IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS........

These lovely little bells are ringing

in Christmas in our home.

The sound is delightful and makes me want 

to take a ride in a sleigh.

(In reality I dread the snow)

But it does look pretty!

Another sign that it is the season, is this sweet

little Advent calendar.

My niece and nephew sent it to us from Germany

with many other goodies.

What is so special to me, is that it is of my

hometown... well city ...Berlin.

Every day I have fun opening the little windows,

wondering what is behind each door,

and just as I did as a child, I delight in every

discovery.

I will show it to you again with all the windows open.

This year, like many of you, I am wearing

many hats......decorating...cleaning up the mess

after all the fun,

sewing , trying to finish dolls for my blog shop,

baking, shopping, packing packages,

entertaining, etc. etc.

To change things out a little and to give a little boost,

I decided to change my red accents to neutral light colors.

I got inspired by the Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine.

In some parts of the house red still rules.

Somehow a lot more glitter snuck in,

which I love.

My girl friend Debbie and I saw these

cute birdie mugs at Home Goods and

had to have them.

They are great for any hot drink,

but I love to drink hot chocolate

out of mine. The lids keep the drinks warm.

There are four different bird designs.

How cute!

They even had tea pots, creamers and sugar pots.

I reminded myself to be a good girl

and not over indulge.

And of course there had to be more birds.

My friends Paula and Laura also have

"bird-fever"

It must have been catching.

It's chronic and has been with all

of us for years.

We heard, there is no cure!

When I was growing up in Germany,

we put our shoes out in the evening of

December 5 TH,

and if we had been good, we would find

sweets in them the following morning.

If you had not behaved, Saint Nicholas

would put coal in the shoes.

I must say in all honesty that I once got coal.

I bit my brother in the fanny....

well, he was crawling in front of me...

These little treats went to my hubby

who is a sweetie and would never get coal.

Now, these cookies came all the way from Germany.

My niece backed them and carefully mailed

them to us.

My friend Debbie also got a package.

We compared notes the next day and

could not get over how wonderfully delicious they were.

We all had to put the brakes on,

 so we would treasure every bite

and not just devourer them.

Stephanie, thank you soooooo much.

We absolutely need the recipes, PLEASE!

Another wonderful treat was this little book

by James Kramer.

It is called  "Tis The Season"

It is charming.

 I know Jimmy from a  long time ago,

when we all did shows together.

Any of you, who know about him,

know how very talented he is.

Jimmy, I am copying the doves in the window!

Besides being a very talented decorator,

my friend Paula also knows how to knit.

This is one of her stockings.

Paula, I adore it.

(I am NOT a knitter.)

I think some of you have discovered

my passion for antique stockings.

Some even came home with me from

our last trip to Germany and Austria.

Every Christmas I find places for them.

This mirror once belonged to my friend Debbie.

And although I enjoy it all year,

I find the little angel on top is

especially appropriate for

the holidays.

At the end of the season I found

this wire urn for a mere $25.00 at Home Goods.

There was no way I was going to leave it there.

I immediately thought of a Christmas tree in there.

And I love it just as I thought I would.

I got to use my mercury silver ornaments

at the base of the tree.

Being that the tree is by the window,

all the glitter catches the light.

Lovely!

And now to my stocking...hmm...fetish.

When I was at Pottery Barn, I saw a pillow with stockings.

The wheels were turning in my head.....should I buy, or not.

I went home instead and made my own.

The pillow is linen with jute trim...

a mere $ 20.00,  of course from Home Goods.

It even has a feather pillow insert.

I swear, I should have stock in that company.

Then came the hunt for the stockings,

and the fun began.

Voila!

A little work, but alot less money.

While I was getting the pillow above, I also found these

pretty textured pillows made from off-white wool.

I was smitten....and lucky for me, I found two.

Don't know what it is with me,

I am always doing this Noah thing, always two by two.

I discovered that I like symmetry.

Well, I needed more pillows to go with these.

 I had some pillow covers that my friend Liz

made for me when she made my slip covers

many years ago.

They had not been used for years.

Sooo, I embroidered and stitched pine trees out of

old blanket remnants,

and embellished them with a variety of left-over

pompoms.

Ta da, and here is the result.

I am happy!

Soon I will show you more of our

Christmas home.

I hope you enjoyed the tour so far.

Have a heavenly Christmas season.

God bless,

Evi

P.S. For all the bloggers in foreign countries..

Home Goods is a great store, that sells

everything for the home at fabulous prices.