, you read correctly, the TWO big days. On the 24th we celebrate Swedish Christmas, and on the 25th, we celebrate American Christmas. Lucky kids of ours! They get two days of full-on family, food, presents, cosy and fun.

Now to something I've been procrastinating. Many of you asked to see my 11-foot Christmas tree, and, well, here it is...

Ta-da!

If you look close, you'll see that the star didn't make it in to the picture, and the top part of the tree is very sparsely decorated.

I've been putting this off because I don't think our tree is anything spectacular. I mean, it is nice, the tree itself is grand. But, it is kind of an average family tree. You know, it doesn't really have a theme and it isn't "glammy" like you see them in magazines, ours is more of the homy style. A product of our whole family. And that's the way I like it.

If I were to put a "theme" label on it, it would probably be called a "Scandinavian-Cottage-Nature-mixed-with-kids-crafts" theme.

Now to something more spectacular.

Last weekend my brother-in-law hosted a fantastic Holiday party.

They had no less than five! Christmas trees, and below are my two favorites that he had made.

Here is the pine cone tree. Large and small pine cones are glued on to cylinder shaped chicken wire.

Last, but not least, the rose tree. Hundreds of red and white roses mixed with baby's breath.

I'm afraid that the pictures don't do it justice, it was out-of-this-world beautiful.

So long, my friends, time to make some Swedish meatballs for Christmas Eve.

Busted!

I was checking out Jamilyn's blog Living it at Home.

She writes about this season and how "everyone moves very quickly on to Christmas and all the decorating that is required". And she says "don't skip Thanksgiving wreaths".

I'm so busted, because that is exactly what I have been doing.

In my head I'm already in December. Perhaps I should slow down and enjoy this time in between to and let my self be inspired by these fall/harvest/Thanksgiving wreaths.

Here is one that I'd like to try,

a mini Indian corn wreath.

Reminds me of a sunflower.

Do they still sell the mini corn?

A gourd wreath in green.

Green is not a traditional harvest color to me,

but I find this one very refreshing.

I like it.

Don't think there is a single green leaf left on the Maples outside though.

A heart shaped apple wreath.

I associate apple and hearts with Christmas (here we go again, can't let go),

perhaps very Scandinavian associations, but with the added

orange and brown colors it looks a bit more fall:y.

Perhaps it would function as a transition wreath

between Thanksgiving and Christmas?

Did I inspire anyone?

Or is it too late?

All pictures from Better Homes and Gardens

Wreaths on my mind

With three big "wreath holidays" coming up quickly, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I've been in a total holiday state of mind in the past few days.

So as I was raking next to the Concord grape vine a light bulb went on.

I decided to cut the vines and use as wreath material. Now you may not thing there's anything special with that, but for me it is. I've never made a wreath before. I'm one of those who always buy them and might add a little detail to make it mine.

But this year is different. I've been totally inspired by my fellow bloggers and their creativity - especially the Swedish ones.


Check out Sanna at My Blueberry House for example, she's always got something crafty going on.

Or Charlotte at GardenFlow, she's the queen of cosy garden pictures, always filled with great atmosphere.

Not to mention Helena at the Swenglish Home, she has the coziest blog in England, filled with beautiful pictures and words that sometimes seem like those out of a storybook, mixed up with "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" crafts and homey decorating ideas.

Last, but not least, is my latest obsession, The Virginia House. A fun blog with lot's of money-saving do-it-yourself-tips, written in the most entertaining language that continues to crack me up.

And so it happened that inspiration got me off to a crafting start to the upcoming holidays. I made a Halloween wreath yesterday, and today I harvested vines to use for my next project.

It's all fun!