Creative Bedmaking.

Dh and I have an ongoing battle with

making the bed each morning. It's now

become quite the feat to make sure we

outdo each other with our respective

"creative bedmaking" skills. Here is

dh's latest attempt: a tree with bears!

💗 Chy 💗

 

Teapots and Trees.

Two my favorite things in this print ~ a teapot for warm tea and beautiful trees that grace our Earth. We have many teapots in our tiny cottage ~ I may have to do a post one day showing each of them and why we chose them. And of course, the cottage is surrounded by trees. We literally live in a little forest. As I look out my window, I see snow on branches for the bit we got the other night and it looks like, a bit from last night. So pretty! When we lived in town, we always chose houses that had trees so we could imagine we lived in the country. Now we do and I love their towering presence, though sometimes when the wind is high, it can be a bit scary. We watch our trees all the time and have a company that comes in to cut down the ones that look like they'll fall over in a breeze. Hate cutting them. Safety is key.

It's been a busy week and today is a bit quieter, but still busy. While I have a counselling session this afternoon with a lovely client, dh and dd are going to get our groceries for the week. Then they'll pick me up and I need to find my Country Living magazine for January, then shop for a baby gift for a friend, then back to our centre to drop off the supplies from our Music Club that we had last night. Home to unpack, make dinner and then another Oilers hockey game tonight. That's my sweet spot to cozy up on the couch and write. Or dream. Or nap. The possibilities are endless!

What are your plans on this fine Saturday?

~ Chy

New Tree Decor.

After our last Chamber of Commerce

breakfast before the holidays, we were

invited to shop in the greenhouse that

the meeting was held in. One of our

favorites! And we came out with this

soft heart for our tree. Very fitting!

~ Chy

Our Tree.

A few shots of our tree this year. More to come. But

I want to capture the sparkle and light. The soft heart

is new this year. We try to add an ornament each year,

if we can find one that speaks to us. This year: LOVE!

~ Chy

Travelling Tree.

The big Sloth, resting on the veranda.

Not really being a guard or a greeter.

The sweet Penguins being silly. And our

"guard dog" ~ the Corgi ~ watching it all.

A different view of Baby Yoda, Santa

and Bruce the Moose. Brings smiles to all.

We put our tiny tree that used to be in

our bedroom onto the vintage cabinet

this year. It's travelled a bit around the

cottage but I think I like it here the best!

~ Chy

Tree Bookcase.

Searching for unique furniture for our

new Centre and came across this sweet

bookcase. Isn't it amazing? I'm hoping

to find a local contractor to build this.

~ Chy

Our 2023 Tree.

Isn't it so sweet? So sparkly and giving

me something to gaze at all day long!

~ Chy

Vintage and Shiny.

My favorite decorations that never end

up on the tree! I found this old vintage

muffin tin at the Antique Mall and put

these pretty balls into it one year and

they've never left their safe place. Now

I bring it out every year with the idea that

I'll actually put them on the tree .... then

they stay in the tin. Vintage and shiny!

Do you have any decorations that don't

make it on to your Christmas Tree?

~ Chy

The Tiniest Tree.

We have several trees in the house. Our

new pencil tree in the family room, a small

tree on the antique cabinet in the living

room, a good sized one in master bedroom,

both daughter's have their own trees and

then we have the tiniest tree on the piano

in our dining room. I believe that is a total

of 6 trees inside the house. There is also 2

trees on either side of the front door out

on the veranda. So 8 altogether. My very

favorite is this tiniest one on the piano. I

put little lights on it this year and it's just

so sweet, giving some light in the room

and shining out the window on our dark

and frosty nights. My mom was gifted it

one year from a friend and now we love it!

Do you have more than one tree in your home?

If you do, do you have a very favorite one?

~ Chy

Holiday Car.

Saw this on FB and just had to take

a shot so I remember this for next

holiday season. It's an old Little

Tykes car that has been repainted.

Love this idea! I often see LT cars

listed on Marketplace for pennies.

Can you guess what will be part of our

holiday display next season? Sweet!

~ Chy

A Challenge.

Happy Saturday! We've made a change this year to our Christmas decor that created a challenge. As dh is now working from home full time, all the day, every day, his "office" is currently the turret on the south side of the cottage. It's not technically an "office" and we're trying to figure out if this spot will be permanent or if we have to make some changes in our home to support this new set up. The turret, also known as the music room and the Christmas Tree room is a favorite spot in the cottage. But now we had a dilemma to work on. Where, oh where will the Christmas Tree go? Short of moving his office furniture to another location, the short term solution we came up with included moving the vintage carriage upstairs, then move a chair in the family room to the "office" and buy a smaller tree to fit the smaller space that could work. So we moved the carriage, then the chair, swept, vacuumed and washed the floor. On Friday, we went in to town to buy a new tree @ 60% off. We found a version of a "pencil tree" with lights, and a cashmere feel on all the branches. 

