Christmas Vignettes

What would a home be at Christmas with no vignettes/only a Christmas tree?  The tree might be the central piece, but it's the vignettes that spread the warmth and holiday cheer throughout the house.

This Kneeling Santa is one of my favorite pieces, and maybe my most treasured Christmas decoration--Santa/commercialism bowing to Baby Jesus.  I love the reverence--he's kneeling, and his hat is off--and the acknowledgement that Christmas is not about Santa, but about God's gift to mankind.

This is a numbered piece.  Friends of ours had one, and I searched until I found one at a wholesaler's close out--What luck!  It's bisque, not resin, and though I've searched high and low for more like it, I've never been
able to find it.  I would love to give such a beautiful piece to our sons and DILs, so their babies
have it in their homes.

This mother-of-pearl nativity scene is right up there as a favorite treasure...
My grandmother brought it back from the Holy Land in the late 1970s.

And my {real} feather trees...
They are made from goose feathers!
"The tradition of feather trees began in Germany in the mid-19th century, when the cutting-down of trees was banned to save German woodlands.  German immigrants brought feather trees with them when they sailed to the New World. Their popularity increased when President Theodore Roosevelt also responded to the diminishing supply of fresh evergreens in America by ordering that no live trees be used in the White House holiday decorations." (From http://www.feathertreekits.com/history.htm)

Our son's nutcracker collection--in "storage" at our home for now, has been a constant in
our Christmases for many years.
The large apothecary jar holds three 1946 ornaments from my MIL--
can you imagine such fragile items lasting this long? 
They deserve a place of honor...apart from all the others.

No mantel can hold all these stockings!
Many are handmade; our sons' are the original ones they've had since their first Christmases.

A Christmas-y kitchen corner.  Both snowmen are gifts from my boys...
and the dish on the back splash--disguising an outlet (do you dislike outlets as much as I do?)--is
also a gift from one of them.

A rosemary bush--have been looking for one since fall, and finally found it.  Perfect for another
kitchen vignette.
The silver Revere bowl is filled with mixed nuts in the shell--my parents always had them at home
around the holidays, and we've carried that tradition on.
The homey candle holders are a gift from my SIL...have had them for years, and still love them.
The Lenox Christmas plate on the wall is also a gift from one of our sons.

Miscellaneous other vignettes...they're everywhere!!

  

I wish you all a very happy and blessed Christmas.  Thanks for stopping by.  Please leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them!  They encourage me and inspire me.  And if you like what you see a lot J, maybe you’d like to +1 this post too!  Thank you!

I will be joining these fun parties; please stop by to see all the great things there!

 Seasonal Sunday at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

 Homemaker on a Dime, Sunday at http://www.homemakeronadime.com/p/link-parties.html

 House in Roses Show Off Your cottage Monday http://houseinroses.blogspot.com

 Amaze Me Monday at http://dittledattle.blogspot.com/

 Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Motivated Monday at http://becolorful.typepad.com/  

 Newbie Party on Monday at http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/

 Tabletop Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/ 

 Wow Us Wednesdays at http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/ 

 Tablescape Thursday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Open House Party Thursday http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

 Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

 Potpourri Friday at http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

 Inspiration Friday at http://www.atthepicketfence.com

 Show and Tell Friday at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

 Five Minutes Just for Me at http://5minutesjustforme.blogspot.com

From my Chickadee Nest to yours~

    Zuni

Chickadee Christmas Table

Earlier this week I told you about my happy find--chickadee dishes for Chickadee Home Nest (HERE).  As in that post, I wanted my table to have a woodland but upscale feel, so there would be the contrast of rustic with shimmer.

The centerpiece says it all...
Christmas Blessings
to all who visit.
(Did you notice the candy cane in the goblet?  More on that later.)

And the chickadee dishes--LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!
Perfect for Chickadee Home Nest, don't you think?
You notice the goblet is offset on the plate--that's to not obstruct the design.
I chose old, beautifully worn damask napkins, because they have a wonderful, soft
texture.  White?  For contrast with the tablecloth and to better show the texture brought
to the table by the napkin rings.

Silverplate chargers I've had for many years, and the flatware (Oneida King James, silverplate) add the
shimmer I wanted to add, and the silver goes well with the rim of the dishes.
Dishes - Global Design Connections/Kate Williams
Red goblets - Pottery Barn, a couple of years ago.



