happy new year!

white quince branches, prosecco, friends ...
photograph by jeff mcnamara

kindling bundles

so glad I stashed away a few bundles of kindling from The New General Store holiday sale...these are days to keep the fireplaces going!

merry christmas to all + to all a good night!

Cedar trimmed stairway

A cedar roping trimmed with berries and herbs and hurricane shades with votive candles on the steps are a beautiful holiday look for this country house stairway...
photograph by Wm P Steele

Christmas lunch setting

A natural look for the table means a few simple touches such as votive candles, crates of mossy paperwhites and packaging with a bit of red and greenery...photograph by Wm P Steele

christmas films to get in the mood

I have a list of favorite Christmas movies that I look forward to seeing each year,to keep me wrapping and cooking and getting ready for the family invasion Christmas eve...Here are my top 10!

White Christmas
The Holly and the Ivy
Christmas in Connecticut(1946)
Its a Wonderful Life
Little Women
Miracle on 34th Street
The Bishops Wife
Joyeux Noel
A Christmas Carol
Love Actually

the Christmas tree

A family tradition for my brother Dennis is to decorate his old pickup truck with a red bowed wreath for the season and take the kids for an outing to find their Christmas tree ... photographs by Wm P Steele

berries + branches

Simple greens with branches and berries are perfect for this 18th century
farmhouse...love the black berries from the privet hedges to tuck into wreaths
and fill the small woven basket on my front door...
photographs by Laura Resen

Christmas at Terrain

I made a field trip to Terrain to do some Christmas shopping and meet up with friends for lunch
and loved every minute of it from the winter garden setting to the cafe lunch to the gifts I found for my list (and myself)...favorites were the candles in old mason jars lining the windows, hot bread from the oven baked in flower pots, the natural green trees and wreaths and the firepit with log stump seats with vintage blankets ...found lots of hard-to-find gifts for designer friends with beautiful natural packaging and great ideas to take home from the styling and presentation
of the greenery and simple sophisticated country decorating for the holidays...
www.shopterrain.com

a champagne tea

Looking forward to an afternoon gathering of friends for tea and champagne
with ginger cookies, my mother's shortbread, and an angel food cake...

Loved seeing my bedroom mantel styled for Christmas
in the Habitually Chic blog...here are a few more images
from that setting! photographs by John Bessler

Christmas wrappings

vintage ornaments

I add to my collection of cream, silver, pearl, glass ornaments from antique shops, flea markets, yard sales throughout the year and love remembering where I bought them on my travels when decorating the tree each year...

A seaside Christmas

One of my favorite White Christmas stories was created in a seaside setting at Meadowcroft, Long Island ...natural trees, scallop shell lights , pine roping and berries, all looking right at home at this turn of the century country house ...
photographs by Jeff McNamara