Deck the Halls

I could easily skip Halloween and roll right into Christmas decorating mode.
I LOVE Christmas. The warmth and happiness that people have around Christmas. The gatherings of friends for a night out and a few bevies. The enormous dinners with days of preparation. The fun of watching the kids excitement over Santa. The wrapping paper, the ribbons, the decorating..............oh, the fun of decorating.
Last year I decorated for a local shop - five tree's, outdoor planters and several vignettes inside the shop. The addition of decorating clients outdoor holiday planters made the pain of not having our own house finished a little easier to digest. But this year........... it's our turn. This is our very first Christmas at Cardinal House and it will be my test run at the holiday decor. I'm a lucky girl because Richard steps aside and lets me play with the decor {although I might knock him over on the way to hanging a garland or two}.

Terra Nurseries

I decided to gather the greenery for the outdoor planters today and get some of the holiday prettiness started before the weather turns too cold. I'm really not a one stop shop kind of girl, preferring to gather special things from several spots to create the look I want. Today I stopped at Terra Nurseries where they were more than ready for Christmas and I got things started with the basic greenery for the planters.

Terra features a wide selection of prepared greenery baskets or the fixings to create your own holiday masterpiece. A large selection of poinsettia, cyclamen, and lemon cypress start the collection of fresh plants that mix so well with the glitz of Christmas decor.

'Frosty Fern' and poinsettia

Chalkboard inspiration from Terra Nurseries.

Traditional tones of deep red are popping up more than ever this Christmas, and for the first time in a long time I am loving the red accents.
Do you have a theme for your holiday decor? One colour or the whole rainbow? Tinsel or burlap trimmings? Whimsical toy-like decor, natural from the great outdoors, or sparkle all the way?  Share your decor plan for the holiday's and inspire us.

A Day to Reflect

Quietly we stand together to pray and give thanks for those who gave everything for our freedom. 

We pray for Peace.

'Wait for me Daddy' - Claude de Dettloff

Red poppies for Remembrance. White poppies for Peace.

Start the Weekend

It's been a busy week, but it's time to get the weekend started. 

On the menu :
A girls day with my sister. Tap and ballet classes with my Granddaughter. A little grey root cover-up appointment with my stylist. Snuggled up in the media room for a movie or two with Richard. A bit of leaf raking. And a few rounds of the Frozen board game with our Granddaughter.

How about YOU? What's on your weekend menu?

Good Neighbours

 

We have been blessed with good great neighbours. Even before we moved in, our neighbours came out to meet us as we scoped the house out just after we bought it. They've put up with the construction noise and dust, many Bobcat back hoes on the front lawn and our constant chatter about the renovation plans. 

On our first night in the house back in May, our neighbours came over with a bottle of champagne to celebrate our new home. What a nice welcome. They are good people who's company we really enjoy. 

AND a bonus - they have two cats who would wreck havoc on fresh flowers brought in from the garden. What a bonus for me! My neighbour offered some of their hydrangea blooms that are changing colour with the fall weather. It turns out that the sweet little felines would bat the blooms around and make a big mess. Of course I was happy to oblige and bring a few pom poms in. 

I have other hydrangea blooms that I've savoured and protected for about 7 or 8 years. Not kidding.  So it's nice to have some new blooms to dry that are just tipping in to the rich fall colours. The pom poms are big ..... honestly I didn't cut that many. I keep moving the dish around taking pictures in several spots because the colours are like jewels.

We are grateful for wonderful neighbours and thankful that the cats have no appreciation of flowers. Thanks Hilde for sharing the blooms with me. Hugs, K.

Snow White 25 years later

For years I made my children's Halloween costumes. The sewing machine got a good workout with the requests/suggestions for both of the kids. A tiger costume that I made one year for my Son {who is now 33} was worn another eight times by various kids. When my Son saw a picture recently of one of his other costumes he recalled how 'Mom even made a silver guitar to go with the costume'. Heck, I didn't even remember that; but it's nice to know that it created good memories for my children.

I kept a couple of the costumes that I made and one in particular will be re-used this year by my Granddaughter. The Snow White costume I made for my Daughter when she was in kindergarten - 25 years ago. This was a longer sewing commitment than the other costumes and it required a pattern. The sleeves were in nine pieces to get the colour folds and cuff. Even now I recall this one well.

I dug out a picture of Monique in the costume when she was five and showed it to her Daughter, who thought it was a picture of herself in the costume. She was amazed when I told her that it was her Mama, and then wanted to know 'who is the man' {her uncle}. At four Kya is learning the dynamics that we were all children once too.

This is a picture of an actual photograph, so not the best quality. But look at my two kids - I remember the excitement around Halloween, we always had fun with the process all through October getting pumpkins ready and such.

I am thrilled that my Granddaughter wore the Snow White costume this year when she went trick or treating. It makes me teary eyed when she swirls around in the dress, just like her Mama did.

Kya was only five months old the first time she had a Halloween costume. Each one of the costumes has required some sort of sewing, sparkles or adjustments {the hats are always way too big}, and I'm really happy that I can do this for her.

5 months - a ladybug {who brought her Grandpa to tears with her cuteness}
2nd Halloween - a cupcake with a cherry on top hat

3rd Halloween - Madeline. She was the talk of the town - literally.
4th Halloween - Jessie from Toy Story. We had to have the red sparkle boots too.

Snow White crashed on the kitchen floor with her sparkle wand - exhausted from trick or treating.