Christmas at my Home

I thought it would be fun to participate in this online open house at www.boomama.net, while sharing photos from my real life open house this past Saturday. See how that all works together? Nifty, huh?

Saturday night was really fun. There were a little more than 60 people here over the course of the evening. About half of them were folks who had never been to my house at Christmas. It was great to see people, although I didn't get to chat with everyone as much as I would have liked to. In fact, I never said more than "hello" to quite a few folks. I don't know how to address that because, even though I love to talk, I can only talk so much so quickly. Yes, even me. Besides, I think people come to see the main tree as much as anything.



In the sunporch I have three lighted trees this year. The full size one is the Santa tree. When I sit in that chair I can see the main tree in the living room.



It was inspired by this ornament...





To the left of the santa tree in the sunporch is the red and white tree...





This Santa is on the writing desk beside the red tree.



On the other side of the sunporch, in front of the piano, is the pink and green tree.







Under the living room tree, the main tree is where I have all the presents.



There's a theme every year. This year's blue, purple, silver and white was inspired by a ribbon.



The tree looks different exposed for the lights.

Also in the living room I have the copper and gold tree.

In the dining room this year I have a white tree with blue, silver and crystal ornaments.




Beside this tree, on a chest, I have some of my Santas.

I also have this tree in the dining room...

And near it two of my favorite Santas...

This is right behind the table, where I spread out the goodies when I had my open house Saturday night. I love to bake, so I cooked up a number of sweets.




Greg took some photos of folks Saturday night. Some included Ace Jackalope.







I didn't include photos of all the trees or collections, because this post would be even longer. You can see some of the things on the shelves here.

I was so touched Saturday night that Mark and his mom, and Carl and Kris came down from Kansas City for the party. Mia came from Joplin. And, some folks brought me hostess gifts Saturday night that I was so touched by.

Today I relaxed and didn't do a whole lot. We all went to Newton for lunch before they headed to their respective homes, and Greg and I came back to Hutchinson. We had hoped to be able to stop by Teresa's on the way back and see her Christmas tree. That woman can decorate a tree, let me tell you. But, it just didn't work out to do that.

So, I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up a bit and trying to stay warm. This is our first really cold day/night here. It is 9 degrees here now, with a windchill of -23. How can anything be 23 below zero?

Fortunately, I'm not in the wind, although my office, which is on the north side of the house, feels a bit colder than one would expect when storm windows are in place and plastic in addition. I bought some more plastic today to do a couple more windows. This is a price one pays to live in an old house but I just adore my old house so I'll get out the hair dryer and shrink wrap my windows in plastic. In fact, I think the last time I used the hair dryer was for that very thing.

A quick thank you to everyone who came Saturday night and shared the holiday season with me. And to everyone who's sharing the Christmas season with me online. I just adore Christmas and love to share it. Come on over, lets have a cup of tea and watch the lights!

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. My southern fiction novel is complete and I'm looking for a literary agent. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.

I've been neglecting my writing lately - the kind with pen and paper. I've been doing tons of writing at the keyboard, but that is a very different kind of writing.

I moved my writing desk to the east side of my sun porch to make room for the Christmas tree in there to be visible from the street. I also put out these new additions Greg got me for Christmas from Victorian Trading Company. I love that place and I've wanted these for ages. When we were there in October I was looking at them and Greg just got them for me for Christmas.
In addition to the tree in front of the window, I also put my favorite reading chair beside it, positioned so I can see the main Christmas tree in the living room when I'm sitting there. The white tree with the teapot ornaments I showed a few days ago is on the other side of this chair. I can sit there and see all but two of the Christmas trees in the house.



Maybe I should try writing from the chair. It would be different and maybe it would give me a new perspective. I know I need to spend some time with pen and paper. There's a magic you only get with that brain to hand to pen to paper connection.

There was a study I read about a year or so ago that showed that when people do creative writing at the keyboard it activates different parts of the brain than when people do creative writing with pen and paper. I generally do the most creative thinking with pen and paper and then do that actual writing at the keyboard.

It's with pen and paper that I do all of my soul searching. I could have told researchers it involves your brain differently. But, I guess they wanted something a bit more scientific than some woman in Hutchinson Kansas telling them... that whole proof and brain scans and such.
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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.

Time Going Quickly

The Christmas season is zipping by much faster than I want it to. It's only two weeks until Christmas now. It always happens this way. No matter how early I start, I'm still decorating up until the last possible moment before I start entertaining and then it seems I just don't have enough time to enjoy everything.

There's something magic to me about everyone else also being in the holiday mood. That increases my own joy. I have considered starting to entertain in November, but I don't think others would be in the mood for that.

Last night was Creative Sisterhood and Julie and Teresa stayed for awhile afterwards and just enjoyed all the trees. Teresa mentioned she thinks my main tree is more sculpture than Christmas Tree. Truth be told, the tree really isn't visible - it's encrusted with ornaments. She said surely there would be museums or shopping malls that would pay me to come and create a tree for them. That would be a cool job. I wouldn't want to do but a couple each year, because they take many hours, but it would be fun to see people enjoy them.

I love to share the decorations with people so it was fun that they stayed around to enjoy them. It's really the only time I've had people over in the evening this season since I've had everything done. Generally I do a lot of gatherings but I just haven't had the energy this year. I am really looking forward to my open house Saturday, and the kid's event next week, but I don't have anything else planned.



