Our Advent wreath is on the table...
The mantle is dressed and the stocking are hung by the chimney with care.
Our breakfast nook is prepared for the season. Fresh greens in our vintage
Trouve chandelier, our count down chalkboard right there to daily remind my little ones of how many more day to go, and a fresh lemon cake for all those who drop by our little farm with Christmas greetings and stay for coffee.
Counting down the days...
We have all our children's favorite Christmas books out to curl up and read in front of the fire with some cocoa.
We have decked the halls and trimmed the tree.
But one of my favorite parts of decorating for Christmas is all the "old friends" I pull out to put on our Christmas tree. Ornaments from my childhood, one's my kids have made, ones given to us to commemorate an event in our lives; engagement, marriage, births, anniversaries,places we have visited or lived. Ornaments given by dear friends; some who are still with us, others who are not. As I pull them out of the box, all the memories and stories flood my mind and I am back in time. This picture is of an ornament that is close to my heart. It is me and my Dad's matching 1950's Rudolf ornament--now I do not have my Dad's ornament, I found the exact ornament in a junky antique shop here in Phoenix a number of years back but this ornament reminds me of the one that would be on my Grandparents tree when I was little and on my Dad's tree when he was a little boy. When my parents come for Christmas one of the first things my Dad does is find the Rudolf on the tree. I always give it a place of prominence. I live with the hope of one day have a pair of Rudolf's on my tree...one that is from Detroit where my Dad grew up and the other one from a junky antique store in Phoenix.
