Author Archives: Jennie

6 Days of Christmas 2011: More Easy Decorating

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If you’ve been reading my blog for any period of time, you know that darling husband and I are struggling with a plethora of “things” in our house, and that includes Christmas things. We also have lots of extra furniture that has been handed down over the years or furniture that we have replaced with something better or more appropriately sized for our small empty nester house. It was surprising, therefore, when we both agreed that we needed something exactly right for our vestibule where we set up our bar for parties.

At my local Korean resale shop, I found the perfect piece that we could both agree on. It’s not very old, but it has an antique slash Asian feel that both blends with our oak trim and contrasts with our French antiques. It’s the right size for our tiny foyer and holds a lot of bar stuff behind its doors.

When I look at this photo, it reminds me why it’s hard to get rid of “things” in my house. Starting from the bottom:

  • The Chinese silk runner was brought back from China by my niece, Vanderbilt Wife. How could I possibly get rid of that?
  • The silver tray is part of the silver tea service that I inherited from my grandmother. No question there.
  • The crystal ice bucket belonged to my beloved mother-in-law. Nope.
  • The Ralph Lauren champagne glasses were also given to us by my husband’s mother. We broke one the first time they were used, and I only pull them out for very special and small parties. They don’t take up very much room, so… no again.
  • The silver creamer came from the estate sale of my next door neighbor. No one wanted her silver, so I scooped it up. I’m not giving that up.

  • The wine charms were hand-made by my friend and me. We went to the bead store and picked up symbols for all of our friends and made personalized charms. You can see my saxophone and my husband’s bass guitar are among the mementos appearing on our wine charms. I’m not giving up those either.

  • The wine candelabra was a gift from my nephew’s girlfriend last year. I decided that it was scary to have open candles on the bar, so I went to Hobby Lobby and bought ruby shades for them. I’m not giving the candelabra up either.

  •  I saved the Rock Star Red bottle just because it was funny; the wine was a gift from my sister-in-law in Seattle and was fabulous.

My goal for 2012 is to learn how to style and photograph better for my blog. I tried to use some fancier settings with this post, but generally don’t see much difference than what I usually do. What I DO see, however, is that my rug is bunched up and my runner is still wrinkled even though I ironed it. And what’s with the bush on my mirror? It looked better in my head.

The point of today’s post is that it’s not difficult to create a beautiful Christmas tradition (and all-year round) with the stuff you already have. In my case, the memories that go with this stuff are more important than my need to simplify my life. Actually, once I got this all together, it was easy to set up the tableau and I’m pretty excited to start hosting some parties!

Where were we last year at this time? Remodeling. My living and dining room are packed with Christmas boxes right now, but come tomorrow, my rooms will be decorated and ready to use. Unlike last year, when we set off for Seattle with nothing decorated and everything a remodeling mess, we will have a lovely Christmas right here in our home.

8 Days of Christmas 2011: Easy Outdoor Decorating

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When we moved from the town where our children attended high school into our empty nest home, we decided that we needed to simplify our outdoor decorating at Christmastime along with many other parts of our home keeping. If you’re one of those people who spends days getting ready for the holidays and don’t really enjoy it, you might want to consider our solution.

We bought a five-foot fake wreath and a big red bow. Every year we take down the wrought-iron gate that is usually against our front brick wall between the windows and put up the wreath. It takes about five minutes to get it out of the shed, about one minute to tie on the red ribbon, and about two minutes to hang it. This year, we decided to forego the fairy lights and just have it lit from our normal spotlights under the eaves.

We hang two matching fake wreaths on the lights on either side of our garage door. Pretty simple.

Santa appeared in the boxes of Christmas decorations that came from my mother-in-law’s estate. He’s been sitting on our front porch at Christmas ever since. We belt him to the chair now, because one Christmas he decided to go on a little stroll through the neighborhood in a strong wind.

We were feeling so good about our easy decor that we decided to light up the redbud tree. Its new growth looks especially beautiful with the light accenting the shapes. You can see that the neighbor down the street has traditional lights on bushes, and I love to see other people’s elaborate lighting schemes, but for us, our two-hours-at-the-max outside decorating is just right.

