Christmas Magic

The lighted way, presents such a magical feeling, so I do include candles that are lit when company comes so that they know they are so very special to me.
Family is why I decorate, now that our girls are grown and married and have their families, I still think it is important to carry on the holiday spirit and decorate, perhaps a little different than when they were home, but none the less special. I love to come home and see the lights on the fence and walk way and then come into the house and just go ahhhhhhhh.
This snow man is so waiting for lots of snow to come his way. Today we got some, but nothing like we are used to getting, oh well we still have January and February and sometimes March. We will all have to wait and see.
I love the lighted garland on the fence, when it snows more it is so well worth the effort to put it out every year.
This grouping had a little dusting of snow, not much to count any inches from that was for sure.
A little Americana added to the porch is a perfect accent to the fir and cedar boughs along with the deer horns, even if they are upside down.
This was a new area for me to decorate, so I kept with a family theme here of both Roger and my self from our child hood era. I loved using the silver trees and garland with the sparkly snowflakes and lights, making everything twinkle.
This is just a closer look at what is on the shelf above, younger photos of Roger and I.
These red wool socks added to my country look.
You can see that I had fun using Roger's deer antlers to decorate with, it added to my country theme. He did have to help me set them up there correctly so that they antlers were in the right direction.
This was a fun grouping to put together, as I drew from things that I had and what I had just purchased, it bought it all together. The boy on Santa's lap is Roger and I am in the other photo holding a baby doll.
This alder bark basket is one that I treasure, my friend Erin made it, it will always have a special place in my home.
These winter friends were made by my dear friend Erin, I am gathering a great family from her gifting me these wonderful little non-melting snow people. My grandchildren were so curious as to what they were, they were perfect for them to explore and check out.
This is a metal wire tree that I got that I have been able to change up the seasons with to decorate according to what holiday it is. It has crystals and some new ornaments that I got a Monticello antique mall this season, with the lights it just made everything sparkle.
Crystals are always a part of my decor, this is especially a favorite of mine.
"Simplify" Um can Florence simply, not very easy. That is something that I very much need to do.
Shells, feathers glass and beads are all part of my collections enhanced by the Christmas balls.
This is a Santa collection that I have, most are made of chalk ware made by an artist in the Melino, Oregon area, as the years have gone by I have added different mediums of Santa's, from carved to some really special ones that add to the collection.
A closer view of the Santa collection.
These bears were ready for a good nights rest. The larger bears are ones that I made in the early 80's before the big bear boom emerge on the scene and took the market away from some of the speciality bears. They were called "Muma Bears by Florence" it has been fun to run into some of them at antique shops and garage sales and do I buy them back, well yes of course. I hope you enjoyed this little journey with me. I had fun doing it. Florence

Merry Christmas To All

Merry Christmas to all my dear friends and family. It is late so I will just post this one photo of the walk way up to my front door, all it needed was some fresh snow, but we will make this do for now. I am up at this hour as I am getting ready to put our turkey in the smoker to be ready for its journey to The Dalles, Oregon to my parents home to celebrate Christmas day with them Hope your day is everything you had wished for and that you created a lot of memories. Hugs to all. Florence.

Christmas Magic at Monticello

These tree toppers looked so beautiful all grouped together here. Be sure and check Monticello out, there is something for every one's taste at this antique mall. Currently they have some guest vendors who have added to their list of wonderful selections to choose from. I am not going to list them all because you can go to the Monticello blog and see a more complete list. Treat your self and take an adventure over to their location in Portland, Oregon.
There were stockings in all shapes and sizes to choose from.
We are seeing a lot of these clock faces being used in decorating, there have been some great ideas to incorporate them in the scheme of things.
Barn House Boys had this display with a lot of silver pots and this garland of fir cones, they brought a lot of the outdoors in, with their cool crisp display.
This pink wool snowman just adds the perfect touch to any decorating scheme, below it is some more vintage Christmas stockings.
This lined burlap makes me so ready for a trip to Paris, who knows maybe some day.
This setting seemed so serene, if you look close there is a roll of burlap cut up in to strips, I asked Sue if she cut them and she said yes, and I said, oh my you probably had a lot of fibers every where and she said yes, of course I had to buy some, save me the time and the mess. Thanks Sue. I also got some white alabaster balls from her to decorate with using some cedar boughs in a wood bowl.
This memory box complete with back ground scene of skating was complete with cream trees and a vintage deer or elk, yikes I remember them when I was a child. Does that mean I am vintage?
There are a lot of cream Christmas trees along with the green with some glitter to adorn them all.
These burlap stockings with their muslin cuffs were sure to go home with some one.
These chocolate reproduction molds were awesome, and of course I had to have one. I have a wonderful collection of chalk Santa's that were made from old chocolate molds from the past.
We are seeing a lot of these burlap and linen towels, I love how they have been stamped, some of them make me dream of that some day trip to France.
This silver angel adornment would be perfect for that special person to have an angel of protection in their home.
These linen towels make such great pillows, so clean and crisp.
I loved the simplicity of this stocking along with the fact it looked primitive.
These were just some of the treasures I brought home. Remember this Christmas Magic at Monticello goes through the 27th of December. Be sure and check it out.

Auntie Joy's Open House

I loved these snowman and thought about all my many friends that I have, I feel so totally blessed, I was at the Monticello Christmas show on Friday the 4th of December waiting in line to pay for some treasures I had found, where in front of me were some of my fellow bloggers, they asked me if I was going to Auntie Joy's Open House, I said I had considered it but was not sure. Well they convinced me I should go and to follow their car, that they had a couple of great places to show me on the way. Well I went and was not disappointed, Martha from Vintage Triffles was the leader along with Diane of Molly Mos, so off we went. Now I know how to get to Silverton, but we went a different way following Hwy 99, in order to make the two stops before Auntie Joys. Arriving at Auntie Joys put you right in the holiday spirit, her house was beautiful and I marveled at all the work she had done to get ready for everyone. I am going to share some of the photos I took inside her house I hope you will enjoy them.
Here is myself, Betty and Patty taking a moment to pose for a picture.
This is a closer view of the table with little refreshment for us all to enjoy, the tree in the front and back are made of some type of wax, I know I have a beeswax tree like the one in the front of the picture.
This was probably one of my most favorite trees at Joys, however I did like them all. This one really was captured in the mirror giving a great dimensional effect.
The dinning room table was set ready for holiday entertaining, Joy had a number of different textures going here, which really brought it all together, it was very pretty.
There were mirrors to reflect the beauty that was all around you.
This room is a spare quest room and office I believe, it was set up with a twin antique bed just waiting for some one to take a cozy nap on.
Every where you looked, you were in awe of what you were seeing, such inspiration to get going on my own holiday decorating.
The fire place mantel close up to see some of the detail, enjoy!
Even this mannequin was all decked out for the holidays.

After enjoying all the wonder beauty in the house I was off to the shop to check out the great treasures to be found.This angel bird bath was in a special serene setting complete with white feathered angel wings waiting to go home with some one.
These cow girl boots come with a fancy lace dress and fir coat, quiet fitting for the holiday season I think.

I have been seeing a lot of silver, either shinny or matte this year in the decorating theme along with burlap accents. My drive home was fine, however I took the route I knew well since it was dark, I kept watching the temperature on my car as I was concerned about black ice, but I made it home just fine. The afternoon turned out to be a wonderful adventure, I was glad I went as the next day we had some icy roads up my way, and I do not venture out on them. I will post on my visit to Monticello next, check out their blog to see what is happening there and the latest updates.