December 05, 2006

All is calm, all is bright~






Our tree is decorated and proudly stands in front of the living room window! We picked it out last Friday evening. We were given lanterns to be able to see as we walked along the paths smelling the invigorating scents of pine! It took most of the day to decorate on Saturday, for its a LARGE tree! The tree is a Grand Fir and stands over 9 feet tall! I had to get the ladder to decorate the top and string the lights with the kids help! I am very pleased with how the tree looks. We have decorations from my childhood, and some given to us as gifts....our daughter has started a collection for my hubby and I, beautiful crosses in various sizes and materials. Some ornaments have great sentimental value, which I will be showing in the days ahead.
I am watching our grandson for a few hours today, and he is napping right now. I have some orange peel, cloves and cinnamon simmering on the back of the stove, dinner is planned, and I have my Christmas books out and re-reading them.One of my favorites is Victoria Magazines'


"A Woman's Christmas...Returning to the Gentle Joys of the Season". Its beautifully written and the pictures are almost ethereal. When I read little portions of the book, I feel the stirring of inspiration within me and want to let the creativity flow! So this afternoon I have an appointment with my books, a candle and a hot cup of tea...time to nurture, to take a deep breath and celebrate the little nuances of the season.
"On one branch there hung little nets cut out of colored paper, and each net was filled with sugar plums, and among the other boughs gilded apples and walnuts were suspended....little blue and white tapers were placed among the leaves."
~Clement C. Moore~

10 comments:

theups said...

Beautiful!! Thank you for sharing!!

I'm a fan of Victoria Magazine, too. Sigh. I sure do miss it. I wish they would consider restarting again...

His,
Mrs. U

Farmgirl Cyn said...

Your tree is absolutely lovely!

Anonymous said...

I loved Victoria magazine too. I was shocked when they discontinued it. There's still nothing like it. I just went and bought this book from Amazon after reading your mention of it. It was only eighty six cents but the shipping was over three dollars!!
Can't wait to receive it...
JoannainCa. :)

DonnaB said...

What a lovely tree. Everytime I see Victoria magazines at a garage sale, I buy them...I miss that magazine too!

Kelli said...

Your tree is just beautiful! I love the poinsettas! Enjoy your Victorias!

Kelli

Anonymous said...

Just beautiful, Mindy! I look forward to seeing some of your special ornaments!

Terri
momsdailythoughts.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous tree Mindy!
The book you mentioned sounds wonderful!
I think that I am going to look for it!
Wishing you a blessed day!

Mrs. Darling said...

Hey I put poinsettas on my tree too. You're the first one that I know of that does that. I saw the idea at Disney World 3 years ago. Gorgeous tree.

The Tiquehunters Wife said...

Your tree is beautiful! I love all your sweet Christmas quotes and all the homey things you do during the day are inspiring! We once had a tree that was 20 ft. tall which we had cut down. We lived in a log home with peaked ceilings and had an open floor plan. We had to lay planks across the beams in order to decorate the top. We enjoyed the experience very much, and to this day it's a wonderful memory, but only did it once because it was so much work. Thanks so much for visting my blog!

Maggie Ann said...

Your tree must be gorgeous to behold...the picture is great but in person, I know its even better. I love the Victoria magazines too, they captured the beauty and graces of living, didn't they? I'm glad you posted about simmering cloves and such on the stove top. I love to do that and just plain forget. Thanks for the reminder Mindy!