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!
greens cut from the bottom of the tree and
cedar greens from the yard...
The front entry is ready to receive both you and
Christmas cards (I hope!)
The basket on the vintage folding chair with its
preserved boxwood bouquet has a few cards,
but I hope there will be many more.
Family and friends, are you reading?
The entry wreath with its fleur de lis ribbon is faux greenery.
But the shoe last decorating the wreath is the real thing...
Found in Florida at an antique store...
Would you like to freshen up a little after your journey?
A guest half-bath outfitted with a vintage pine wash stand and mirror
is located near the entry.
Santa towel, soaps, and a framed old Santa Christmas card welcome you.
Santa is holding holly and a bird's nest with three little blue eggs.
Makes my heart glad...
The sun is fading this treasured print of the Ussé chateau
that I brought home from France years ago.
On to the kitchen, a Christmas decorating work in progress...
It's always a work in progress, mostly washing dishes, cooking,
washing dishes, cleaning up craft projects, washing dishes...
White beckons to me and beguiles me this year every where I look.
White poinsettias this year instead of my usual pink variegated ones...
A blue hand-carved wooden Father Frost... and a cement Santa...
The cement Santa looks very French (well, maybe Russian) to me...
He and his trusted iron elk sitting on the stovetop
were not these colors in the beginning.
A little spray paint, layered a little at a time, in more than one color,
turned them into colors that make my eyes clap their hands.
A little fuchsia glass bird ornament is making a nest in a small creamer.
Look how overjoyed the hot chocolate Santa tin is to see him!
The little bird is peeking out to see if Christmas has arrived.
The breakfast sunspace is my favorite "room" in my house.
These photos are from a couple of years ago because
my fresh real tree isn't up yet.
The opposite end of the sunspace is decorated and
has glass snowflakes hanging in the window.
The local weathermen are predicting possible
snow flurries tonight or tomorrow
for North Central Texas. I'll believe when I see them.
The breakfast room opens to the end of the living room fireplace.
French doors in the living room look South out to the backyard.
A quick peek at the second floor with photos from a couple of years ago...
The two bird-themed artificial trees stay up year-round, so the look
doesn't change much from one year to the next.
This view also includes the stairs to a third-floor loft.
Looking down at night on the bird-themed trees and
the loft on the second floor
with its porch swing overlooking the vaulted living room...
One last look at the beautiful white poinsettias in the breakfast sunspace...
Please come back later this week to see the living/dining room decorations.
Thanks for dropping in....
Merry Christmas