Just in case you were wondering, yes, that is snow. Big fluffy flakes were coming down this morning when I got up and darling husband even went out and shoveled a little so that it didn’t freeze as ice on our brick driveway. It was a nice start to winter vacation.

I hope you are enjoying the run to the manger. Now that I’m on winter break from school, it seems more real to me. The progress we are making in our decorating is also inspiring me to do more and more, but I’m trying to keep it all in perspective. I do love Christmas, though. Thanks for stopping by and reading my stories!

9 Days of Christmas 2011: The Gift of Perfume

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I have a favorite perfume and you can’t get it just anywhere. We order it from the Vermont Country Story, which calls itself “The Purveyors of the Practical and Hard-to-Find.”  Every few years at Christmas, darling husband orders a new bottle of Ombre Rose. It has a light rose top note, but follows with a honey scent and then finally vanilla and sandalwood. It’s more complex than it appears at first, and of all the perfumes I’ve worn over the years, Ombre Rose can consistently be worn day and night without smelling-out the room.

I’ve always loved the bottle which reminds me of Lalique glass from France. Turns out, JC Brosseau copied the original design of another brand of perfume from the 1920s — some web sites say that Brosseau actually acquired the old molds.  In any event, JC Brosseau adapted the design for his own perfume Ombre Rose in 1981.  Apparently the 1981 perfume bottles are sometimes identified as 1920 Mury bottles on ebay.com, so a collector must beware.

Another favorite perfume of many friends is the classic Emeraude. Launched by Coty in 1921, it was the first “Oriental” fragrance and is still very popular today, although the perfume bloggers tend to discount the newer version over vintage Emeraude.  I’d definitely wear Emeraude if it came with this gorgeous vintage dress.

When talking about perfume, it’s impossible to leave out the most beautiful of all the perfume fantasy and imagery. How can one go wrong wearing a perfume entitled Evening in Paris? According to Vermont Country Store, where you can still buy it, “Evening in Paris or Soir de Paris, as it is known in France, came from the daring decade of the 1920s—think glittering nightlife, flapper fashion, the heady perfume of luxury. By the 1950s, Evening in Paris was touted as “the fragrance more women wear than any other in the world,” yet by 1969 it had disappeared.” I would like to be that girl in the Evening in Paris ad just once.

Wow! Last year I skipped five days. I won’t be doing that this year; I have a lot more to share this Christmas. Keep commenting  — I’m glad to see that people are enjoying my commentary on Christmas. 🙂

11 Days of Christmas 2011: Christmas Sweaters

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Just in case you haven’t gotten the memo (or choose to ignore it) from Clinton and Stacey, Christmas sweaters are still alive and well on the internet.

There are blue sweaters.

There are green sweaters.

Closer to Christmas you might want to wear red sweaters.

Or you might be in the mood for black.

Just don’t break the Christmas photo card taboo (or bring your small animal).

Last year at this time I was ranting.

12 Days of Christmas 2011: Living Greener

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In my days of amassing a basement full of “stuff,” I bought a lovely Longaberger silverware caddy basket and received a chrome plate/silverware caddy as a gift. I use both of these regularly for buffet serving on my island, but they are bulky and take up a lot of storage room in my small house.

Image via victoriantradingco.com

Although the Victorians had a specialty serving piece for just about every little job, they also knew that a beautiful mug could do many jobs, including holding flatware for a buffet. Doesn’t this photo of a reproduction carnival glass spooner just make you want to go out and buy it?

I have a collection of Christmas mugs that I often use on the buffet to hold the flatware, and I’m sure that if you rooted through all the pieces you have in the back of your cupboards, you could come up with three or four beautiful pieces that stylistically blend with each other and are about the right size.

In these days of living greener, using what we already have at Christmas is one of my favorite things. Or buy a couple of these stunning spooners. Your life might be richer for their beauty.

Sometimes things are just so simple that you can’t believe you ever did anything else.

