This year's New Year's sparkle is mainly Christmas sparkle on the second floor.
While this year's Christmas decor on the first floor focused
on natural greenery with minimal other decorations,
the second floor's Christmas decorations are a bit showier,
with a lot more sparkling lights.
In reality, these two artificial trees decorated with aviary themes
remain up and decorated year round.
Sparkling fairy lights ablaze any night of the year...
The trees sit on a wooden landing outside of the
railings of the hallway and the loft over the dining area.
The trees are not in the path of the hall nor
in the space of the loft.
The decorations on the two trees include birds, nests, eggs,
feathers, and bird houses collected over several years.
Many are gifts from friends and families.
Some of the bird's nests are homemade.
One year I made bird nests using
a honeysuckle vine from the back yard.
The vine still was blooming and had some unopened buds.
What a wonderful surprise when the buds bloomed on the tree!
A little natural sparkle that year...
There is also a grapevine that winds around an overhead open beam
decorated with fabric roses and fairy lights.
This photo gives a little better view of how the trees,
a birdcage, and a swan sit outside the railings.
The large birdcage is from my sister's florist/gift shop
she owned in San Diego, California before moving to Texas.
The grapevine swan is from Decorator's Warehouse
and was bought during an after Christmas sale many years ago.
Usually the wooden horse sits next to a railing at the top of the stairs,
but there is a live Christmas tree there now, and the horse
moved to this chair along another railing.
The horse was made to look like a weather vane, but is for indoor use only.
It was found at a local gift store in New Hampshire
about twenty-five years ago.
This view shows the live Christmas tree decorated with only twinkling lights
that is at the top of the stairs.
These first seven photos were taken from the loft that
overlooks the living room and is above the dining area below.
Here you can see both artificial trees and the live tree.
The space between them is the entry into the loft.
The blinding light is a skylight.
Ribbons from the sloped ceiling suspend glass balls,
silver bells, and silver colored reindeer
that also stay up year round.
Over the years some of the suspended ornaments have been
replaced with different ones, but the reindeer have always been the same.
This view is from the hallway with a better look
at the rose decorated grapevine.
The loft is to the right and the stairs down are to the left.
Our house is in the country surrounded by trees.
Two sides of the property are bordered by streets,
and two sides are bordered by neighbors.
Every year people all around celebrate with fireworks
since we live in the country and have no restrictions against fireworks.
There is always lots of merrymaking beginning at twilight
and lasting way past midnight.
Yes, lots of
*s*p*a*r*k*l*e*
every New Year's Eve.
One New Year's Eve I was sitting at my desk on the second floor
and could hear the usual whizzing, popping, and loud bangs
of firecrackers, bottle rockets, and other fireworks exploding.
The desk looks out into the woods toward one of our neighbor's land
that has had as many as three trailer houses on the two acres.
Occasionally I looked up into the night sky hoping
for colorful explosions that accompany some fireworks.
When I saw bright reds and yellows above the treetops,
I thought I was seeing colorful fireworks.
Then it dawned on me that this was not fireworks.
No. Something was on fire.
Immediately I dialed 911 to report the blaze,
and the operator said firetrucks were already enroute.
One of our neighbor's trailers burned to the ground.
Not from fireworks, but from a heater.
No one was home in the trailer when it burned.
That was the year of an extra dose of
*s*p*a*r*k*l*e*
on New Year's Eve.
Fire truck sirens screaming with lights rotating and flashing,
curiosity seekers' car lights lighting up the sky,
and red and yellow flames shooting above the treetops.
We were outside watering down our property with garden hoses
to make sure the fire did not spread through the woods to us.
Way too much sparkle that year...
Soon the second floor live tree will be taken down, but
most of this New Year's sparkle will remain sparkling
all during 2015.
Fairy lights can sparkle any night of the year.
Any sparkle on New Year's Eve at your house this year?
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