Family Time and on Frozen Pond

Here and below, some new bulbs this year in the tree from the Brian Gluckstein Collection acquired
 at a great price on last year's Boxing Day!

Hi all, hope you all had a marvellous Christmas. Ours was quiet and stress free, just hubby, the girls and I for the first time in our lives, the reason being my sister-in-law was flying in from Vancouver yesterday (the 26th), so we are doing the big family dinner tonight. It makes Christmas last longer, don't you think?

We went to early mass on Christmas eve, then we drove around town to see the Christmas lights, one of our traditions. We then picked up Chinese food to eat while watching what else, A Christmas Story of course! This is not a tradition, but it was so much fun I think it might become one.

Christmas morning, we opened gifts. We kept it low key this year, it was less about consumerism and more about things we really needed. (Far be it for me to be sanctimonious, God knows we've had our shares of generous Christmases. This year, we just felt we needed to cut back.) Then we had a lovely brunch of eggs, sausages, hash browns, english muffins and some fruit thrown in for good measure to pretend it was all healthy!

Later we had a swim and a sauna, which was extremely relaxing and soothing for my old bones. We later all got dressed and went to see The Life of Pi.  What a fabulous, extraordinary movie, so well done. Do go see it if you have a chance. It really honours the book. (I couldn't believe how busy the movie theatre was on Christmas day!)

Blue glittered pinecone in a cloche. The wooden plate was made by one of my great-grandfathers.

We then came home and enjoyed a pre-dinner drink. I had a pomegranate martini which was out of this world! We had a Christmas sing-along with my youngest daughter accompanying us on the piano. It must have looked like a storybook picture for the passers-by, however they would have cringed if they had heard us singing "Baby It's Cold Outside", because my husband joined in, and while he has many qualities and talents, the poor man cannot carry a tune to save his life, but it made it even more fun.

One of my favourite ornaments at Christmas

Dinner followed with a French Canadian Christmas theme: tourtière, gravy, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts and sugar pie to finish.

The mantel is slightly different this year. I bought this trio of trees at the thrift. They were painted a ghastly dark green and were wrapped with an ugly gold garland. Took off the garland and repainted them in Annie Sloan Provence, with the base Old White. Love them!

Tonight will be a turkey dinner at our house with hubby's family. On the week-end, we'll be getting together with our best friends to go out for dinner and see Les Misérables, which I cannot, cannot wait to see!

Sideboard in the dining room

So there hasn't been much for me to post about as far as painting furniture etc., I have been so busy painting at the store, but after the holiday hustle and bustle simmers down, I will be back with more. I am really enjoying having both girls at home and spending time with everyone.

My oldest daughter, who is studying web design in university, surprised me with a new header for my blog as one of my presents. We are going to be redesigning the look of my blog based on her concept and I'm hoping to have the big reveal in the New Year.

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Today we woke up to a blanket of white. Here are a few pics I took of "our" backyard and pond, a.k.a. the golf course, so beautiful and quiet this time of year. (I like to pretend it's all ours.)

Do you see the itty bitty red dot in the middle? It's a beautiful cardinal.

Everything is so still.

I just love this view.

Hugs,

Nicole