CHRISTMAS AT OUR HOUSE: Let Me Give You A Tour!

Julie and I thouroughly enjoy the seasons, halloween in this picture, in the relatively small, by today's standards, 107 year old house that we at one time rented out.  The taxes, insurance, maintainance costs  and utilities are all low, wonderful in my 20+ years of retirement.  We can, and often do, seat 16 comfortably for dinners.  We had the house professionally decorated to our taste of warm and welcoming.  PERHAPS OUR FAVORITE SEASON OF ALL IS CHRISTMAS.  Let me take you for a tour.

Once you have worked your way across the front porch with it's lights and various Christmas cheer, you will be inside our front door.  Don't worry about the slush on your boots.  There is a small tiled area for you to leave them until you leave.  I'll take your coat.

Wanting a warm, country look, we chose dark pine furniture from Ethan Allen.  We particularly like thie dry sink just inside the front door.  It is filled with two of our seven sets of china and, of course, it is decorated for whatever holiday, in this case, Christmas.  Oft times it will hold drinks or maybe dessert with the dessert plates and coffee cups at the ready.  The country drapes, which you can see a bit of here, were hand made by the Amish.

Everywhere you look in the dining room you will be dazzled by Christmas, the dead head tree, which I recently blogged about when Julie decorated it, dominates the room.  This entry way, as seen in a picture from 2010, leads into the living room and the main Christmas tree.

  

Every decoration on the main Christmas tree has a special meaning.  There is a section representing my outdoor activities, there is a section on star war craft and characters which have audio.  Julie and the adult boys love these, all valuable collector items now. There are decorations hand made by the children and grandchildren over the years.

Perhaps none recall our romantic days more that this Norman Rockwell decoration.  I swore to Julie that I'd rather "spoon" than fish.  Nah, she didn't believe me.  

After thirty plus years, I don't do enough of either.

 Somewhere along the line, Julie and I stopped giving large gifts on Christmas morning.  We each do exchange a few small gifts, mostly the same year after year.  After Christmas, when prices are drastically reduced, we'll take a bit of money and buy one another a major purchase.  The year I gave her this huge Santa, which she wanted but could not bring herself to spend that much money, I sure hit the ball out of the park.  Today, he is the anchor of the living room.

As it should be, much of the house is decorated for the wee ones.  I would guess that there are at least a dozen sets of carolers and maybe as many nativity sets and push button toys galore.

You will want to take care coming down our stairway.  A hundred years ago they tended to make the stairs steep and short.  If you make it down the stairs safely, this will be waiting for you at the bottom.

This letter on our fridge is the January 7th progressive dinner announcement to our dining group.  The six couples starts at our house with hors d'oeuvres, soup and salad.  I DEEPLY REGRET THAT ALL OF YOU READERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD CANNOT ALSO VISIT OUR HOME IN PERSON.  NONE-THE-LESS, WE WISH YOU EACH AND EVERYONE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

God Bless You and Yours

GOD BLESS THE USA