Post-Christmas Winter Vignettes

Whew! Observing the Twelve Days of Christmas and celebrating the Epiphany (you can see my post on the Epiphany/Three Kings celebration here) easily brings our de-Christmasing to mid-January, but I can now report that, save a wintery sleigh in creams and evergreens, there’s not a shred of evidence of Christmas decor left at our house! Every year I feel as though we’ve decorated less, but it’s because I’ve changed how we do it. We used to decorate the tree and the house on the same day, but now I’ve started decorating in a more piecemeal fashion. Only when we start to put it away do I realize how much I (yes, I take full responsibility here…) have managed to bring up from the basement. Lugging it down to the basement is never as much fun as bringing it up...funny thing…  And just think, in 10 short months we’ll be doing it again, or at least thinking about it!

But the house is serene now, and though I love, love, love everything about Christmas, the serenity does my soul good.

I thought the china cabinet we had through Christmas would carry me over into winter…remember me saying that? I even did a blog post on it, you might remember:

  A few tweaks, and I’d be done…or so I thought.

Once the reds started disappearing, the china cabinet vignettes just didn’t do it for me. Our china cabinet is in such a central location in our open-floorplan home, that it truly sets the tone and has a huge impact on the feeling in the house. Changes were in order…

So now it’s quite simple, in whites and touches of snowy bottlebrush trees:

As I worked on the china cabinet I wanted to use some restraint (a difficult thing for me, but it does come easier in January, I’ve noticed). I kept thinking about our winters here in central Ohio: “winter,” “quiet,” “snow,” “pines and evergreens,”—and “deer…lots of deer.” The deer thought allowed me to keep the deer my husband had just given me for Christmas out, but in a much quieter setting—like seeing them out in the fields, quietly grazing. Their former home on our table (you can see them in a centerpiece here) was much too much for this quiet season. (I choose to call it the “quiet season,” but a lot of people in central Ohio suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), a sad or depressed mood that is directly tied to the lack of light, mostly caused by the usual cloud cover.) I’m thankful to not suffer from SAD, and in fact, as the years pass, these January days are nice, quiet days for me. Don’t get me wrong, though. By the time sunlight returns, I’m very, very happy to have it!

I also kept my beloved log cabin, sans the Christmas touches. The vintage cruet set lightens things up a bit and brings some bling to the otherwise-dark scene.

Can you hear the quiet?

The ubiquitous chickadees, of course, nestled on a pewter tray, next to a vintage silverplate toast caddy.

This tiny silver cup is a favorite—you’ve seen it before, haven’t you? Filled with greens and the baby’s breath left from the roses we had for the Three Kings celebration, it continues the green-and-white winter theme.

More silver and white, with a touch of rustic in the old wood spindles. The silver “vase” is actually the bottom of a salt/pepper shaker. I got the set at an auction, exactly for this purpose! The other one sits on my nightstand holding dried hydrangeas.

Over the years I’ve come to accumulate quite a few white pieces. Perfect any time of year!

  Several readers have asked about my log candles, and if they are for sale, as my brother makes them. I just love the earthiness that they bring to any setting! And yes, his wife has a booth at an antique mall and is now carrying them there. Email me if you’d like to contact her. In the center picture below you can get a glimpse at others he’s made for me. It was our simple centerpiece for our dinner with our little chickadees on the Epiphany.

 

You might recall that we had a large family picture over the buffet, then at Christmas that was replaced with a wreath. Now there’s a mirror there! ~

This mirror is quite old and very, very heavy. I hope it doesn’t bring the wall down, but it didn’t in its former home in our bathroom. I’ve wanted to hang it here for a while now. I’m really looking forward to putting seasonal wreaths on it, but for now, it’s the serene look! We’ve had the rectangular mirrored candle holder for a few years (you can see it here), and though we used it over Christmas it was allowed to stay since it fit it with our January sensibilities.

 

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I know many of you de-Christmas pretty soon after Christmas. What’s your inclination for your post-Christmas decor? Serene/quiet? Or do you continue the color and vibrancy of Christmas? And Valentine’s? Are you decorating for that already? I don’t think I will until early February, so I can enjoy my quiet decor for a little while. And in my famous words… “I won’t do much for that.” We’ll see… :)

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NOTE: Some of the items I use in my posts are in my Etsy shop, but many are not, simply because I haven’t updated my shop. If you see something you like and wonder if it’s available for sale, email me at coral5252@gmail.com and let’s talk!

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Zuni