Playing House

I can remember being a little girl and loving all things home.  I love to watch my Mom prepare for each season, each holiday.  I loved that my growing up home was cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  Dinner was always at 6:00 and home felt calm and peaceful. My Dad found the perfect Christmas tree each year and spent a whole day stringing it with tiny colored lights and candle lights from Sweden.

I can remember how much fun it was almost 20 years ago now when Scott and I bought our first house.  Oh how I loved that tiny colonial with the red door.  In 1996 I started playing house, in my own home, and I still am.  

This October I didn't walk around and take photos of every single Halloween decoration.  Just a few things that I love.

~Emma Bridgewater 'Year in the Country' mug and my October afternoon tea



~ tray, creamer, and sugar bowl from my grandmother ~ tea pot given to me by Anna last year Christmas ~

~ blue plates on the wall from my Aunt Kathy ~ from all around the world and long ago telling a family love story so good I have to blog in one day ~



~ painting above my tea cart painted by my Dad (I didn't really take a photo of it but had point it out... little bird in the snow ~



~ there are those long ago plates again ~





~wedding crystal I picked out twenty years ago ~



~ wedding china ~ and wedding silver ~



When I married Scott I knew I wanted to live in a traditional colonial. I loved the open staircase right in the front of the house.















~ fairy lights on the seasonal tree with felt pumpkins ~









~ and one looong puzzle...







~ she desperate to finish this puzzle by Halloween when it will promptly be taken down for a Thanksgiving one ~





~ my grandmothers silver coffee pot (does it have a more formal name?) ~ the joy of gardening book from my grandfathers collection ~



~ Truly the best decorations are the ones handed down to me.  Memories are so sweet.