Christmas 2010… Just a memory (and a few... actually a LOT of pictures!)

Well, 2010 ended on a rather difficult and unusual way.  It will be one for the memory books – that’s for sure!!  At the beginning of December I started pulling out all our Christmas decorations, with visions of FINALLY getting all the redecorating done once and for all.  You know how it is, you actually start out by making a BIGGER mess, and it takes forever to figure out what goes where, rearrange everything until it's just perfect, and then clean up all the mess you made. 

Things started out ok – I was able to create my first tablescape, ordered a few gifts online (even started to wrap them with special packaging) and had purchased the supplies to make a bunch of DIY gifts.  Unfortunately, those best-laid plans came to a screeching halt when I received a call from “Lifeline” and was told that my mother-in-law had activated her alarm.  She went into the hospital for the next 2 weeks, then was transferred to a nursing facility.  She has COPD and Alzheimer's, which has been made MUCH worse since she’s been sick.  It proved to be a very rough few weeks… trying to get everything done for company, make the gifts, etc., etc., etc.  I was sick as a dog on Christmas day, and to top it off, my husband and I both got sick on New Years Day, and are still fighting stupid fevers and colds. 

Sooooo, as you can see, there has not been a lot of time for “blogging”.  Shoot – I really wanted to post all the projects that I finished during this whirl-wind month.  So, if you will indulge me, I’m going to go ahead and post those pictures now... better late than never as they say!!  Considering everything that was going on, and how many nights I worked into the weeeeeee hours of the morning, I think everything turned out pretty good.  Perhaps not the way I originally thought, but nice none-the-less.  There are still redecorating projects yet to be completed, but hopefully I can get these completed within the next few months.  Anyway – here we go:

I had posted pictures of my first tablescape, but at that time I didn’t have a tablecloth or my place settings, so I thought I would show the final pictures here.  Added a white tablecloth, two napkins (one white, one black) bound together with some pretty rhinestone napkin rings and my good china.  I don’t usually use my good china in the kitchen, but I wanted the white and silver, so it was exactly what I needed.





Added in our initial with a little more “bling”.

Moving on to the kitchen, here’s a little vignette and a few other little decorations.





 One of MANY Santa's you will see throughout the house.  Just love having a special little fella all dressed up and ready to help in the kitchen!!!

A BIG old rusty spoon - picked up at a garage sale for $.50 became a perfect little hanger for my apron. 

 

The little bird cage was one of my "Thrifty Finds" some time ago.  It's "Supposed" to be turned over, on the wall as a shelf, but I felt it was perfect to make into a cage and sit flat against the wall.

Recognize the silverware wall art?  It was just PERFECT for this space.  (Please don't pay any attention to my curtain-less window.  Sill working on that one!

This is the ledge between my kitchen and dining area.

You know that paper they use at Hobby Lobby or Marshall's to wrap your stuff in?  Well it works perfect to use on various projects.  For this candle I just used a piece, stamped on it, and then put it on the candle along with the ribbon.  Turns a plain candle into a real decoration.

Didn't do a lot in this area other than sticking a few flowers in this pitcher, along with some antique spoons.

My sweet hubby helped me make this shelf to go above the ledge.  I actually used MY OWN power saw to cut the wood and mitre the molding around the edge.  I'm getting to be quite handy with the power tools!!


 
This little Santa sat watch over us on my new shelf.



This table separated my eating area from the family room.  In keeping with my new black and white theme that I had going, I just HAD to get this new Santa this year.  When I saw his gray suit I snatched him up quick as a wink and brought him home.







I've never even had a chance to share my first hutch makeover, but here is it.  I'll post more about it later, but I absolutely love the way it turned out. 



We found the "Garfield" street sign at a flea market.  I was born and lived some of the most memorable years of my life on Garfield.  Sweet memories every time I see it!



Don'tcha just love the little Santa with his striped PJ's to match my candy canes???!!!

