An Antique Sleigh

I've spent the past few evenings with a pot of tea and Bing Crosby - his voice, that is - wrapping Christmas presents.

I'm nearly finished decorating the living room, but in the mean time I wanted to show you something wonderful I've had stashed away for quite some time.

Back in the summer, I found this gorgeous antique wooden sleigh at an antique store in town. It was a steal, which was mainly because the top of the frame was broken, but that didn't matter. It was perfect for how I envisioned using it.

Part of the decorating today included rearranging my cabinet. I moved a collection of ironstone pitchers to one of the shelves, and tucked a few pieces of greenery between the rest.

 I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of the room tomorrow.

I also have an appointment to go view two lovely wing chairs I'd like to recover, but that has to wait until after Willen's Christmas brunch at school.

Red Transferware

Anyone who has known me for a while - okay, maybe not even that long - probably figured out fairly soon in our relationship that I love white.

White walls, white furniture, white china.

I simply like white.

So it kind of goes without saying, that aside from fresh greens and mercury glass and maybe a bit of rust and wood, that nearly all of my Christmas decor is a shade of white.

Quilted cream stockings. Kraft paper packages with white ribbon.White Poinsettias.

There is however one bit of Christmas decor that isn't white. 

Over the past couple years, I've collected bits of red transferware to display during December.

They have a lovely traditional Christmas feel to them.

 I've actually sold quite a bit of my collection, as it was simply too much to display. What remains were a few of my favourite pieces, and place settings for four.

These Mason's teacups came from an older lady who brought them with her when she immigrated from Europe. She only had one saucer in tact, so they're paired with a newer version.

The dinner plates are Johnson Bros., and are a fair bit newer.

But that's the beauty of transferware. Different patterns mix well, and in my opinion, look more flattering together.

You can see in the photos above that another hint of red that comes out at Christmas is a beautiful stitched tablecloth made from old European grainsacks. It's three lengths stitched together, and it has that thick, worn-soft from use, feel to it.

Christmas in the Dining Room

Given the size of our dining room, which was originally added as a sun room, there isn't much room for a lot of decor.

I tucked little bits of pine and cedar and eucalyptus among my ironstone.

I also brought in a small juniper tree from our back deck and strung a few lights on it. It's planted in an old crock.

For the table, I kept my burlap running, and my wicker tray, and just added a small arrangement.

As you can see from all the green in the back yard, all of our beautiful snow has melted. Temperatures spent some time above zero, and the foot we had didn't last long. And even though the days have been quite cold lately, we have had much snow.

Things would seem so much more cozy if only there were a blanket of white outside.

Room by room, I'm making my way around the house, slowly adding bits of Christmas.

An Annual Cookie Exchange

This past weekend was my annual cookie exchange with my mom and sisters, aunts and cousins from my mom's side of the family.

We all bake half a dozen cookies for each person attending and a dozen to sample the night of. Then we enjoy eating the delicious assortment of cookies while sipping festive drinks like eggnog, mulled cider, cocoa, and tea.

It's a lovely way to spend an evening catching up.

And the best part? At the end of the evening you're left with dozens of different Christmas cookies and all your Christmas baking done! 

That Saturday morning I had popped out to something new and wonderful in my neighborhood. A Vintage Christmas market. Though I didn't find anything for myself this time, I did leave very inspired. There were some lovely vintage finds from Oliver and Rust, as usual, gorgeous flowers by Fleurish Design Studio, handmade soaps from Harmony and lots of other unique Christmas ideas from local vendors.

Needing something for the buffet and tables, I went from there to the shop to pick up a few cut flowers to make my own arrangement.

This little silver plated piece was found at a new thrift store in town, Renewed Thrift and Vintage. 

It was $1.

We've been making these little arrangements at the shop since we opened, and we love finding new things to create them in.

It was small, and fit just right on the buffet. It worked well with the silver plated tea and coffee pots.

I tied the leftover greens with some snipped Narcissus blooms for a small bouquet for the table.

The living room is almost finished for Christmas. I simply need to hang my garland on the hooks in the bay window and maybe add a few touches to the cabinet.

How delicious do these cookies look? I'm always amazed at what arrives each year. They're always different, and make a lovely assortment.

This year, I actually went to two different exchanges. For the first I made Buckeye Brownie Cookies; a brownie cookie bottom with a peanut butter ball on top, covered in chocolate and sea salt. The other was a Turtle Thumbprint; a chocolate cookie rolled in pecans, filled with caramel and drizzled with milk chocolate.

If you're interested, there's another Vintage Christmas Market happening the evening of December 11th from 6:30 until 9. The details will be posted on either the Fleurish or the Oliver and Rust website linked above.

The Beginning of Advent

Today is the first day of Advent.

A counting down the days to Christ's coming. A celebrating of Christmas - Christ with us.

As a family, we're following along with the beautiful new book by Ann Voskamp.

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift

And early this morning, we snuggled in bed and began at the beginning.

"Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot -

yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.

And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - 

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord...

In that day the heir to David's throne

will be a banner of salvation to all the world.

The nations will rally to him,

and the land where he lives will be a glorious place."

Isaiah 11:1-2,10

We've picked out our Christmas tree, and most of our shopping is now done.

I also made an advent calendar from an old ladder and some muslin bags for Willen to follow along with.

Each bag has a few small bits of Lego in it. The point obviously isn't about the gift each day. But for a 5 year old, it's a little surpise to look forward to each morning, after our reading. 

Our project for today, in light of the reading of the promised shoot, we were to plant some grass or wheat to watch grow over the next few weeks. I had purchased some Paperwhite bulbs at the nursery the day we picked out our Christmas tree, so we planted those to watch instead.

Some where potted in soil in antique pots.

Others are being forced in little vintage glasses.

They're tucked around the house to remind us of this beautiful promise.

And so begins our counting down to Christmas. I'm praying God uses this time to work in my own heart, and especially in the hearts of our beautiful boys. That this Christmas would be a celebration of our Saviour, and the great love he has for us.

You can follow this link above to read more about Unwrapping the Greatest Gift.