A Three Dogs At Home Christmas Tour

 

Welcome to the Christmas 2010 Home Tour here at

Three Dogs At Home.

Here in my foyer guests are greeted with beautifully lit garlands and the smell of cinnamon from the scented pine cones in the basket placed in the shelving of the buffet.

Up next on the tour is our family room, with a stuffed Santa on the hearth and stockings hung from the mantel.  There also are a few Christmas Trees back lit with soft gold twinkle lights.  A  few carefully placed Santas add to the whimsy of the holiday.

Now we have moved into the breakfast nook. 

This is my favorite room of the house no matter the season.  This year I choose to use softer shades of gold and green.  And it feels just like I wanted intended.

Hubby is very in to cycling so the bike in front of the trees is a nod to his love of biking. 

 

I traditionally hang garland over these glass doors but last year I decided I wanted to continue the feeling by having the garland to spill onto the kitchen counter.

But garlands have electricity and kitchens have water,  not always a great mix.

I ended up running the garland right down the back of the counter and across the kitchen granite counter.  No worries, they are plugged in to GFI receptacles and all the light are in perfect order.  No worries for the fire department or Santa.

My kitchen island had turned out to be one of my favorite places to decorate. 

I have a large metal basket that I ordered from Southern Living.  This Christmas the basket is stuffed with sugar, spices, and vanilla that go well with the vintage balls and the hand painted gingerbread children.  I completed the basket with just a few pine boughs stuck in for greenery.

I could not resist a close up of some of my vintage finds and the little ginger bread girl I painted almost 20 years ago.

My neighbor and frequent thrift shopping partner, Lisa gave me these wonder Cardinal salt and pepper shakers and I was thrilled to find that they would make a nice little vignette with one of my Santa plates.

On the family room coffee table is the basket that usually sits here but has been upgraded for the arrival of Santa.  I simply placed a few fresh boughs in the basket tray and added some pinecones for balance.

Here on the hearth sits a small Santa who has drawn the attention of Zoey. Could there be a treat in his basket?

Well that wraps up the Holiday Tour.  Hopefully next year I will feel good enough to decorate the whole house but for now I am enjoying a slightly more simple decorations.

I hope you are inspired by our home and you can take away a few ideas for your own home.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Traci

I will be partying at

Just a small tip to keep you baking.

I am having a very difficult time getting decent pictures of my holiday decorations.  By decent I mean not blurry.

But I really want to join in on all the fun Christmas posting so I decided to post about the only pictures that were not blurry or made me nauseous.

But after looking at the subject of the picture I was still feeling a little queasy.  My unmixed chocolate cake ingredients don’t look to appealing in this photo.  But look how clean my sink looks?

It is s good thing this picture turned out well otherwise I would not be able to convince you that placing your mixing bowl into the sink before you start mixing.  I do this for 2 reasons.  The first reason is that if you are mixing something light like whipping cream the walls of the sink catch almost all of the splatters that happen when you whip the cream.  I have even splattered the kitchen window, but not any longer.
The second good reason  is that by lowering the height of the mixing bowl it can take pain out of mixing.  So many of us, including myself have injuries or conditions that limit our range of motion in our shoulders.  By placing your mixing bowl in the sink you have lessened the physical stress on your arms and shoulder usually associated with lifting the mixer or holding the mixer at an unnatural position.

So just by mixing up your cupcakes in the sink you will save stress and strain  on your arms and avoid messing up the area near your mixing.  I hope my little tip will help you avoid discomfort while whipping up your next dessert.  I hope everyone is enjoying a beautiful Christmas,  I am really enjoying reading all the different ways you decorate and celebrate the day.
Thanks,
Traci

A Day with the Garland Nazi

For the past 30 years I have been the one to decorate our home for the holidays.   As my decorating efforts grew so did the time and energy needed to pull it all together.  I would pull on one of my holiday sweaters, put on Christmas music and drink hot chocolate from my favorite holiday mug and enjoy the day. 


This year I am just physically unable to decorate without help.   So for the first time my solo act had to become a duet with hubby doing most of the heavy lifting and ladder climbing.   I think he also did his share of  tongue biting.  I was not my most pleasant self.  My husband’s lack of knowledge about how to hang garland, how to fluff the plastic creations to make them appear more natural, or how to line them up so that the plugs all reach the closest outlet was driving me nuts. 


Of course it was not my husbands lack of garland fluffing knowledge that was bothering me.  It was my lack of independence that was at the root of my cranky behavior.  Accepting my debilitating condition has been the most difficult part of having a debilitating condition.  Acceptance has come in bits and pieces and is not an easy task for me.  While decorating for Christmas I was faced with many things that I will not be able to do.  Now or ever again.   This lead to me being down right cranky and the Garland Nazi made a brief appearance.  (Like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld)


But this sweet man that I am married to bit his tongue and said not a word as I instructed him in the correct way to hang, fluff, and plug in garland.   After realizing I was indeed being cranky I apologized to hubby.  He quietly said it was okay and gave me a hug.   Apparently he has the acceptance part down better than I do. 
So this holiday season I am even more thankful I am married to this wonderful man.
Thanks for reading.
Traci