this year, dan & i decided not to have a Christmas tree – no doubt Mr. Deuce would destroy it. but Christmas trees don’t have all the fun! i found other ways to add a little holiday cheer to our place.
dan’s mom gave us an evergreen garland, which i put on the mantel and adorned with brightly colored ornaments and round, pink LED lights (i love round bulbs! they are so much cuter than the traditional bulbs). vintage candle Santa & his reindeer keep the garland company (my mom gave us these). there at the far right of the mantel, is an old photo of me & my siblings – it’s one of my favorite family photos. we were lucky this year – all five of us + spouses + kids were able to make it to Mom & Dad’s the day after Christmas.
i bought a tiny Christmas tree for the buttersquash table – which was perfect for my collection of mini-ornaments. the tiny, painted wood ornaments are my favorite – they are so simple, classic & adorable. my grandpa Beckwith made this nativity stable, and my grandma Beckwith chose the nativity figurines. this was one of their treasured traditions for their children and 17 grandchildren. (i tried to tape Santa & his reindeer to the top of the stable, but those secular candles refused to stick!)
last year, i hung my handmade stockings from the fireplace – not a good idea if you like fires as much as i do. the poor things got a good singeing. so, this year, the stockings found a safer home. the skater and the elf are still my favorites.
without a real tree, i had a lot of extra ornaments. so, i threw them in a glazed bowl on the coffee table. the urban outfitters catalogs next to them are wintry, and always have such luscious photography – i think they complement the frostiness of the blue ornaments. our kitchen windowsill is deep, so i usually clutter it up with pretty stuff, like hydrangea (an october birthday present from my mom – as dried poofs, they add some warm winter to the sill), and holiday cards. you can find the friendly snowman and snowwoman salt & pepper shakers at generic places like Target – but that doesn’t diminish their cuteness. i mean, look at them! they’re so round and smiley!
this is our holiday card this year. i kind of rediscovered the pencil recently – falling in love with its rich gray tones again. i never really got into super nice drawing pencils – give me a 0.5mm mechanical pencil, and i’m a happy girl. it’s both impeccably precise and smudgeable. i printed the drawing on wintry blue card stock. i had limited supplies, so i wasn’t able to send as many as i would have liked…
this has been such a great Christmas. happy holidays, happy winter 2010!
a few things that make my heart go pitter-patter: drawing, Sakura Micron pens (size 005), pretty things, writing, smart design, science, boots, soup, Gilmore Girls, a knockout playlist, crispy bacon, 
Your new site is fantastic!!!
thanks, Ka! i have more work to do on it yet, but i figured i should just go ahead and launch it! let me know if you have any suggestions & stuff!