xmas, xmas, burning bright

It is Christmas Day, and we are burning down every battery-operated LED in the place… Also, my husband and I aren’t much about big piles of gifts on Christmas, as just typically buy what we want or need when we first have the opportunity to do so. That said, we realized early on exactly how […]

light it up: final chapter?

Today got into the upper sixties, so I picked up a couple more multi-outlet plugs to complete our outdoor display. I wasn’t happy with how the garden lighting looked separate from the house, I think, stemming from the natural cedar tone of the fence. I also split outlets to finally let me light the forsythia […]

nitpicky and curiosity

Today, while making room in the basement for garden furniture, I found the rest of my light stakes, so I tidied up the C-9 bulbs outlining the beds in front of the fence. I feel much better. *whew* Christmas is saved!!! Also, some funky stuff is going on between the new LED walkway lights and […]

light it up, part 2

“I’m quite aware of how ridiculous I am.” – Albert Goldman, The Birdcage There are three distinct whites in LED lighting: pure, warm, and cool. This is the first time I have ever used more than one in the same place. I wouldn’t call it intentional. The faceted C9 LEDs in any decent bulb count […]

light the place up!

While I’ve had trees up inside for over a month, exterior decorations are different. Our family always lit the exterior of the house on Thanksgiving weekend, and I like keeping to that tradition. I admit I’ve never started on Thanksgiving Day. Until today. Two exciting thing this year: First, I found the large LED lightbulb […]

unicorns and glass walls

Be a unicorn: The teal tree that started the unicorn tree last year really needs to be the bedroom tree, so I was on the market for a new unicorn. I’ve always had pink in mind, but the one that set that tone disappeared from the market. Well, from the affordable market. The teal tree […]

therapy: day two

Holiday decorating soothes me. It is a happy place. I’d say more so than gardening, as it reflects all of those years as a floral designer. I had an epiphany yesterday. I have always enjoyed making. I have always enjoyed Christmas decorating. As a florist, I’d put in sixty hour weeks in the warehouse dressing […]

in for a pound…

No more putzing. No more restlessness. No more waiting for 2020 to pass farther by… I’m not quite ready to put up trees; still some big things to shuffle for the season. So I started with the mantle. This is the second year for our expanded collection of Dept 56 All Through the House series […]

make the yuletide gay

Kansas City got its first winter storm early this year, at least, early for my time spent here. The Sunday following Thanksgiving, our wabi-sabi cottage and gardens were covered with four to five inches of snow. Hoping to stay ahead of the storm, I got the house ready for the Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. […]