So far this season I've been pretty solitary, and it has suited me up until now, but I am looking really forward to having friends over Saturday night. Parts of my life feel very out of control right now, and I'm spending part of every day putting myself back together after the world tries to tear me apart. But every moment I don't have to interact with the world I can be devoted to pure Christmas joy.

We only get so many Christmases in a lifetime and I want to enjoy every one of them. I've been steeling myself since Jim's death in January, knowing that this year that would be hard in some ways. But, I know Jim would have appreciated that my holiday excessiveness makes me happy. He would have thought I was a little off my rocker, but if it made me happy to go for it. Our mother and Jim were very alike in that regard. I guess Jackie and I have a lot of that in us too - the "if it makes you happy and doesn't hurt anyone, go for it" approach to life. It's not a bad way to live.

I'm realizing I have very few evenings left in which to go look at Christmas lights around town. I haven't done that at all since things got full force underway. I was waiting to do it with Greg and I realized today that I'm not going to have much opportunity to do it next week so I think I'll not get much of that done this year. But, I have my own decorations to enjoy and they make me very happy.

Last night I pulled the couch out into the middle of the living room, got a Christmas pillow and a quilt, and went to sleep looking at the Christmas tree. I always wake up a bunch of times during the night, and when I woke up a couple of hours later I turned it off and went upstairs to sleep the rest of the night. But, it was a really nice way to go to sleep. I'm thinking I may do the same tonight.



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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.

Beautiful Foolishness

"Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things."
                                             The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura



This weekend I was taking photos of some of the Christmas trees around the house, including this one. I realize these things are "beautiful foolishness" but they make me happy, as do most things that would fall into the "beautiful foolishness" category.

I've practically stopped watching the news, which is filled with one story after another about the horrible economy. I think it would be so much better to focus on what's right with the economy. Wouldn't it be better if we could all focus on "beautiful foolishness" for awhile?
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Lunch with Jade at Country Rose Gifts and Tea Room

This is Jade, who I met this spring. We've gotten to know each other a bit over the past year and I've really enjoyed it. She is a hard worker, a wonderful volunteer, and a terrific person. She just started a new job at the chamber recently and they were so smart to hire her. She will do amazing things there.

Jade just returned from England, where she was part of a Rotary exchange program. I was so thrilled she got to go. Going abroad is always life-changing, and it certainly was for her.

She arrived at lunch today with a package. Well, we both did. I had bought a little ornament for her some weeks ago. I love to give people Christmas ornaments. She handed me her package and said, "this is just a little something." I said, "well, so is this - a very little something."

But, Jade was not telling the truth! What was in the package was a treasure. A beautiful, incredible treasure - not just a little something. It was this...



...  a Wedgewood teacup and saucer she bought when the group toured the factory in England. Isn't it stunning?!?!?! I'm so in love with it that I haven't even begun to consider drinking tea out of it. So far I've only photographed it. I had to rush to do that when I still had daylight so it would be shown off as beautifully as possible.

It was all the more perfect that we were having lunch at Hutchinson's new tea room, The Country Rose Gifts and Tea Room. It is perfectly charming. The food was good, the decor great and the service pleasant.



It's at 519 North Main, and well worth a visit.



The owner has done a great job with making it cozy and attending to the details.









They had a tree decorated that I just loved, with real tea cups. I have a tree with tea ornaments, but it just never occurred to me to create one with real tea cups. How could I possibly have never thought of this? Theirs was just beautiful.







They have a brewed tea ready each day, or you can choose the tea bag of your choice and they'll bring you your own pot of hot water, with a warmer underneath. I went with that since I can't have caffeine.



Tea always tastes better in a pretty cup. I can't wait to see how it tastes in the Wedgewood cup Jade brought me from England.
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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.

Friends Lovely Friends

Saturday Susan and Cynthia surprised me with a visit. Considering they live more than a three-hour drive away, I was touched.

They also came bearing gifts. Very special gifts. Cynthia took this photo of me excitedly opening one of the gifts she brought, and wearing the other one. The pin I have on was a gift from her. I have a deep love of old costume jewelry pins, and I love star shapes, so it was perfect.

Another thing I have a tremendous love of is what was in this box.



Yes, hand-embroidered antique linens, with hand-crocheted lace. Wonderful. But, Cynthia had made them extra special because they were lavender scented. How beautiful is that?

Susan also had a surprise for me... something she had made herself...



An ornament she had paper pieced. It's another perfect gift... I love ornies... I love ornies people make. I labeled it with her name on the back so now I can add it to the tree.

I'm always so impressed with people who are great gift-givers. I try to be. Sometimes I'm more successful than others, but I guess we all are. But, I'm always charmed by people who can come up with the perfect thing.

Susan used to live in Hutchinson before moving to Valley Falls to her husband's family farm. Cynthia, who lives about an hour away from her, I have known for years from journaling lists online. After Susan moved to that part of the state I knew they should get to know each other. So we've all been to tea together and had some other outings. They were both able to come to the Ramona get away in April.

It was great to visit with them a bit and to also give them their Christmas presents. When Greg and I were in Kansas City in October for the Obama rally we made a stop at Victorian Trading Company, which I just love. I found these adorable tea pot ornaments and immediately snapped three of them up - one for each of us. I love having ornaments on the tree when I know other people have the same ones. There's something about that shared experience that really appeals to me.

Well, I hadn't even wrapped their gifts yet. They were still in the cushioning they had wrapped them in at the store. But, I didn't want to miss the chance to give them to them in person.

It was so nice to see them and I was so touched by their remembrances. They are things I will cherish.
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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.