Christmas at the Cottage 2013

Christmas Season 2013 has arrived!  We actually decorated our house way back before Thanksgiving, but I've been working on making so many gifts, I haven't had time to take, edit and post the pictures of our decorating until now!

Our back gate basket all tucked up with greenery and snow.

The back door gets a festive multicolor ornament wreath.

The front porch gets a double layer of garland, ornaments and greenery in the window boxes, and big jingle bows on the evergreens in their urns.

A closer look at the festive front porch.

A look at our entry this year.  I decorated it almost identically this year as I did last year.  I figure...if you like something, why change it?  However I have also been trying to add new decor and areas of festive holiday sparkle to other areas of the house this year!

I really love this bust...she was a discovery at the Rural Society Antique and Garden Show a couple of years ago, and her joyful eyes and small smile always cheer me.

You can also see the deer-handled bowl I love to use at Christmastime.

The bunting I made from vintage Christmas Carol sheet music.  And kissing mistletoe.

Chimera, our cat gargoyle, protects our garden beds in the warm months, but in cold winter months he stays warm inside, festive for Christmas.

 In the dining room, we tucked the table that's normally in our bay window into the corner, adding a plate with glittery snowflake candles.

Snowflakes are the theme in this room.  

...but last year the blue and white and glittery snow was just a little too cold compared to the warm colors in the rest of the house, so I added a few pops of red to help cheer things a little.

The kitchen's Christmas cheer comes from a couple of snow scenes inside old glass jars.  And of course our British Santa!

In the living room, I added more greenery and our gold pinecone ornaments to the fireplace chandelier.  I wanted to find a couple of hefty pottery vases for the mantel vignette and put branches there, but I just ran out of time for this year.  Maybe next year!

The gorgeous final papercut from Niroot Puttapipat's Night Before Christmas is out on display for all to admire.

A faerie proudly holds an Art Nouveau ornament that proudly proclaims "Noel."

A mixture of white lights, ivy, holly branches, and poinsettia spill across the top of a bookshelf in the living room.  

A medieval Christmas book and my Grandma's handmade quill paper ornament (too delicate for the tree) add a touch of Christmas to a side table.

Our Labyrinth door knocker on the way into our Geek Room got a new Christmas hat this year, thanks to a garage sale find.

Even the downstairs bathroom gets a festive needlepoint and a music box rocking horse.

Our household Tomte, made for us by Deborah Bowes, guards the landing and the household as a whole.

Even the door to the upstairs bathroom has tinkling jingle bells waiting to sound out the season.

The upstairs hallway has a new bookshelf under the Ophelia artwork on the wall, and I decided to try displaying my fiber tail (and some feather tail) clip-on glass bird collection just on this tree.  I really like it, though I think I need to get a larger tree for next year.  

Every year Tom and I get a new bird for our collection when we go to the Granville Candlelight Walking Tour.  This year it was the robin peering at the camera in this picture.

The Dreaming Room is my guilty pleasure space in the house, where I work on my art projects and...well...dream!  

I added a couple more small holiday tree vignettes to this room.

The bedroom tabletop has a little bit of glittering holiday greenery.

The branches above the windows are hung with openwork gold ornaments.

And so are the branches in the corner.

While we're here, I took a better picture of our new woodland owl lamps.  In case you can't tell, our bedroom is done in shades of gold and lavender, and is enchanted woodland themed.

Our reindeer were bought last year at Christmas, but they stay out year round.  See Tom's anniversary hares, up on the wall?  

The bottom of the tree bed gets wrapped in gold ribbon, and hung with a gold-trimmed wreath.

An overall shot of the room:

And a close up of the ornaments on the branches:

Two last shots of Christmas lights at night...first the greenery on the bannister:

...and finally the star of the Christmas show in every home, the tree!  We do colored lights, and our ornaments are an eclectic mix of Spider-man, childhood nostalgia, Disney movies, and more.

Tom and I both really enjoy stuffed animals, but I tend to tuck them away from most of our decorating for most of the year.  Christmas is our time to shamelessly let them out into the limelight.

And there you have it!  Catty-Corner Christmas 2013.  Happy Holidays to one and all!