A Southern Christmas Day Snow :: 2010


We got snow here in Greenville, SC yesterday--it started snowing around 3 P.M.
and stopped around 10 A.M. the 26th!
The last time the was a white Christmas here, it was 1963.
I wasn't even born yet.

So, needless to say, we all were very excited!
It was beautiful!

Here are some pictures from either a door or window, in our home.
This southern Yankee loves looking at the snow, but I don't like getting out in it!































Did you get a white Christmas, too?






Welcome to Our World






Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God.
You've been promised, we've been waiting

Welcome Holy Child.
Welcome Holy Child.


Hope that you don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known!
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home
Please make Yourself at home.


Bring Your peace into our violence.
Bid our hungry souls be filled.
Word now breaking Heaven's silence,

Welcome to our world.
Welcome to our world.



Fragile finger sent to heal us,
Tender brow prepared for thorn.
Tiny heart whose blood will save us,
Unto us is born,
Unto us is born.


So wrap our injured flesh around You,
Breathe our air and walk our sod,
Rob our sin and make us holy.

Perfect Son of God.
Perfect Son of God.
Welcome to our world.




Joyeux Noël ! :: Christmas in the Café


Bienvenue !

Come on in!


Today, I got the cafe' ready for a Fondue Party, simply, and wanted to show you!


When we built this home 9 years ago, we designed the whole basement for my grandmother.
She moved back to Florida, and we turned her Living Room into a Theatre Room,
her Bedroom into an Office, and her Kitchen into the Cafe' de Sous Sol,
which, in French, means, Basement Coffee House.



The curtains in the picture above separate the Café and the Theater Room.
Instead of making a Joyeux Noel banner, I just drew one on the chalkboard wall.




The three tables were a find on Craigslist and came from an old hotel.
The restaurant linens are from eBay.




Ikea shelving. My favorite side of the room.
All the glassware, silver or ironstone was a gift, an heirloom, or thrifted.












A salvage find for $10 from an old home, this wall hutch is perfect 
for holding all our Goodwill vintage jelly jars






Recycle bin.








So, I saw one too many beautiful coffee filter wreaths, and I had to have one, too. 
This one cost me $3 and 3 hours of my time. But, it was worth it.
And what better place for a coffee wreath, than a cafe'?







The black and white graphics are from The Graphics Fairy, whose site I adore.





Last year, my mom brought me my Nativity set from when I was a girl.
Someone must have given it to me, because it is old.
Paper mache from Italy, the pieces, printed on the bottom, are either 19 or 29 cents each.





Can you read French? Neither do I. Google Translate is a handy tool!
In English it reads:
Cheese Fondue
Dippers: bread, broccoli, cauliflower, green apple
Chicken Broth Fondue
Dippers: shrimp, meatballs, chicken
Chocolate Fondue
Dippers: cake, marshmallows, cherries, bananas, strawberries












All these ornaments are from Ikea, and I am so glad my friend, Ann, talked me into them!
The white ones are a mere inch across.
The larger ones resemble coasters. But I still like them, they seem Frenchish, don't they?
Close enough.
What do I know?
Ignorance is bliss.


If you are ever in town, (Greenville, SC), email me!
You are welcome here, so come on by,
I'll leave the coffee on for ya!
Might even bake you some scones!


To see the Cafe' Bath :: Salles de Bain, click HERE.













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Operation Simple Christmas Decorating :: Day 3


Does anyone else start painting or decorating projects right before hosting a party?
Y'all are crazy, too?
Do you give yourselves a deadline, then start a major project?
Y'all are still crazy, too!

I have been very busy, y'all, in the living room.
It got painted and rearranged, and I took furniture and items from other rooms.

This room got painted, new curtains ($4.99 each from the AS IS bin at IKEA),
lamps from another room, new-to-me frames (a barter from my friend, Ann).

There was a lot more furniture in here.
I sold some tables and removed a cabinet off the wall, and here it is today.


Our Living Room, simplified.



I framed some polka dotted paper from Hobby Lobby to bring red in here,
(plus, I couldn't find a map we wanted to frame, yet. Hello, eBay!)


This iron etagere used to live in the cafe',
and the cafe' will be Operation Simple Christmas Decorating ::Day 4.


I paid $1 for this scrolly holder- it held cups in the cafe',
now it holds my collection of vintage postcards from 1901-1915,
sent to a "Miss Minnie Spearman".
I found her album of cards
(she saved cards from all the seasons and holidays) at Salvation Army.



Cloches are a must.
Aren't they?


The cloches/houses on plates came from Wal-Mart a few years ago.
Can you believe I got them for $5-ish each when they were 75% off?!?!




 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night.
An angel of the Lord appeared to them,
and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.
I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;
he is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths
and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,
praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

A reminder.




Greenery, courtesy of my arborvitae.
The steel blue stockings? The Dollar Tree!





The larger picture is of my daughters, Miss S and Miss A, in 1994.
The smaller picture: me and my sister in 1970.
I think my daughter, Miss S (standing in rear picture),
favors me as a little girl (I am on the lower left).
Well, she still favors me. Poor thing.


We have one television in our home, in the basement theatre space.
 But, I couldn't part with this armoire yet.
It is an Ethan Allen (probably the only piece I own with a "pedigree"), 
and I earned it from a staging job, and it holds one of my best birthday presents yet.
The sound is a-mazing! You need one.
We got ours, including the iPod, off Craigslist and saved 2/3 the cost.


I love birds and cages and lights.


These vintage Hartmann suitcases DO get used.
See here.



The rooms done on Day 2.


Merry Christmas!



The next space will be the French-ified basement Cafe' de Sous Sol.

Stay tuned!

I pray you all are having a wonderfully blessed season, so far.
Never be too busy to smile or to be courteous or to show love.








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