Having a toddler means that everything else in life takes a lower priority. This means that things don't get done with the same, shall we say, punctuality as they did previously. And this is fine. This is as it should be.
So it is that our holiday decorations are getting done at a much more leisurely pace this year. It's also a year for experimentation. How, after all, do you decorate a house in which there lives a tiny, manic, paper-eating hurricane of a 15-month-old? Interesting question.
Last year, our first Christmas in this house, we decided to take advantage of the lovely old windows of the "mud room" and decorate the front of the house with paper snowflakes, lanterns and vintage glass ornaments. It was so beautiful that we're make a tradition of it. This is the advantage of having a hundred-year-old house. Well....at least half of it is 100 years old. The other half is only five years old, turning our tiny, narrow, one-level Denver Square into the bright, open, loftlike space that we fell in love with at first sight.
After much deliberation, it finally dawned on us that the mud room was, in fact, our solution. Separated by a heavy door from the main house, with windows much too high for tiny fingers to reach, it's the perfect showcase for our 1960s glass ornaments. It is also ju-u-ust wide enough to hold a modest-sized but full fir tree, visible from the outside when you come up the walk, and from the inside through the livingroom window, but inacessible to our tiny Jiangsu hurricane unless we escort her there.
Q and I cut the paper snowflakes together this year (paper is her favorite toy, snack, and teething utensil, and she was happy as a clam in a big, snowy pile of clippings!) and the deep freeze came just in time to frost over the mudroom windows, and turn the front of the house into a fairyland.
Phase 1: complete!
Next, on to the tree...

Brissac, France...with marvelous hats!

...I can't imagine why I've never noticed them before. I suppose we didn't have as many in the mountains. We had some, of course (for the bears to eat!) Just not in such concentration or profusion as here in the old part of the city, amid the old-growth trees and stately rose gardens. Here, every other house has berries - red, flame-orange, inky blue...some the delicate shade of a frosted rosehip. I just noticed them this fall and now I can't get over them. Our own house has stunning roses (which bloom every year with absolutely no help from me!) but no berries.
Maybe next year.....

The old Tuba City Truck Stop, Tuba City, Arizona.

What I remember:
My grandfather, born in Den Haag, Holland, educated in England, met his future wife in Florence, Italy where her French family had moved when her father became a professor at a Florentine university. Though my grandmother was engaged to someone else at the time, they fell madly in love and were married within a year. They returned to Den Haag where their first child, my mother, was born, and later returned once again to France. An engineer by trade, my grandfather was able to obtain work in the US when war broke out in Europe, and France was invaded. The family relocated to Dobbs Ferry, New York, and eventually to Woodstock, where they would settle for many years, before returning to France later in life. While in the US, my grandfather invented a cooling system for early computers (the enormous ones that took up an entire wall). His invention turned into an thriving business, and he spent a great deal of time lecturing abroad, including Asia. Raised in Catholic schools, my grandfather had in his adult life adopted a form of Buddhism, which practice he brought even to his professional life, so Asia held a special place in his heart. He brought home gifts from the East, fans, pearls, kimonos, the ubiquitous gilded statues of Buddha which inhabited both home and workplace. This picture was taken at one of Woodstock's famed summer costume parties. I love that he was man not afraid to wear a kimono and eyeliner.

Hard to believe, but it would seem that the holidays are upon us. In spite of finding the perfect gift for our Q on Pia's website, I still have a few favorite gift ideas floating around, and maybe they'll be useful to someone else!
I absolutely covet these made-to-order, papered resin deer heads (no deer harmed!) with a keyhole hanger concealed in the back. If I had the space and the discretionary funds, I would have several. Just gorgeous. Out of London by way of the Etsy shop of rubyslounge

Obviously, I'm a camera junkie, and I can't resist a few prints from some of the most exciting contemporary photographers out there. From the Etsy shop of matchstickgirl (www.francesjmelhop.com), an illustrator and fashion photographer who works in fairytale-infused style with a bit of an edge. These are original polaroids from her fashion shoots at a castle on Lake Como. I love the edgy style mixed with the sepia tone of another era. Not inexpensive, as you can imagine, but if you can afford it....



Always a staple for me when the holidays come around...Gift tags from the Etsy shop of Bluebirdlane, which carries a vast selection of vintage-look tags, cards and journals.

Ah, Polaroids. What don't I love about them? We had quite a few when I was growing up, and I still love those photos the best by far...the most stylish, the most romantic, the most moody. So I had to include the photography of one of my favorites...the translucent, buttery images of Jenifer Altman at nectarandlight.typepad.com. This image is an 8x8 archival print of a Polaroid Land Camera, available at her Etsy shop under the seller name fieryeyed.
I am (as many are) an avid follower of Maddie's blog, persistingstars.blogspot.com
Her images always strike a chord in my heart. I have this one, so I had to put it in here. Available at her Etsy shop couragemylove.
Since becoming a mother, wooden objects have become especially dear to my heart. My father used to carve toys for me by hand, with love, and those were always the most precious.
Hence this hand-carved buck and doe deer from the Etsy shop of SandraHealy . These are individually carved and painted with water-based inks. Each is just the right size to cradle in the hand, as, to my mind, should any hand-carved object be.
I am a great fan of HidenSeek’s mysterious and slightly dark illustrations. This one is called “seduction” and tagged with the description “I’ll tame you”. She makes art prints, cards, buttons, etc and has an Etsy shop as well as a website at http://HiddenEloise.com


Mustache on a stick from Etsy shop of somethingshidinghere . Because, who doesn’t need an instant disguise now and then? Last Christmas my entire family wore mustaches on Christmas day...even the babies. It was marvelous, and made for the best set of Christmas pictures ever.


I've never been a big fan of eating off plastics, and even less so for my child's sake. This cherry wood child's place setting from palumba.com is the perfect solution. As easy on the eye as it is on the body.
For the sake of sheer luxury, vintage Moroccan Beni Ourain carpets at the beautiful blog of Maryam at My Marrakesh (moroccanmaryam.typepad.com) Absolutely gorgeous and lush and exotic in any number of settings.


And finally...Wyatt the knitted bear from the Etsy shop of simplijessi . Hand-knitted with a natural wool blend and washable eco-friendly stuffing.