handmade stockings
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And the Stockings were hung….

I am not sure why we hang stockings by the chimney with care, but it appears to be a long standing custom.  Since 1823 when Clement Clarke Moore wrote “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, Christmas stockings have been an essential part of Christmas traditions. We have 5 handmade stockings for our family and multiple ones…

Cleaning a Chandelier
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Making it Sparkle

Once a year, I clean the crystal chandelier in the dining room.  It happens to coincide with my holiday decorating.  For some reason, the rest of the year I overlook the dust on the crystals, probably because it is evenly dusty!  But once the glitter village and snow globes go up, the dullness of the…

Building a Snow Village
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Building a Snow Village

The theme in the dining room for the holidays is all snow and glitter.  Each year I build a snow village using several paper/cardboard glitter houses.  There are many ways to make your own on Pinterest, but I purchased these affordable, yet adorable houses over the years. They are readily available in many retail stores….

Easing into Christmas Decorating
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Easing into Christmas Decorating

Having the extra time between Thanksgiving and December has been such a gift.  I have been easing into holiday decorating, pulling out the easy stuff that doesn’t require 2 or 3 sets of hands. First stop, the bedrooms. My artistic daughter has such a beautiful bedroom.  There is an unusual combination of windows that face…

Family, Food, Friends, Fun and Fatigue
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Family, Food, Friends, Fun and Fatigue

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It was so nice having all the children home and the house filled with their friends.  Today, as I take all the Thanksgiving items and store them away until next year, here are some random musings about the holiday. We had the biggest turkey ever~~a whopping 28 lbs,…