Ho ho ho
Like every one of you
I’ve been so so so
Busy that I know
You haven’t missed me and yet
I have missed you.
With the traveling, the birthday-ing, the Christmas-ing, and the fa-la-la, I swore I wasn’t even going to decorate this year, let alone entertain.
New York apt at Christmas
But I did. I just can’t help it. One dinner at the ranch before I left and two small ones in New York. Small. And very relaxed.
I also experimented with special effects on the Big Picture app. I think I like the one called “Clarify” the best.
I wish I had a Clarify button for my head, especially about now…
For a dinner for four, all the stuff piled on the smaller table has to be piled on the larger table…
I don't know where all these books come from. I swear I don't. They multiply like rabbits.
So I can set the smaller table…
An antique wine-tasting table set for a simple dinner for four.
Christmas dinner for four. The china is Lynn Chase's Winter Gamer Birds.
And then a few days later I pile everything back on the smaller table…
Christmas NYC apartment
…and set the bigger table for 8 and do not remember to photograph it until after dinner.
The party's over...
With four and a half rooms you have to be creative. And actually four and a half rooms in New York is considered generous.
By putting the dining table(s) in the living room, I am able to have a sitting room off the kitchen.
Sitting room, NYC apartment.
I have been having a zebra moment for about the last two years, and when I found this hooked wool zebra rug I genuflected for Albert Hadley and did a cartwheel.
At least in my heart I did a cartwheel. The last time I did a real cartwheel I pulled something and could not walk for three days. That is its own special kind of Clarify button.
I’ve recently hung this Paul Balmer painting of the New York skyline. I will show it to you in full another time, but I love it even as backdrop for the Christmas tree.
Christmas NYC apt, painting of New York skyline by Paul Balmer
Did I mention it was my birthday?
These are the roses my brother-in-law Rex sent me for my birthday. I snipped a few to put on the table for dinner. Shhh.
It was the 16th. We went to Martha Stewart’s Christmas party at her house in Bedford. Even in the cold gray drizzle it is pretty dang fabulous, and the weather made the inside all the cozier.
Glowing and golden, a Christmas tree at Martha Stewart's
Cookies and confections at Martha Stewart's Christmas party
This is a cute picture of His Grace (aka my husband for new readers) and Martha. They are longtime friends from his Chicago days.
His Grace and Martha Stewart
But the thing is we visited so much at the party that we never got around to eating and were starving on the way back to the city and had to stop at …
Burger King in Bedford
Seriously. Talk about a let-down.
Where kids are king is not exactly where I I had in mind for my birthday lunch.
But I have to say in all it has been a pretty swell Christmas season, and I’ll leave you with this little – okay not at all little – huge-fantastic-I-couldn’t-believe-it-with-my-own-eyes Christmas light show put on by another friend of ours. He and his family have a party for their pals, but this show he puts on for the whole community, and anyone who wants to drive by and doesn’t mind a little wait, is welcome. Here you go: Christmas light show in Connecticut.
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Christmas Light Show, photo via Twitter.com/@strauzer
December 26, 2012 at 12:28 pm
December 26, 2012 at 8:45 pm
December 26, 2012 at 10:42 pm
December 27, 2012 at 11:06 am
December 27, 2012 at 10:10 am
December 27, 2012 at 11:04 am
December 27, 2012 at 3:42 pm
December 27, 2012 at 5:29 pm
December 27, 2012 at 9:38 pm
December 28, 2012 at 12:25 am
December 28, 2012 at 9:06 am
Pingback: Taking Cues from Fashion: Using Animal Prints in Your Home | Appliances Online @ Home