Christmas Tour of Homes - December 14, 2009

...and I'm only a day late! Considering there are almost 1,000 linked up to The Nester's Christmas Tour, not sure I'll get any visitors from that but I still wanted to share with my faithful friends and family who visit :-)

I spent all day Monday cleaning and then two friends helped me decorate the tree that Ivan set up around 6 p.m. Maybe a new holiday tradition has been born?

Late last night I cruised a few of the blogs on Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes, picking up ideas. This morning I gathered my supplies and went to work. I'll need to do a little shopping (more Christmas ball ornaments and some Christmas candy) but we're going for the clean, spare look this year.  Also known as the we're-cheap-and-don't-want-to-spend-very-much-money look.

From the front gate you can see the little doo-jobby I made to hang in the front window. Saw these on several blogs and loved their simplicity.

After I unlock the front door and the gate to let you in (folks are more security-minded here than where we lived in the U.S., when we seldom locked any doors at all) you'll step into the room we use mostly as a dining room:

To the right you'll see our co-worker's keyboard that we're babysitting while they're on vacation.

And to the left is my Christmas tree wall quilt. Yes, it is rather wonky. That's an early project before I knew about squaring up a quilt. I like to think it's an endearing quality rather than a fault :-)

On the long narrow bench underneath I have two hand crafted baskets and banana leaf bowl from Uganda (where we spent a year working with orphans). Here's a close-up of one of the baskets (imagine that it's filled with Christmas candy since that's what I plan to put in it):

Oh my goodness, where are my manners? I forgot to offer refreshments! How about what we had last night while decorating the tree? Tiny ham and cheese rolls, deviled eggs, fruit pizza, chocolate no bake cookies and a beverage our family always called "the mixed drink" because we're all original like that...anyway, it's a mixture of orange juice and grapefruit soda -- quite refreshing on a hot summer night!
 
Under the tree are two cherished Christmas decorations: a tree skirt made by Joyce and the lighted Christmas "gift" crafted by Pat, both dear friends from Michigan.

I have many special ornaments, most of them homemade. Like this adorable Wise Man that my friend Betty gave me many years ago.

The little bell was hand-painted by SIL Sharon and Aunt Gladys made the beaded ornament. Sorry to say I cannot remember who made the other ones in this photo. From 1984-1988 we lived in Florida and our church had a homemade ornament exchange every year. I should have recorded who-made-what but I didn't. [Let that be a lesson to you, ladies! Keep track of these things because you WILL forget!]

Tucked on the wall behind the tree is the cute little quiltie I received in the Four Seasons Holiday Quilt Swap. I SOOOOO adore this little snowman!  You can also see one of the other doo-jobbies I made to hang on each side of the arched doorway.

They were a great use of Christmas balls and ribbon, which is almost all that I have. One thing you need to understand is that when we moved overseas, I SERIOUSLY downsized, going from 7-8 large Rubbermaid bins of Christmas stuff down to two. TWO, people. Basically just the ornaments, a tree skirt, wall quilt, lots of clearance ribbon and a couple table runners.

Okay, now stepping back a bit, you can see another use of ribbon in the doorway to the kitchen.

Moving into the living room, first up is the wicker chest that currently serves as a coffee table, and on top there's another basket from Uganda, this one filled with the remaining red Christmas balls (I'll add more after a trip to the store). The angel table runner was a gift from my friend Jennie. [Are you getting the idea that pretty much all of my Christmas things have a special person or memory attached to them?]

Our bookshelves are crammed with books but the red ribbon dresses it up a bit. All the items displayed on top are from Uganda except the tree (note that the tree "top" is basically a map of the world), which we bought here in Argentina.

And that's it. Without even trying, I did a pretty good job keeping the ever present fans out of the pictures. Here in the southern hemisphere it's summer and we have fans in every room. Although today the sky is overcast, feels like rain's on the way so it's much cooler than normal: a balmy 72 degrees. (We still have the fans on though.) Our one outside activity was re-scheduled and I'm feeling all holiday-ish so I think I'll pop some corn, pour a glass of apple juice and kick back to enjoy the lights, decorations and music (hmmmm, maybe Kim Robertson's Celtic Christmas II).

Hope you enjoyed the tour!