Tomorrow is the Home Tour!!

I made a bookmark and wrote a little on the children that must have made a lot of noise and played in this house since the late 1890's til now....the original family who built the house had ten children! Our little tree with all the kid's homemade ornaments from elementary school, one of my son's when he was five with his picture...but something ate on it....still kept it....plus new ones made by new children in the family....old vintage beads and little glass balls and my favorite old reflectors that you slip over each lite...these were made during the depression to save on electricity by not using as many lites....they DO reflect alot of lite!! Some new fabric for my sofa throw pillows..... I painted card stock red...then cut out the pattern in a Christmas book of these birds....hung them on the dining room chandelier...added a little red glitter to them of course! I glittered two dozen pinecones!...now hanging on door decor outside....also had some gold ones....I felt like a kid again! A banner that I made with stenciled letters on each card...that was collaged with scripture of the birth of Jesus....my children have requested one that says "Happy Birthday Jesus"...for their house for their children to have each year.....what a treasure to do for them. I couldn't find a pretty Christmassy door mat...so I taped off and old rug I had...beige and dirty....and painted it!! Looks great in front of the door outside.....easy!! A Nativity I got at the local store years ago...it has a button for the kids to push for music and movement of the figures....a favorite with the children and it is up all year. A toilet paper roll Santa made by Kellie when she was in elementary....she is now 38. Yes, I save EVERYTHING... This collage was to honor a friend who gave me our family's favorite cookie recipe..now for 42 years....her name was Sue Ruehle, she was a mother of two boys who took me under her wing when I was a newly wed...in 1966.....she has since gone home to be with the Lord......this recipe was her grandmother's....from Ohio....it is a buttermilk cut out sugar cookie with almond flavoring.....iced with royal icing....I was too tired to make them for the Home Tour!! They are labor intensive.....but delicious and better the older they are.... My friend Mary brought me this beautiful deciduous holly from the woods....she removed all the leaves and we put it in an urn on the guest house porch....it was tall and elegant and beautiful....just like her!! A wooden album I made for the pictures of the history of this old house....and yes....I LIKE RED! These are old photos of this ole house and it's original family from the late 1890's. You will also see a lot of vintage decorations that were from our family...from the fifties...the guest book I made for the Home Tour....the 1950's Firetruck with all it's lites....and some of the vintage mixture of dishes that I love to mix and use. One of my favorite items are the little white celluloid deers....I have eight of them in four windows....they are up all year....I just remove the Christmas balls on the twig wreaths....they are my window treatments in the dining room.....I paid 1.50 each for the deer at a garage sale years ago. I love old dishes....and my dear friend made me these beautiful Queensland placemats one year for Christmas...the red goblets were my Mothers. These are old restaurant dishes with precious desert plates with roses on top...the gold cup and saucer are old gold lustre from the fifties and sixties...the irresdescent pinkish red thumbprint goblets were Dick's Mother's.....the Faux grained table ...eight feet long was made by Richard Hornberger and painted by PJ Hornberger the Folk Artist. I love it.... This is not a Texas deer ......unfortunately....I only paid 65. dollars for him because he is an Ohio Buck....I guess less appreciated here in Texas, but I think he is wooly wonderful....more like a real Santa's deer....don't you? He has a great rack and he used to have a red nose that lit up, but can't get it working! He and his nose are old too.....I love old, don't you? The little Santa and Mrs Santa sleigh has little presents in it that I remember my Mother meticulously wrapping to put in the sleigh, which is rattan....I found it in one of the boxes of her stuff....just another good memory!! The little cross was cross stitched by Dick's Mother years ago in the seventies....it is on top of the tree. Many of the nicer decorations, stockings, twig frame below,patchwork star ornament, amarylis flower, and some vintage Christmas ornaments were purchased at Herman Furniture in Brenham....a great store with a special touch..... OPPS...a little blurry but you get the idea....... I am finally finished cleaning this big ole house....just the downstairs that is....tomorrow is the Home Tour for our little town benefiting our Local Historical Society...whew!!....it was a lot of work, but a joy to do! I had a green light from the Lord....so to speak.....I knew in my heart it was time to open the house up again.....like we did when Dick had his retirement party in 2000. I haven't had this kind of JOY decorating and cleaning in years....my daughter-in-law showed me a book with ideas and we were off to the races!!! We bought ribbon, glitter, made notes of what to use of all my old stuff....and she reminded me to use my WORD TREE(don't have a photo but it is words from the story of the birth of Christ on heavey paper written in black then snow glistened, and on the back is the scripture of where the word is contained...then hung with gold cord...), etc....here are a few pictures of the decorating ideas we came up with....I'm an artist, but not a fabulous decorator....but here goes....just a few photos .....ha!...hope you have a while!..... Just want to share how loved I feel by the Lord....sounds weird I know, but we have been so busy, and with loss of my parents ....and other things.....plus in the last few years we have just raced thru seven years without realizing it....and age doesn't make it any easier....but I've had such blessings from the people around me who continue to love on me and reassure me of His love for me....for us.....all of us.....if we just let Him! We just want to say THANK YOU LORD for all the blessings and the trials...that make us closer and closer to YOU....You are ever faithful and never give up on us!! Enjoy.....especially enjoy the real meaning of Christmas.....you won't believe how pretty the Nativity that Dick made is!!! The prettiest camel will be finished tonite! Que Dios te bendiga!!! Says that God would Bless You!! Learned Spanish as a child .....my heart language.