Do Tell: Christmas 2010 Edition

Greetings, peeps! Are you feeling the Christmas spirit yet? Or are you all bogged down in the minutiae and the must-do's of the season?

I thought it might be nice to take a moment and think about the bright spots of the holidays. Would you like to answer a few "Do Tell" questions, and share your holiday favorites with each other?

Here goes... I will answer the questions in the comments section, and I hope that you will, too!

1. What is your favorite Christmas song?
2. What is your favorite Christmas movie?
3. Are you dreaming of a white Christmas?
4. Do you have any special family traditions at Christmas?
5. What is the best gift you ever gave anyone?

I'm linking this post to Darcy's Holiday Bokeh Party at My 3 Boybarians

A Little Bit of This and That...

Just a little bit of reindeer moss,

some milk glass,

some ribbon,

and a little bit of bling. They are all marching down my dining room table. Decorating for the holidays continues apace. :)

Mosaic Monday: Christmas in the Kitchen

I'd like to tell you that I got the kitchen decorated for Christmas, but unfortunately these pictures are from last year. The red transferware dishes are reproduction Spode, collected from TJMaxx and HomeGoods and Marshall's. The little house is a cookie jar that my in-laws gave me as a gift a few years ago, filled with delicious cookies. The bird prints, in their rustic wood frames, were a rummage sale find.

I went on a holiday house tour on Sunday. Unfortunately they did not allow cameras, so I could not take pictures for you. But I have to say that I got a lot of inspiration, and I'm feeling bit more in the mood to decorate my own house. :)

Now let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.

Stately Progress

So how is your decorating going? So far, in addition to my paperwhites, I have hung a wreath and put up the garland around the front door. Unfortunately, I failed to test the lights before I hung the garland, and when I plugged it in, only half the lights were working. Aaaarrrgh! I also put a small tree on the back porch. More to come soon.

I did a dry run of something different on the mantel, and snapped the picture above, but then I realized that this was just a non-starter because my kids have traditions to uphold. So the decorating is progressing at a stately (or is that glacial?) pace here, but that's OK. It'll get done.

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Are you guys up for Mosaic Monday this week? I need to get my act together and create something... anything! I'm sure you all are much more organized than I am. Seriously! But as always, the linky thingy will be up by 8:30 pm Eastern time, Sunday. See you then! :)

Have You Seen This?

Have you seen this yet? Just in case you haven't, I thought it would be fun to post it here. I can remember singing this in high school chorus, and by the end of the video I was singing along and really tearing up. :)

Please scroll down to the bottom of the page and shut off my music player before you start the video.

Christmas Cards

Because I love photography, I've been making my own Christmas cards for a few years now. At first, I simply attached 4x6 prints to Strathmore Photo Mount Cards. If you order your prints on sale, this can be quite a thrifty way to make a very personal card. The image above is one of the photos I used a few years ago. It was taken at my favorite park, Natirar, and edited in Photoshop to add a texture.

Last year, I also ordered some postcards (with added envelopes) from Moo. Here is one of the images I used (above) also taken at Natirar. Moo makes gorgeous quality glossy postcards. You can add text of your choice on the reverse side. I simply added a Christmas message, and then hand-signed them. This year, I have ordered some more and personalized them with our names as well.

Lately, I've been playing around in Photoshop, learning how to make cards with digital papers, layers and cutouts. I can't tell you how much fun this is! I've always been artistic, but never super crafty. Here is a creative outlet that I'm really enjoying. :)

Here are two of my favorite designs (above). I may design a few more and then order a set from Moo. (Yes, I always do my cards at the last minute.) Or maybe I will try getting them press-printed on a linen paper. I think that might look better, especially with the vintage damask papers . What do you think? I guess I'll have to check out turnaround times at printers. This might be a project for next year. :)

Small Miracles

I know some of you have all your Christmas decorations up already, but I tend to start out slow. This little paperwhite bulb in a milkglass mayonnaise cup is just about the only holiday decorating I've done so far. lol

And I've even embellished the saucer with some berries and a bit of pine branch from a recent walk in the park! Wowza, right?

I'm not proud of my lagging efforts. But I have to say that I just don't feel right doing the Christmas thing until after the turkey day stuff is over. That's just the way I roll.

I have a few more paperwhites planted in a Michael's urn that I got a few years ago. I love watching the green tips grow just a little taller each day -- it's lovely to have that symbol of new life in the dark days of winter. And when they eventually bloom, they perfume the whole house!

I'd like to think that the slow procession of growth is also a reminder to slow down in this sometimes hyper season, to turn our faces to the winter sun and have faith that the miracle of Christmas -- the miracle of light and life in the dead of winter -- will happen even if we don't get all the cards mailed and the gifts bought and the cookies baked.

Just a small miracle to remind us of the reason for the season.