Christmas Decorating 2019 First Group

It's amazing I was able to do as much decorating as I did as I gave my middle child a whole truckload of some great things I had stored in the garage.

I thought there were 2 bins left, but I gave it ALL to him.

I added some things around the base of the tree and it looks different with the new quilt.

I did save a bin of greens and berries so I was able to add to this vignette to make it Christmasy.

I'm sharing the top 2 tiers of my corner bakers rack that holds some souvenir ornaments and other items that have meaning for me.

I do love adding Christmas cheer and this year it's all in the great room.

I AM A Collector

Not all my collections are out at the same time.
Some of them are too meaningful to get rid of
I put them away to be resurrected in a new way at a later time.

I have had these houses under my tree for 33 -34 years. They were gifts from my son Greg and daughter in law Julie. Greg found a lady who painted them when they lived in Oregon. The only signature on the bottoms is Amber 1985 or 1986. They had been stored away for years.
This year I decided they would be prefect under this tree. AND THEY ARE!
Front and center is a Quilt Shop.
It is so much fun to come up with new ways of using the things I have and remembering how I acquired them.

Favorite Florida Christmas Trees

These are not typical Christmas tree colors. Yet they are perfect colors for the great room decor.

I enjoyed acquiring the glass ornaments for my flamingo tree and also enjoy seeing it decorated. You DO know I collect tasteful flamingos!


These three magenta trees that added the holiday spirit to the master bedroom now reside in my middle son’s pool house.
Over the years I have decorated so many trees. I have not documented each and everyone with photos.

Christmas Decorations 2013

I’m thinking this is a new tree this year. I didn’t take pictures last year.

That is Greta on the lower right. She LOVES to have her picture taken and poses.

Another tree with a display to complement it.

And one more tree!

It takes a family to make put up a village! (and to take it down eventually!)

The table for the younger crowd.

The dining room table.

Dining room buffet

Dining room tree

To be continued!

Oh Christmas Tree, Huge Christmas Tree

When my friend Betty and I went horse hunting, we were in awe of the size of this Christmas tree on the square in Ocala.



Can you imagine decorating a tree this size?


This photo of the gazebo on the square was taken from across the street where the Brick City horse was located.

When I posted the first horse photos on the Town Square I got a message from my friend Mary Nolan in North Carolina. Her late son Dick was an engineer for the city of Ocala and designed the town square. Next time I visit Ocala I'll share more pictures.

This puzzle is especially for Mary, Robin and all of you who have remained nameless to me who are addicted to my puzzles!

Is It Really Christmas Again?

I took a friend who had never been to The Villages shopping in Spanish Springs today.
The Christmas shop had been transformed into a holiday shop - Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, you name it.
It was still the Christmas trees that caught my eye.
This tree was probably 16 feet high.
It would look fantastic in my home, but I don't have ceilings high enough for it.
I also would probably have to sell my house to afford the tree and all the decorations!
I didn't even realize the tree itself was a realistic green as every inch was covered with purple and lime green decorations.



I hope you can get an idea of how heavily this tree was decorated, along with the details of some of the decorations.

I have been in many Christmas shops but this is the most fantastic one I have ever seen. About half the shop is still devoted to Christmas but the rest has a large variety of tasteful decor for other holidays along with some general floral decor. What a treat.

We also visited a lot of the other shops and it was a successful trip as we each found something to buy!

Does It Run In The Family?

And I thought I did a lot of decorating for Christmas!
This is the tree in my son Jeff's entry in their home. Gorgeous!


This is the dining room table with room for 14 members of the family. If you look closely you may see Grandma Sorensen's silverware they use for all holidays. It's a Betty Crocker pattern and I can't remember the name of it.



Here you see Dr. Cooper, Veterinarian, using his computer to explain something about the check up he just did on one of the dogs to Kierstin! You will notice Dr. Cooper practices with bare feet. This is to make the animals comfortable since animals have bare feet!
In the back ground you see the other tables set and ready for dinner.


The buffet table laden with food. Dinner was delicious and of course included the Koeper Family Thanksgiving dressing.

I am only showing you a small portion of the decorations. I took 72 pictures and missed so many things.

The Garden Club Christmas Home Tour First Night

Tonight I welcomed 225 visitors to my home as part of the Garden Club Christmas Home Tour.
The Garden Club puts a tree in front of each home that is on the tour. I couldn't believe how the tree coordinated with my home decor, both inside and outside.


This is my welcoming committee. These are Christmas green signed Don Featherstone flamingos I won on eBay a few years ago. They created a lot of interest. People loved them as the green color was so unexpected and Christmasy.