This is a look at my entry way and another couple of pieces of furniture I've redone and never posted about.  I'm not quite done with either of the pieces (obviously since there are no knobs on the chest) shown below, so once they are completed I'll post about them with the before and after pictures. 

    
Even some "goodies" for Santa to snack on!
 
This is the other piece in my entry.  Perfect spot for me to hang the ice skates I decorated.  (Yep... more on the skates later too!)
 
Obviously the chairs are yet to be redone... hey - at least I got them painted!!  I have the fabric, just no time to get them done.  Now my biggest fear is that I've taken them apart and will forget how to put everything back together again. 
 
This is my beautiful new WHITE couch that I purchased for the living room.  This is NOT a slip cover, so it's pretty much off limits unless you have clean hands, clean pants, and DEFINITELY NOOOOO beverages in hand!!!!  WHOOPS!!!  Didn't realize the Santa pillow was upside-down until I started posting these pictures. 
 
One Santa on the right side of the couch, and another Santa on the left.
 
Oh, and another sitting atop the hutch in the living room.

As well as a Santa on the desk...

Oh, and one more on the piano (yes! I love Santa!!) 

 
Moving into the Dining Room.  I absolutely love, Love, LOVE the pale yellow and white that we just recently redid.  I used cream, gold, and blue accents.
   
My Mom thought it was funny that I put a snowman in my birdcage.  I told her it was "climate controlled"!!  LOL
     
This is my husband's beloved High Wheel bike (yes, he DOES ride it!!).  Not sure if this will be it's final "resting place" or not.  It's kind of hard to find the right place for something this large!!!
   
The centerpiece in the Dining Room had some special elements... old family photos.

I made these small family photo frames a number of years ago (sometime I'll have to explain how I made them).  Everyone sitting at the table enjoyed looking at the pictures and trying to figure out who was who.






I used a few photos on the buffet as well.

Of course there was another Santa!  LOVE his cream and gold outfit!

Clock was a thrifty find, as was the bugle that holds a silver and gold ornament.
   
WHAT???  No Santa sitting atop my china cabinet???  Nope - used my beautiful angel for this one. 

   
I added in a few sprigs of greenery to finalize the decorations on the napkins.  Oh, there there are the individual parfaits that I made for each person. 
Oh, I just have to show you my pretty glassware.  Isn't it beautiful??!!!  I have eight place settings of 7 different sizes.  Cost me a pretty penny???  NOPE!  Not ONE CENT!!!  It was a curbside find - thanks to my sweetie-pie hubby!!!!  Yep, he's on the lookout for great finds too!!!!
Before we leave the dining room, I have to show you what I'm doing with the chairs.  I'm in the process of redoing them, but due to unforeseen circumstances have only completed two.  I'm going from this...

to this!!!!  I'm looking forward to getting them all done.

       

Finally, into the Family Room.  I would have liked to purchase all new stuff for the tree - to match my new style and color of decorating, but no $$$ for that, so it's the same old stuff as I have used.  I think that it still looked fine.

These pictures were taken AFTER Christmas, so presents had already been opened.

 This table has not been done yet, but hopefully I can get to it soon.

This is what ALL my packages were SUPPOSED to look like.  Yeah... that didn't happen.  Because of sickness and everything else going on, my hubby finished wrapping all the gifts.  It's safe to assume that they looked NOTHING like this!!!!

 I was making gift tags for each package with photos of the recipient... most of the pictures were from the past.  I made them not only as gifts tags, but so they could be kept and used as ornaments.

  

Well, that's it folks... that should have kept you occupied for some time.  I've found that it's a lot harder to catch up on posting than trying to keep up every few days.  PHEW!!!!  I have a lot of projects that I need to break down by showing the "before" and "after" pictures.  HOPEFULLY I'll get to those real soon.

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas and pray that you will have a BLESSED 2011!!!!!

I would LOVE to hear what you think about all the decorating I did.  Geeeezzzz, it seems like I JUST put them up (which I did), and now I have to take it all back down.  :-(  So sad!!!!

I'm going to link up with a few parties to "strut my stuff"!!