12/3/10

A time of excess

You have seen pictures of our house. While I do like a lot of furniture packed into a small amount of space, Rob has taught me some restraint in the parts of the house I share with everyone else (obviously not my sewing room). But, at the holidays, we go all out.

We share responsibilities on decorating. Rob has his part, I have my part, Sydney helps and provides technical support and advice (and runs errands, like keeping our glasses full of fresh, cold water while we often put up decorations in 85 degree November temps(not the case this year)).

First is the swag. We have a vaulted ceiling with a huge beam that runs along it in our great room. And, we have enough holiday decorations to put up two trees. But, there's no room for two trees, so we put the second set on this swag. We've been collecting these red ornaments since we got together, almost 11 years ago.

This is the first thing guests notice when they come into the house because it is a bold holiday statement.



Lit up.


Some of the ornaments. There are pieces of glass candy and balls and hearts and apples and birds and squiggly shapes, but they are all basically red.






And, then there's the tree.
This is decorated with the ornament collection that my Mom started for me when I was a kid.


And, we've added to it, too. We love the LiBien ornaments from Pier 1 and have a large collection of the dove ornament that they release each year as well as some other beautiful hand painted ones.



I think this angel is the oldest ornament on the tree. She has a date on the bottom of 1964 and my initials. And, the little disk next to her is a Norman Rockwell ornament. My Mom bought those for several consecutive years and I think there are about 10-12 on the tree.



That's it for my decorating. Funny, it took two days to put it all up and just a couple of pics to show it off.

Rob does a different set of decorating. He's in charge of our Christmas villages (yes, multiple towns). I'm hoping I can get him to write me a couple of blog posts about the best points of that collection. How would that be? Maybe if we all clap like we did to keep Tinkerbell alive he'll write something on here for us?

Take care and I hope your holidays are shaping up nicely and that you have fairies that do all the decorating work for you so you can just sit back and enjoy it. Lane

8 comments:

Becky said...

Beautiful swag and love your tree! As for the guest poster.....Pleeeeeease Rob......pretty please with cream and sugar?????? I love villages and would love to hear about yours!

Michelle said...

Clap, clap, clap. Let's hear it Rob!!! Loved seeing your swag and your tree! Merry Christmas!! I'll be waiting for Rob's post....no pressure...HURRY!!

Shay said...

Love love love your tree. It looks like something out of a store window but a hundred times lovelier!

wordmama said...

I'm clapping, I really am! We do a Christmas village, too, and this year my 12 year old set it up for the first time. He also gets into doing the outside lights like my husband does.

Your decorations are beautiful and lavish! Ain't excess great!

Kris

Unknown said...

I love the swag - the red is so beautiful and I am sure your guest ooohhh and aaahhh when they see it. Your tree is beautiful also. I think it is sweet that your mother started a ornament collection for you. We have started one for The Baby and she seems to like the thought of having her own ornaments. We were a part of an open house in our last home (it was a Victorian 4 square, built in 1902) and we decorated every room! 4 bedrooms, living room, den, dining room, kitchen, office and three bathrooms! We have a lot of trees!!!

lw said...

Wow! The red ornament swag is gorgeous! And your tree is amazing! It puts me in the mood to start decorating.

I'd love to see Rob's village collection.

Elizabeth said...

The swag is just gorgeous! I love all the red ornaments. And the tree is so beautiful. I love your ornament collection. I buy a new ornament for my two Little Bugs each year, and one for me and Mr. Bug. I try to find ones that can be personalized with the name and date, but if not I write it on the bottom or back. To be honest, I'll miss having the Little Bugs' ornaments on my tree when they move out, but seeing your tree of special collected ornaments makes it a little easier. I know that it will be totally worth it.

Also, that batik 'woven' quilt behind the tree is gorgeous. Have you blogged about it?

So, Rob, I would love to hear about your villages. Won't you tell us about them? Pretty please with your favorite thing on top? (When my kids ask me for something they really want, they'll say 'Pretty please with quilting stuff on top,' but since I don't know too much about your hobbies, aside from you building a really awesome greenhouse, I'm not sure what to put on top, so you can fill in there.) I'm especially interested to know about the one that looks like it is the 1950's, with the diner and the TV & appliance shop and the wood-paneled van.

xo -El

Pauline said...

Oh Lane, it's all so beautiful! But the most beautiful is the love you have in your family. That's the real beauty and treasure.