Creating Christmas

Welcome to Day 5 of Creating Christmas hosted by Jann of Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson.

I love that title,

"Creating Christmas".

I have spent the last two weeks doing just that around our house.



This magazine photo, cut out several years ago, was the inspiration for my Christmas decor this year.

This little vignette using my grandpa's rocking chair was the first thing I did to create Christmas in the house.

The vignette didn't last long, but it sparked my creativity.

Cherished pieces, like this 20" tall Santa, have turned our cottage into a special place this Christmas.

Our house is Steve's art gallery which means vignettes have paintings as backdrops

and Santa seems to fit right into a painting of the village where we lived in Jamaica.

Simple greens,

favorite ornaments,

and playful pixies make me smile as I walk through the house.

I love how adding a little Christmas postcard to my old Underwood puts me in the holiday spirit

as do touches of red and white throughout the house.

A Santa in every room

as well as little Christmas trees

make me wish Christmas lasted all through the year.

A ladder in the guest room

 is decorated with hand knit stockings

stuffed with teddy bears my sister brings me from her world travels.

My 1927 edition of "A Christmas Carol"

and a silly little felted mouse

share the ladder with a pixy.

More little pixies sit on a cabinet

beneath a chalkboard I created out of an old mirror.

A vintage look Santa paired with mercury glass hearts

and a collection of snowmen adorn the guest room dresser.

I created a Simple & Sweet Christmas in our little cottage.

Now, I would love to see how you "Create Christmas" at your house.

Link up to this post or any of the other parties hosting Creating Christmas.

Silver and Gold at Tea Time With Trina
Thrifty Christmas at My Thrift Store Addiction
Romantic Christmas at Anne's Attic
Old Fashioned Christmas at Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

The parties will be open until Christmas Eve so please come back to visit and link up again and again.

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time to simply enjoy Christmas . . .

I have reached that point in my decorating when I can simply enjoy Christmas.

Lulu thinks I spent way too much time decorating and is quite happy that I am now finished.

Spotting this sign on My Sweet Savannah the other day made me smile because shopping is not part of our Christmas at all this year.

Farolitos on Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico - 2010

Our family began vacationing for Christmas in 2003, but this year is different because we all agreed to NO PRESENTS.

Homewood, Lake Tahoe - 2009

Time together 

Canyon Road, Christmas Eve - 2010

is our gift to and from one another.

North Star, Lake Tahoe - 2008

And this year, there will be 6 of us instead of 4 - we leave for Kauai in 10 days !!!!

With no need to hit the stores or shop on-line, there has been a lot of tweaking the decorations and using up supplies.

This quilt I made 35 years ago has seen better days and it was cut up for projects inspired by all the Christmas ideas on Pinterest, blogs and Instagram.

I have always wanted to make stockings out of old quilts

and now I have finally done so.

Little stockings are hanging here and there around the house

and tucked into a little tree in the entry.

The last bits of drop cloth 

were sewn into ornaments that will be mailed off tomorrow to a friend.

The making is done - the sewing machine is put away until 2016.

Decorating is complete 

and now I just need to take pictures for the Creating Christmas Link Party hosted by Jann of Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson.

Check out Day 1 of the link party at 

Tea Time With Trina

Day 2 is hosted by Cecilia of My Thrift Store Addiction.

Cozy Little House Holiday Party
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I posted the pic of Lulu with her ball on Facebook

and my neighbor altered it a bit!