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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

Noël Neige

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Neige 
(Snow)
on Christmas Day...

There is something magical about snow on Christmas day.
Especially in Mansfield, Texas...

Until Christmas this year, 1975 was the last time it snowed on Christmas Day 
in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.

I stopped cooking and just stood watching the snow fall,
mesmerized...

BIG fluffy flakes, freewheeling across the sky...
made the snow look like a movie scene. 

What is more Christmas-y than a green wreath dusted with snow
on a red bench?

The lights and lantern at the front door with snow...
Another magical Christmas scene...


How beautiful to see snow through the breakfast windows!

Christmas Day 2012
Filled with magical snowy moments...



Bleu Noël Scenes

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Joyeux Noël to everyone
Christmas lasts for many days at our house.

noël
Christmas scenes in Paris, France...
Paris Tourisme creche information
For Paris creche scenes,
go to Paris Tourisme creche information.

To see more beautiful scenes of Noël á Paris,
go to the Paris Tourisme site.

christmas
scenes at my house are simpler than ones in Paris.

Over the years I've decorated at Christmas using
bleu (blue) with rosy reds and mauves.
A very dear friend of almost forty years
made the wooden hand-painted sign,
one of my very first blue-colored Christmas decorations.
She gave it to us for Christmas about twenty-five
years ago, and it is a treasured part of my
Christmas decorations every year.

On Christmas Day,
we enjoyed a traditional American Christmas lunch
of turkey and dressing with family and close friends.

The dining room table and chairs were
decorated by my sister, a professional florist.
  Using left-over bead board, she built the wooden box planter
on Christmas Eve.

She filled the planter with roses and lilies from the local grocery.
The greenery is from her yard and my yard.

The Fitz & Floyd china, Renaissance Blue, was found years ago
at their warehouse sale when they moved warehouse sites
in the Dallas metroplex.
This truly was a warehouse sale...
The greatest bargain in my life...
Sample prices... Sugar bowl...$1.50
Gravy boat with under plate ... $5

The stainless steel flatware with gold beading is a Towle pattern.
The china pattern is discontinued, but 
Replacements, Inc has this pattern.
(For a lot more than $1.50 for a sugar bowl...)

The reindeer place card holders are from Pottery Barn years ago.


The blue crown was from my sister last Christmas.

Hand-carved wooden Russian Father Frosts stand
at each end of the floral arrangement.


Blue baubles and greenery tied with Noël ribbon adorn the chair backs.

With such a beautiful flower-filled dining room,
I don't want to remove the decorations.

Special memories leap to my mind as I
look at the beautiful flowers my sister arranged and 
as I look at the treasured Merry Christmas sign made by my friend.
One can see why Christmas lasts 
for many days at our house.


Joyeux Noël Home Tour Day 1

Sunday, December 9, 2012


Joyeux Noël
A country French Christmas in the making...

Bienvenue (welcome) to my home.
Fresh greenery, Santa, and French-inspired themes 
(fleur de lis, crowns, Eiffel towers, French prints...)
 await you!



French Children's Alphabet Christmas Decor

Saturday, December 1, 2012


In the mid-nineteenth century,
Paris had about 140 
passages couverts de Paris
(covered passages)
for shopping. 


Passage des Panoramas 

is one of about 40 passages that still exist in Paris today.