Last year at this time, we were eagerly awaiting the birth of our grandnephew, whose first birthday is coming up next week. I’m still glad I’m not 39 weeks pregnant.

13 Days of Christmas 2011: Everybody Needs a Tiara

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When I originally decided to do this series with my Victorian Trading Company catalog in hand, I chose this topic for one of my planned days. Then yesterday, I included Suzanne’s birthday story, so it must be followed today by my own tiara story.

Looking at the beautiful iridescence of Suzanne’s tiara, I wondered if one could actually buy this online. I did my normal Google Images search, and finally found one that appears to be similar.

If this is indeed the same product, this company would do itself a favor by rephotographing that tiara so that it catches the light as Suzanne’s did. Apparently Victorian Trading Company considered this in its catalog photography, since both of these tiaras are photographed alluringly. The girls are so demure that it poses the question if one can actually be demure while wearing a crown.

And then I ran across this — clearly God’s answer to my question.

Why would one want to be demure anyway? And for good measure, God also sent me this photo to brighten a very dismal work day.

At the risk of being irreverent, I have to say that this must be proof that God exists. Now I’m off to grade those essays.

Apparently one of the things I did last year was to visit Crate and Barrel and take photos of table settings. I still hope to do that this year!

14 Days of Christmas 2011: The Wine Cork Montage

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My sister-in-law has a December 26 birthday. Some years I see her and some I don’t, but I’ve always tried to be cognizant of the universe’s joke played upon people who have birthdays around Christmas and get her a birthday present no matter what. I have a July birthday and we usually see each other in August, and she brings me a present from Seattle. Many of our presents are linked to our shared enjoyment of wine. Suzanne bought me a cork cage and together we inaugurated it with some corks from wonderful Washington state wines.

Fast forward to eighteen months later, and my cork cage is full — overflowing, in fact. It’s time to do something with all of those corks; each of them holds memories. Suzanne made bulletin boards out of her corks and I was encouraged to do the same.

Image via collegecandy.com

Unfortunately, I don’t have enough corks to complete the project, but I put the kit on my Christmas wish list anyway. 2012 should be a very good year!

Just in case you decide to do this project too and need some music to accompany your crafting, I’ve chosen four great albums that swing.

FA LA LA LA DOO WOP has performances by The Temptations, The Isley Brothers, Patti LaBelle, Frankie Lyman, and other groups.

It’s Christmas Time is a 1970 remastering of Elvis’s 1957 Christmas album. All your favorites are here, including Blue Christmas.

John Pizzarelli’s Christmas album, Let’s Share Christmas, is a Sinatra/big band/swing band style offering. Quite nice for an elegant party.

My personal favorite of the bunch is Swing Ye Noël with the Ritz Carlton Orchestra. Its rocking swing arrangements of familiar Christmas music will help to keep you merry and bright while you fill up your wine cage this holiday season.

Last year Suzanne wrote about her day as a birthday princess; I think you’ll enjoy it!

15 Days of Christmas 2011: Is It Tradition or Is It Habit?

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My husband and I sat down on Saturday morning and made our list. Who was doing what and what were we doing together? I think that every household must do this at some point or another, and when one celebrates Christmas, it most likely occurs on the weekend that falls two weeks before the big day.

What is a one-person job, and what can and should be done alone? I went to get my blood tests done this morning while NRB wrote the notes for an inspiration he had about a piece he was arranging for Big Band Sunday in January. Together we went to the resale shop and bought the small sideboard/bar that is likely to take us through this house and well into our retirement years in the highrise lakeview apartment/retirement condo to which we aspire some day. We spend quite a while fixing the closet system in the front hall so my tablecloths don’t weigh down the rod. He vacuumed the closet once we finished the rod repair and I put the winter coats on the rack and put the spring and fall coats in the basement. It was finally necessary to switch out the coats because it was 13 degrees when we woke up this morning. Apparently winter has finally arrived in Chicago. I washed last year’s salt off the boot tray. I got a new shower rod and a new shower curtain liner. None of these normal household activities had anything directly to do with Christmas, but they all mean that our “season” is close upon us.