I didn't do this my myself. I had 4 hostesses and a host helping me tonight. What a festive group they are. They were all delightful and I was so happy to have their assistance.


I enjoyed seeing so many friends and also meeting so many new people. I am looking forward to night 2 tomorrow evening.

Have You Seen The Light(s)?

I lined the driveway with baskets of ornaments. In the bottom of each basket there is a cluster of lights. On top of that I heaped various ornaments with one huge ornament in each basket.



Tonight was the pre-tour for the Garden Club Christmas Home Tour. This was for the homeowners who are showing their homes and all the volunteers who are making this possible.

It was so much fun to see the other homes. Each one was so different than the others. There was a great deal of creativity that went into all of them. It was obvious that there were some extremely talented designers among the homeowners. Photographs were not allowed so you will just have to take my word for it.



I have shown this quilt several times. Here you see it with the purple Christmas tree with the magenta, lime green and black ornaments. On the floor are my cowboy boots filled with holly. Just about everyone who came in stopped at the quilt to admire it and ask questions.



Here is a closeup of one pair of boots.

Lovely To Look At - Christmas At Home

Today was the day to finalize and finish my decor for the Christmas Tour.
I had a friend come over to critique what I had done and find any problems.



One of the last things I did was drape the shower with yards of this gorgeous copper metallic fabric. I waited as long as I could to do this as it means this shower will be out of commission for a while.



I added this arrangement to break up the solid surface.



This is the finished master bedroom decor.

By the way, my friend approved of everything and had only one small suggestion.

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

I am so happy with the way the flamingo tree turned out.
It was not easy to find flamingo ornaments in the stores this year.
What's a girl to do? Turn to eBay where I got all I needed.
This is one of those you can appreciate more viewing close up.
I left the image size large so you can click on it and get a better view.
Actually I try to leave all the images on my blog large so you can click on them.


I had planned on purchasing a new wreath for the front door.
I realized I could create something just as nice so I made this decoration. I am pleased with it and it works perfectly.

Today we put up some of the outside lights. We had to take a few breaks as it was very hot outside. Then it rained so we will work on them again tomorrow.
I'm anxious to see what they look like when it gets dark tonight.

You CAN try this at home!

I put a family photo from Christmases past in each one of these shiny red metallic frames. This is a very simple idea that one anyone can do.
It is not necessary to have red frames. I think displaying photos from the past is a warm fuzzy Christmas decorating idea.



This vignette also includes photos from a past Christmas.
I painted the lampshade to coordinate with the colors in the room. This was a fun project and didn't take much time. This is another thing YOU can do with acrylic craft paints. Just choose a design in keeping with your decor and colors.
The tinsel tree is shiny enough without it's lights so I will not plug it in as the cord would be unsightly.
I needed something to wrap around the bottom to conceal the stand. I looked across the room and there was a shawl I had worn the night before. Perfect color, perfect size!

I am keeping the puzzle easy too. This is a simple cut and one I have never used before.

On the Eve of the Super Bowl: Friends = Fun

I have a group of friends who get together once a month. We start with appetizers and dinner. The hostess provides the main course and each couple brings something. Last night we gathered at my house.

Originally we played a card game. We now have horse races. Everyone enjoys it and the noise level would wake up the baby. Fortunately it has been years since any of us have had a baby!

Ed is showing off the game just like my grandchildren show their presents at Christmas.


Although I only met Pat and Marion when I moved to Florida they have deep Wisconsin roots. Do you think Marion purposely dressed to match my house, quilt and Christmas tree? I'd bet she did!


Ron and Pat were high school classmates of mine in Wisconsin. We now live less than a mile from each other in Florida. I recently found my notebooks from the high school geography class Ron and I were in together. I shared them with him last night!
Pat and I were in the same sewing class as sophmores and learned to use the sewing machine attachments to make aprons.


Lynn and John lived in the same area as we did in Wisconsin. Lynn and my husband worked together. We still haven't figured out which one of them was the boss! We visited them in Florida and all it took was a day in paradise to decide to build our home here. When I moved to Florida I adopted John as my brother. I made a wise choice.


Dorothy and Ed are also former Midwesterners I met when I moved here. They are a fun couple and I'm so glad I know them. I don't think I have ever seen Dorothy without a smile on her face.


Chuck and Mary are also from Wisconsin. In fact when I met Chuck for the first time we discovered he and my sister were in the same high school class. Mary is the Queen Mum of our Red Hat group.

Chuck loves this quilt. Each time he visits he spends a lot of time looking at this and talking about it. I consider that a compliment since he and Mary are art collectors. I am honoring them by making them tonight's puzzle.