Holiday preparations

We'll be moving furniture and making room for our Christmas tree this weekend. The green chair, that Otis is sitting on, and the side table will be moved, and the tree will go in that corner. Not too many places in our small house to put a big tree!

The mantel is decorated and Maddie's stocking is hung.

A few more decorations. I'll be doing most of my decorating when we put the tree up.

The paperwhites grew so tall, I tied them with a big white ribbon to keep them from falling over.

Mmmmmm, Christmas candy.

And a nice cup of cappuccino while I ponder over Christmas cards.

Holidays

We enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving day at our daughter's home this year. What a treat! We had the traditional dinner with a big juicy turkey and all the tasty trimmings and it was SO delicious! ~ I think I won't be able to eat for a week!

I am truly thankful for my family.

~~~~~

And now that Thanksgiving Day is over we move on in a flash to the next holiday. Isn't it funny (or sad) how there are Christmas decorations, Christmas trees and even Santa in the mall before Thanksgiving.


In the past we've always put our tree up about two weeks before Christmas. This year I'm in the holiday spirit early. I've been dragging things down from the attic and started decorating.


Below is a small tree I put in the study on top of the desk. It gives such a warm glow to the room at night.



The mantel is decorated with garland and our granddaughter's Christmas stocking.




Some old Christmas song books on the coffee table.

A little sparkly decoration for my paperwhites. The paperwhites are budding already!




And some new little holiday projects for my etsy shop.



Only 26 more days till Christmas!

Planting

When I was shopping the other day, I saw a display of amaryllis and paperwhites. I like to plant these every year so I will have beautiful blooms by Christmas. I bought a bright red amaryllis (Red Lion) and a bag of the paperwhites (narcissus).

Time to plant.


Riley sits nearby and watches.

For the amaryllis, all you do is place the soil disc in the pot that's included in the box, and add water. When the water is soaked into the soil, mix with your hands.

Then, plant the bulb in the soil. Just cover about 1/4 of the bulb. And that's it! Keep it out of direct sunlight.

Now for the paperwhites (or nacrissus)...nothing could be easier. Just place the bulbs in some soil and give them water.

Keep them wet and they should grow into tall plants. Put them in pretty pots or urns, you can even cover the ground with a bit of moss.

And by Decemeber, hopefully, I can show you the beautiful blooms!