Remember I recently re-discovered Bombay Company? (HERE)  Bombay is now a department
at our local Kroger Marketplace.
You know how you can't go to the grocery store when you're hungry because you end up buying much more than you intended?  Well, I shouldn't go into Kroger Marketplace with Bombay when I'm dreaming and scheming about a tablescape either!  I'd seen this chicken-wire cloche, and in that moment of hunger weakness
I succumbed to my dreams.



These candles also were a gotta-have-them moment at Kroger--same trip...
The "candle holder"??  A piece of the trunk that was
 trimmed from our Christmas tree.
I saw these beautiful, natural rounds, and I knew they would be great as risers on my tables.
(If you do this, be sure to put wax paper or a dish under the trunks, as the sap will ruin most things.)



Earlier I asked if you'd noticed the candy cane in each red goblet.
Did you notice the stirrers in each of the clear ones?
They're tiny but precious.

The stirrers and candy-cane picks--
too cute to not take a good look at them.
My mother (yes, the one who feeds my dish addiction), gave me the stirrers
years and years ago, and though we don't make many drinks requiring stirring,
I never feel like it's Christmas and the decorating is done until they're out.
I usually put them in a pretty glass in the china cabinet.
The sweet candy-cane picks are from Pottery Barn a few years ago.
What do you think?  Do you like them as much as I do?

As the last picture I wanted to share the very interesting rims on these darling plates--
the rims look like twigs!
The salt and pepper chickadees are sitting on a little silverplate tray I recently got at GW,
and they're "nesting" in two napkin rings that are flexible enough to be reshaped as needed.

Thanks for stopping by.  Please leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them!  They encourage me and inspire me.  And if you like what you see a lot J, maybe you’d like to +1 this post too!  Thank you, and my very best wishes for a happy Christmas filled with warm and memorable moments.

I will be joining these fun parties; please stop by to see all the great things there!

Tablescape Thursday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Open House Party Thursday http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

 Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

 Potpourri Friday at http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

 Inspiration Friday at http://www.atthepicketfence.com

 Show and Tell Friday at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

 Five Minutes Just for Me at http://5minutesjustforme.blogspot.com

 Seasonal Sunday at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

 Homemaker on a Dime, Sunday at http://www.homemakeronadime.com/p/link-parties.html

 The Lettered Cottage at http://theletteredcottage.net/

Amaze Me Monday at http://dittledattle.blogspot.com/

 Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Motivated Monday at http://becolorful.typepad.com/  

 Newbie Party on Monday at http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/

 Tabletop Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/ 

 Wow Us Wednesdays at http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/ 

From my Chickadee Nest to yours~

    Zuni

China Cabinet Metamorphosis to Christmas

One of my favorite things to do while playing house is to change the china cabinet.  Now that it's December, it's time to shift from the fall decorations (HERE) to Christmas.  But this year I had special reason to get it done, and here it is!

Chickadee dishes!!

I had been thinking about "winter" dishes (I already have the Lenox Holiday china--that's another post :) )

but I felt like "we" needed casual winter dishes (now, do you think the other half of "we" thought we needed more dishes?) While at TJ Maxx recently I spotted ONE little bowl waaayyy under a display of pots and pans (I think--I was too excited to notice!).  I scoured the store

for the rest, but only found one more bowl

and

a prize:

These chubby guys--salt & pepper shakers.
They needed a home, and don't you think
Chickadee Home Nest
is the perfect place for them?

I LOVE the hunt.  Can I find what I need?

The happy answer, after many calls for a couple of days, is

YES!!! 

So here is the transformation, from fall to Christmas.



I didn't want to go too fancy; I wanted a woodland, casual feel, so I gathered lots of natural elements:
nests, pinecones (okay, some are silver and glittery), a grapevine sleigh my youngest son bought
for "Mommy" when he was very young.
But I also wanted contrast, so I added reds and whites, and silver, to complement the colors of the dishes.



I made this centerpiece several years ago, but it usually goes on the piano or the dining room table.  I'd never
used it on the china cabinet, but it seemed the perfect addition to the chickadee/nature scene.

