Merry Christmas!

These hand-carved wooden Santas are my Christmas favorites. They are carved by Herman Hollins (e-mail: folkart@aol.com). He lives in the Richmond area, and Willie introduced me to his beautiful work. The Santas actually look like Herman, the artist. I have collected many of them throughout the years, and I like spreading them all throughout my house.

It's December the 21st - Courtney's 30th Birthday!

We celebrated Courtney's birthday in Richmond at the

Jefferson Hotel where Courtney & Chris had their wedding

reception.

It's beautifully decorated for Christmas, and it's such a joy

to stay there at Christmas time.

Christmas Decorating Continues

At our house we have a VERY large collection of Christmas decorations. I'm working on sorting them out, passing them on to friends and family or donating. In the meantime, I am still searching for places to put all the decorations.

Our family room tree is pretty funky with round big brightly colored lights and decorations collected over the years. It gives off a warm andhappy light, and it's fun to watch TV in this room with the tree lit.

The dining room buffet has the white Vietri santa, and I love his simplicity. My friend Verna introduced Vietri (imported from Italy) to me, and now I just love that too.

The window with shutters at the stairway was calling out for a wreath. You may recall that I found these old shutters in Rehoboth at a cute little antique store (Early Attic). They were in my garage for 3 years, and then Jan suggested that we get Steve (the iron worker) to make us a window. So we did, and it was installed. I found the artifical wreath at a very cute little store in Vienna called Peartree Cottage (small, but oh-so-cute). Jan hung the wreath for me using one of those Command hangars (they are sticky on one side and then they should be able to come right off leaving no mess). It takes a village sometime to get a project done.

Upstairs in the hallway I placed my big Santas from Nancy Thomas. She is a folk artist here in Virginia, and Willie introduced her to me. I have collected her prints for many years now. For the moment, I like the Santas standing guard against my library wallpaper.

With Christmas just around the corner, we are almost done decorating. Bob takes care of the exterior, so we are pretty lit up there too.

Decorating for Christmas

Rosa picked up another floral arrangement at Alexandria Market this morning. The designer is Linda Hunter (ld3king@aol.com), and she is at the Saturday market in Old Town. For $65, I consider it quite a steal. They last a long time. The market starts way too early for me, so thank you, Rosa, for picking this up for me.

Courtney's 30th Birthday Celebration

We spent the weekend in Richmond celebrating Courtney's upcoming 30th birthday! We had a lovely party at the Jefferson Hotel, and it was decorated beautifully for the Holidays. Courtney and Chris had their wedding reception here two years ago, so we are particularly fond of the hotel. Bob and I had a great suite for this visit!