My Favorites.

The two things I love to look at each evening, and

even during the day if I put them on, is our mantel

and our beautiful tree. So calming and bright. Love

the twinkling, the feeling of Christmas these bring.

~ Chy

Goodbye Fall.

The last view of our Fall Mantel for this year.

Time to put the decorations away and tidy.

I loved this version of our mantel this year. Lots

of color and texture and variety for the season.

My favorite is this sweet weave glass basket

we found at the charity shop for a sweet $1.50.

In the end, after the Fall decor was put away, I went

back and grabbed the basket for the Christmas Mantel.

~ Chy

All is Bright.

Our mantel on Christmas Eve. Stockings

are hung on the desk close by as they are

too heavy for the garland and we don't

want the chocolates to melt! So pretty.

~ Chy

Christmas Mantel.

A late shot of our Christmas Mantel this year.

I need to add a few taller items on either side.

This year, we're doing a bit of a minimalist

look through the house. Just enough to be

in the spirit of the Season. Enough but not

too much that it's pain later to take it all down.

Are you a bit of a minimalist this year?

Or is your house full of holiday colors?

~ Chy

Cozy Weekend.

We're decorating the house now. It' probably the latest we've ever started. Typically, we begin right after Halloween ends but this year, we were in Ottawa on the 1st of November and when we came back, we both ended up with colds. All better now but we used up our extra time to shop for gifts and work on projects. So now we can decorate. This is our fireplace mantel for now. I may tweak it a bit and add a tall candle on one side and something else to balance on the other side. Garland needs to go up on the banisters and balcony, outside on the veranda and the back deck, wreaths in windows and on the front door, our little tree for our bedroom and the big tree needs to be decorated. It's up and lit and the Angel is on top. But no decorations just yet.

Today, we're off to town to photocopy the program for our Annual Candle Light Memorial Service set for tomorrow afternoon @ 4 p.m. We have to stop also and fill up our water jugs, feed the piggies at our preschool and make another stop before coming home to the cozy cottage. This afternoon I plan to start baking cookies and squares for the freezer and put some aside for the service tomorrow. My board of directors bought some cookies and goodies and juice but I want to add some shortbread in and some confetti squares to round it out. The house will smell amazing later today. Looking forward to "taste testing" ....

Hoping to relax tonight after baking and creating little tags for families to place their baby's name or child's name on the memory trees. It's a beautiful service and we're happy and humbled to provide it each year. But wish that we didn't have to .... we wish that babies and children didn't die, but it happens and we're here to help. An honor to bring some light to families at a time of year when their hearts feel dark and lonely. At least we can give some compassion.

Sunday will be filled with hockey, then our service, the reception, then home for dinner and a quiet night to reflect and be cozy. Wishing you a beautiful, warm weekend. 

~ Chy

Spring Mantel.

Many bloggers are currently hosting Spring Blog

Tours. I feel kind of silly just opening my home

up without being connected to an organized group

"party" or "hop" of some sort at this time. I'm not

sure how to connect to such events. Doing some

research today to see how to bump up my blog.

For now, I will share our Spring Mantel in our

Master Bedroom. I love the sunlight streaming in.

Special treasures we've collected along the

way. A vintage frame and a SSI cut out.

My family presented this beautiful statue

a few Christmases ago. Our family ....

An Angel from a friend. I love gifts from

special people. Truly given from the heart.

Two sets of Angel wings for our sweet babies. A

tiny Brambly Hedge thimble from England. And

a stitched picture we found at the Antique Mall.

I was going to change out the frame. One day.

We found this plate on a trip and were so

thankful we got it home in one piece. Truly

some of the inspiration behind the ideas for

our new home and the color scheme as well.

A vintage lacy purse, a tiny framed print, a

vintage bowl holding scented natural seeds

and pinecones, a vintage doily and finally, 

two rose inspired scented candles. Love.

See that tiny bear? The lavender color is what

we used for the wall color and so many of our

accessories. Sage green, sweet lavender and

creamy ivory, with wood floors and white trim

are the basics in our home. Not for everyone.

But for us, soothing and calm, visually ours.

What colors are prominent in your home?

How did you choose those colors?

Christmas Clock.

I love the sound of this vintage clock on our mantel.

Surrounded by lovely and sweet Christmas decorations.

Christmas Mantel.

It's been a tough year. Loss, struggle, worry

and despair. Many good things were present

and unfolded but overall, I'm not sorry to be

almost at the end of 2016. It's taken a lot of

work to stay above it all and I'm proud we've

weathered the storm. But the effect has been

seen in small things, like our lack of Christmas

cheer. Finally, on the weekend, at least a month

late, we pulled out the bins and the trees and

suddenly, our home became festive and full

of light! I quite enjoyed setting up our mantel. 

I hope you'll enjoy it too. Lots of fun and bright.

Fall Mantel.

Please forgive me for taking these shots

with my phone camera. Shadows, ugh.

But I wanted to capture our sweet little

mantel and how we decorated it this Fall.

A little collection of fabric leaves and

tiny pumpkins and wooden buildings.

It smells delicious in here because the

pine cones are scented. So yummy!

Soon our mantel will be sparkly and full

of Christmas. But for now, we'll enjoy Fall.