And guess who made himself right at home, right out of the Christmas decorations?

The pinecones are lit with the nifty battery-operated LED lights with a timer that I wrote
about HERE.

Let's peak inside for some of the details.

PB goblets from a couple of years ago.

You might recognize the arrangement in the red votive.  It's one of two that I made last Christmas.
I used the other one in my Pomander Tutorial (HERE).
The sweet nest is a gift from DH.  He put it in the tree a few Christmases ago with
a very special gift in it.

The silver Revere bowl holds a PB candle that I'll probably never burn--do you do that too?  Buy a candle and not burn it because it's too pretty? 
Next to it is another favorite Christmas decoration:
One of my real goose feather trees.

And here they are again.  Can you see that the rim is raised and nubby and textured like a real branch?
My crystal trees were a gift from my mother many years ago.  Love and cherish them too.



Thanks for stopping by.  Please leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them!  They encourage me and inspire me.  And if you like what you see a lot J, maybe you’d like to +1 this post too!  Thank you!

I will be joining these fun parties; please stop by to see all the great things there!

 Amaze Me Monday at http://dittledattle.blogspot.com/

 Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Motivated Monday at http://becolorful.typepad.com/  

 Newbie Party on Monday at http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/

 Tabletop Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/ 

 Wow Us Wednesdays at http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/ 

 Tablescape Thursday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Open House Party Thursday http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

 Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

 Potpourri Friday at http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

 Inspiration Friday at http://www.atthepicketfence.com

 Show and Tell Friday at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

 Five Minutes Just for Me at http://5minutesjustforme.blogspot.com

 Seasonal Sunday at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

 Homemaker on a Dime, Sunday at http://www.homemakeronadime.com/p/link-parties.html

 The Lettered Cottage at http://theletteredcottage.net/

Real Thanksgiving Table

The tables we set for "play"--or to post--are sometimes not real tables.  The centerpiece might be too tall, or too big to allow for the other necessities that must go on the table for a real dinner--bread baskets, pitchers, wine bottle coasters, butter dishes, etc., so this is a post about our "real" table.

Our big family dinner was at my brother's this year (at their log cabin--another post for another day).  The Friday after Thanksgiving has always been our day at home--with turkey and all the trimmings again--initially for our children and my parents, and now DILs and babies too.  It's a more relaxed day, and a more relaxed table--our "real" table. 

I used the pomanders I made a few weeks earlier (tutorial HERE) as the basis for the centerpiece.
The amber platter is a recent find at my first auction.  It's an old Tiara piece.  I'd never heard
of Tiara until then, and now I'm in love with this dish.  Perfect for fall.

I L.O.V.E. this flower pot.  My cousin gave it to me years ago; I wonder if she remembers?
I use it every year for fall decorating.
Earlier in the season I had it in the china cabinet (HERE)

I imagined these twig pumpkins long before I found them, so...
THE SEARCH WAS ON!
I found them at a $$ store, where I paid $2 for them...(how does that work?!)

The PGBs (Precious GrandBabies) had their own placesettings with their Royal Doulton Bunnykins

dishes and feather headband for full Thanksgiving effect.



I used white dinner plates as chargers, and though they're not large enough
to be chargers, they added a bit more ummmppphhh to the setting.

Dinner plates are Friendly Village, and the salad plates--I don't remember.



Somewhere along the line I decided that the pumpkins I had so much wanted
were covering up the turkey plates I so love, so I moved them to the top of the plate,
'where I could enjoy both.



The view from our front door--our glorious American flag x 2.

Then...Christmas arrived at our home.

Every year my husband comes home with 2, 3, 4, 5 poinsettias, and every

year I am surprised and thrilled to see him walk in carrying the first one, then

another, then another.  This year was more of a surprise, though, because he came home

with them earlier than usual--because he also brought one for my mother

and one for our DIL to take home with them.

So fall met Christmas...

and we're ready to transition to
the joys of the season.

Tell me, do you have "real" tables that are different from you posted tables?

From our nest to yours, I wish you a sweet and smooth transition into the Christmas season.~

    ~Zuni

Miscellaneous:

Napkins: Crate and Barrel

Table runner:  My pashmina

Goblets:  Pottery Barn many years ago

Thanks for stopping by.  Please leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them!  They encourage me and inspire me.  And if you like what you see a lot J, maybe you’d like to +1 this post too!  I'd love it if you would follow me; I promise to work hard to make your visits worthwhile.  Thank you!