He cleaned behind the furniture and moved the wing chair to the family room so that we can put up the Christmas tree in the living room. I put Christmas flowers in my mother’s antique vase I inherited. The corner is ready for the tree and the low table is ready for the manger scene. As soon as we get the stuff from this weekend dealt with, we’ll pull the Christmas tree and ornaments, the manger scene, the bathroom decorations, the Dickens’ village, and the outdoor wreaths from the crawl space and we’ll be almost ready for Christmas. It’s kind of amazing how it all comes together quickly once we’ve done the prep work.

As I’ve written this year’s 25 Days of Christmas, I’ve found that our lives run in a pretty predictable cycle. I’m trying to make the posts interesting, but really, we are predictable people. We go to work, we go to church, we make music, we take a vacation, we entertain and are entertained, and then we go back to work. We love our kids, our friends, our family, and our lives.

And that’s not a bad thing at Christmastime or anytime. We’ve become more secure in our empty-nester roles; we do what is important for the two of us at Christmas and we accommodate our children’s schedules and Christmas expectations while not putting demands on our grown-up progeny to revisit the past. We’ve talked to friends on the phone about when our children are arriving at O’Hare and when we will get together. We have some wonderful multi-generational get-togethers planned over the next three weeks with friends and family.

I’ve been doing laundry all weekend in the midst of all this busyness — ten loads of my personal clothes have stacked up over the last couple of weeks. I think it’s time to go sit in my recliner and watch my favorite “before Christmas” movie, The Holiday, which includes  visits to England and Los Angeles and Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslett, Jack Black, and Jude Law. What’s not to like?

See you tomorrow with photos of our new acquisition (and it might be decorated for Christmas if I get there). I hope you got something done this weekend! If Christmas has become a habit in your house rather than a tradition, maybe it’s time to rethink. How can you make it fresh and exciting again?

16 Days of Christmas 2011: Christmas Caroling

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Only two shopping, decorating, and cleaning weekends left. Hopefully, we’ll all be accompanied by joy and cheer. Here’s something to get you started this weekend!

I must have been extra busy this weekend last year. I skipped a few days. I’ll leave you with possibly the best Christmas carolers in the universe.

17 Days of Christmas 2011: White House Christmas

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Can you believe it? Seventeen days left? I finally updated my Amazon.com wish list and ordered some gifts. Decorating? Well, maybe later. We’ll see.

One of my personal guilty pleasures is watching the HGTV White House Christmas special every year. I used to make my students watch it, thinking they actually cared about the history and beauty of the White House. Mostly, I got comments ranging from “what a waste of money” to “the White House is a public building and shouldn’t be decorated for Christmas, which is a religious holiday.” There is a certain amount of truth in both of those statements, but for me, watching the White House transformed for the holidays is a very special treat. The year, the special is airing on HGTV on December 11; set your recording devices NOW so you don’t forget.

Image via shelterpop.com

Aren’t they gorgeous? In 1961, Jackie Kennedy began the current tradition of decorating the White House Christmas tree with a specific theme. First ladies since the divine Jackie have put their personal spin on the tree decorations, but most have included handmade ornaments by artists around the United States. First Lady Michelle Obama’s 2011 theme is “Shine, Give, Share.” You’ll see all this on the White House Christmas special, but this photo essay from the Daily Mail has many beautiful pictures of the White House decorated for the holidays.

You’re probably not up for creating a 400-pound marzipan White House replica, but you can cook White House style with this cookbook.

You can buy this 1899 edition of the White House Cookbook through my favorite catalog or from Amazon.com, but you might want to consider the centennial commemorative cookbook which was published in 1996. The 1896 recipes have been lightened up and made more appropriate for modern tastes.

My post from last year at 17 Days was about the Sing-Off which was still a December phenomenon then. It was a lot of fun to watch this year’s version again with my UR buddies; sadly our hometown guys, The Yellowjackets, didn’t win. As you can see from their web site, national exposure has made them stars. We’re pretty proud of our UR singers, including my daughter’s college a capella group, Vocal Point.

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