Welcome, Come Right In!

Hello! Happy Holidays! Welcome to my home.

Let's start with the front room. When my Hubby and I purchased this house, one of the main things we loved was this beautiful bay window for our Christmas tree. This year, we splurged and purchased a tree we both love that fits the space perfectly.


We only decorate the tree with silver and blue ornaments, lit up with white lights. Two main reasons - the first is that those are my favorite holiday colors and secondly, it goes better with the white/silver/blue menorah that will sit in the dining room window! A silver star sits atop.

All our presents are wrapped in matching blue or silver paper to sit under the tree.

Our fuzzy daughter, Bathsheba, is not wrapped in the proper colors - but I bet I could get a bow on her if she insists on sitting down there and eating the presents, as she did in years past!


This pile of presents is wrapped in other colors, because it's going to a family we adopted for the holidays.



In the "Formal" Dining Room, the table is set with Christmas China. It's an adorable set from Pottery Barn, that I absolutely love and can't wait to complete someday. Each of the plates is decorated in a different reindeer. If I had a serving platter, I would have a picture of Rudolph, but I don't this year - maybe in 2009!



The menorah isn't set out yet, because Chanukah doesn't begin until December 22nd. We'll celebrate at sundown on December 21st with friends of our coming over for dinner. But it will sit in this room for all 8 nights, right in our front window - glowing opposite the Christmas Tree from the street.

My holiday decorations in the kitchen actually stay up year round. I love penguins and my Mum found me these penguin salt/pepper shakers. She purchased them for me to represent my two Caterpillars and then found a little penguin to represent the Baby Girl Larva that is due in February. I leave them on the stove all the time, for sentimental reasons.



The hall bathroom also has penguins. It's been a real challenge this year to teach the boys (including Hubby) that we don't USE the penguin towels, we USE the blue towel in the middle. I should be grateful that at ages 8 and 6 they remember to wash their hands at all!

Finally, we have our Advent calendar. The Caterpillars love taking turns opening up the little doors to pull out the tiny ornaments.

BooMama also asked that we share one of our favorite recipes. My favorite holiday recipe is super-simple and likely shouldn't even qualify. But it's what I remember having every year as a child, so here it is.

Ambrosia Salad

1 can Mandarin Oranges (drained)

1 can crushed Pineapple (undrained)

1 1/2 jar Maraschino Cherries (drained)

1 cup sweetened Coconut flakes (from a bag)

2 Bananas (sliced into bite-sized pieces)

1 Green Apple (cut into small cubes)

1 Red Apple (cut into small cubes)

Dump everything into a bowl and mix. Add extra coconut flakes to decorate the top.

Even though this is such an easy thing to make, it just screams "MERRY CHRISTMAS" to me.

Thanks for stopping by on BooMama's Tour of Homes. I look forward to seeing you again next year!

(And a BIG thank you to BooMama for hosting!)

~Lone Butterfly )i(