I will be joining these fun parties; please stop by to see all the great things there!

 Tablescape Thursday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Open House Party Thursday http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

 Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

 Potpourri Friday at http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

 Inspiration Friday at http://www.atthepicketfence.com

 Show and Tell Friday at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

 Seasonal Sunday at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

 Homemaker on a Dime, Sunday at http://www.homemakeronadime.com/p/link-parties.html

 Amaze Me Monday at http://dittledattle.blogspot.com/

 Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Motivated Monday at http://becolorful.typepad.com/  

 Newbie Party on Monday at http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/

 Tabletop Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/ 

 Wow Us Wednesdays at http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

Cool Battery Christmas Lights

I was at Kroger today, hoping to find a small string of lights on a white cord to use on a wreath on our front porch.  No 30- or 50-light packages...only 100, and no white cord.

An employee working in that area asks me what I'm looking for, and nope, they don't have what I'm looking for.

I start to walk away and she says, "Have you seen these?"  No, I hadn't looked at that tiny little box hanging from one of those Mylar (?) strips.

Battery-operated, tiny LED lights--but here's the BEST part...
they have a timer built in!
(And another plus that will definitely come in handy--they can be
immersed in water!  How cool is that?!)

Yes!  I'll take them!  $5.24!  I could hardly wait till I got home from dinner at our son's and DIL's to check them out.

This picture shows how to open the battery compartment, because there are no instructions for that,
and it was NOT easy!  My husband carefully inserted a small screwdriver where we could
tell it would open, and pushed gently.

Look at that little, tiny strand and the teeny, tiny lights!
Would they be bright enough?
Would they work for the wreath?

Yes!  They ARE bright enough! (but short.  The box says it's 3 feet long,
but that must include the bare wire leading to the battery compartment and the compartment itself,
so if you buy these, plan accordingly to have enough length.)
I'll be at Kroger first thing in the morning to get more before they're sold out!

But aren't they oh, so pretty?!

 

Last week I posted a tutorial for pomanders HERE, where I inserted
battery-operated "candles" in the arrangement.  Those have to be turned on and off...
How, I wondered, would my new, nifty, tiny string of lights work
in the pomander arrangement?



PERFECTLY!!
And because they have a timer (do you think that feature is as cool as I do??)  they'll come on
in the evening and back off in six hours!
Love the timer feature!

What ideas do you have for how to use these fab lights? 
           Think they'll work in ICE?!  I'm thinking about how cool it would be to put them in a vase
              with water outside and let it freeze (the battery compartment can't be immersed). 
           Or how about just in a vase with flowers?
           Or in the china cabinet or bookcases?  The cord is virtually invisible, so versatile, they are!              
           Certainly they will be great on the wreaths on the porch, because with the timer there's no need to
                run a cord to a different timer.

I can't wait to hear your ideas on ways to use these nifty things!  Happy decorating!

(Or are you wondering if I've been living under a rock because I didn't go right out to look for these specifically?  I've seen immersible lights, but not this tiny, and certainly I wasn't thinking about how to
use them at Christmas when I saw them this past summer.)

Thanks for stopping by.  Please leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them!  They encourage me and inspire me.  And if you like what you see a lot J, maybe you’d like to +1 this post too!  Oh, and I hope you'll follow me.  I promise to work hard to make your visits worthwhile.  Thank you!

I will be joining these fun parties; please stop by to see all the great things there!

 Wow Us Wednesdays at http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/ 

 Tablescape Thursday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Open House Party Thursday http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

 Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

 Potpourri Friday at http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

 Inspiration Friday at http://www.atthepicketfence.com

 Show and Tell Friday at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

 Five Minutes Just for Me at http://5minutesjustforme.blogspot.com/

 Seasonal Sunday at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

 Homemaker on a Dime, Sunday at http://www.homemakeronadime.com/p/link-parties.html

 Amaze Me Monday at http://dittledattle.blogspot.com/

 Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Motivated Monday at http://becolorful.typepad.com/  

 Newbie Party on Monday at http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/

 Tabletop Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/