We ended up getting the very last one in our region and grinned all the way home. Gently unpacked the box and within a few minutes, just like that, we had a new tree in our cottage to decorate. It's 7 feet tall, so about the same height as our other tree. But so much thinner. Definitely less space that it occupies for now. There was another couple at the store doing the same thing. The "office", turret, music room gets to stay intact and the Christmas Tree is still in a spot that is in our view from all angles, at all times. The challenge will be decorating it as we have soooooo many beautiful ornaments. The plan is to choose our favorites and then the rest to go on the other small trees that we'll be placing around the cottage. Though today is dh's birthday, our plan is to do some decorating inside today while it's sunny but cool with the wind outside. We hope to work on the exterior of the cottage tomorrow, putting up garland and our inflatables. The sun will still be out but the wind will have gone away for the day. Inside decorating is first on the list.

We need to "fluff out" the tree and decorate.

But what do you think of our new acquisition?

~ Chy

Tree #4.

Tree #4 is tiny and set up in our master

bedroom. We love to have it on at night

before we drift off to sleep. Full of small

vintage decorations and twinkling lights.

~ Chy

Tree #2.

Our 2nd Christmas Tree sits on the old

antique bookcase in our tiny living room.

I love how it shines out the window on

to the veranda and a glow in the dark.

~ Chy

Mom's Tree.

At my mom's care home, they decorate

tree in a different color or theme each

year. This is what they chose for 2021.

I like it but my mom definitely doesn't!

~ Chy

Saying Goodbye.

Sometime over the weekend, we'll begin

to take down all the Winter decorations.

Time to say goodbye to the lovely light

the tree brings. We've loved our look

this holiday. It's time to start thinking

now about Spring and fresh decor for

Our Little Cottage in the Big Woods

as the warm sun stays longer each day.

~ Chy

Name Our Tree ....

Settling in to 2020, with many projects completed before the end of 2019 and a new list of hopes, dreams and projects for 2020. One thing on our list was to find a decent sized tree for the amazing pot we bought for our kitchen nook last year, at 70% off. After a lot of searching, and then giving up, the local greenhouse had a Boxing Week Sale and put house plants on sale. We ended up with this one, a braided fiscus tree, at 30% off. Then using my credits I had saved from last Summer, it ended up being more than 60% off. Not bad for a frugal budget. Now we need to find a great name for this tree. I came up with Eric but my family just laughed. Any ideas? Help me name this sweet addition to our home. Any gender, any letters .... send me your ideas or post them here! Looking forward to seeing any ideas that are sent along. TY!

~ Chy

All is Calm ....

The mantle is lit ....

.... the stockings are hung ....

.... and filled to the brim ....

.... the tree is bright ....

.... and the packages set ....

.... for family and friends ....

.... to open in the morning ....

.... or when they stop in to visit!

We had a quiet Christmas Eve, with

goodies and warm drinks, a game to

play and books to read, an old show to

watch that brought back nice memories.

~ Chy

Under the Tree.

Our two little bears, given to us to remember Bretton

and Ciara, our stillborn babies. We cherish our teddies.

We stumbled upon this tiny yet sparkly cottage

a few years ago. I love its character. A sweet

little addition for under the tree. In a few days,

it will be hard to see these things. A pic for now.

~ Chy

Illuminated Boy.

He wanted to watch a video after dinner.

But all the plugs were either in use or

hidden behind a piece of furniture. So

our little guy had to get a bit creative.

He discovered the Christmas tree only

takes one plug, leaving one open. He

tucked himself in beside the tree and

watched his video. I love how it made

his face illuminate. Can't remember

what he was watching but it was quiet!

Today we're off to town. I have to work,

dd2 has a bake sale at our preschool and

dh and dd1 have a bit of shopping to

finish up. Looking forward to our trek

in with new fallen snow. But am really

looking forward to coming back home.

What's on your agenda on this snowy day?

Do you like going out or coming home?

~ Chy

Our 2019 Tree.

Filled with our favorite decorations that

we've collected or been gifted over the

years. This year's theme features a bit

of gold and lots of greens and pinks.

How is your decorating coming along?

Will you share pictures of your tree?

~ Chy