Vivace Orchestra Concert

I am so blessed that my December is filled up with music - real - beautiful - classical - music. 

Sometimes it's so nice to 'turn off' the world's Christmas carols and listen to music created by my daughters. Today I got the chance to hear Abigail in concert. 

She had a solo (I will add a video of that) 

Here she is arriving on stage and setting up. 

Tuning 

Playing 

My favorite photo is this one: she's looking up at the conductor with a smile on her face - a solo well done. 

We walked out to snow snow snow! 

Scroll all the way to 27:38 when Abigail arrives on stage. The first four orchestras are the younger groups. Her solo is in the second song. 

 

Lessons & Carols - A Holy Cross Tradition

I want to bottle this night up and save it forever. 

This was the 44th annual Lessons & Carols celebration at Holy Cross. It always takes place in this beautiful chapel which is decorated for advent so stunningly. Just look at the three purple and one pink. 

I'd never been in St. Joseph's chapel during advent but seen it in pictures. I couldn't wait to see it in person. 

Click HERE to read about the history of this tradition. Click HERE to read about Holy Cross and their tradition. 

We drove up after school on Thursday and got home around 11:00 pm. Even though we were up for a school day early in the morning, it was worth everything! Scott and I think this will be a family tradition to attend each year even after Anna is no longer in the orchestra there. It truly took my breath away to see this - and even more so that my daughter was in this. 

 

Christmas Traditional ~ Our Christmas Dining Room

I love dining rooms, I do! I love when they are their own rooms and not sprawling into others. That's just my taste; nothing wrong with those big rooms. I just love traditional homes. I love vintage, antique, and old homes. And although our home isn't that old (1950) I still want to preserve the way this home should look based on how it was designed to look back in 1950. 

Are there things I would change about our home? Oh goodness yes! So so much. But I also love love love so much about it.

❤ The molding

❤ The two build in china cabinets - the one in the kitchen was one of the first things I noticed when we walked into this house back in 2021. 

❤ The small room (did she just say she likes small rooms?) I did! I love cozy and I love how it feels to be in these low ceilings, quaint rooms

So in our dining room this Christmas I decorated in a way I'm calling "New England Traditional Christmas". 

I hung three plates on the wall from our Christmas china and love how it looks. I think I'll have it up there all of the winter. 

Our furniture (that we waited forever to have) is antique from Hitchcock. And I love it today just as much as the day it came home. 

These cute little cups from Emma Bridgewater add a little charm to the cabinet. 

And I love the ironstone pitcher I found at an antique store near Anna's college. 

This year we added a Christmas tree to the corner of the room and I love the way it adds such a warmth in here. 

Baskets and candles everywhere for that country charm. 

Can't wait to share more! 

Our Memories Past ~ Christmas Kitchen

My inspiration for decorating our kitchen came from this book... in July. I came across this vintage book and fell in love with the illustrations inside. Opening the book and peeking into the messy, love-filled days of a mama and her two little girls (one with dark hair, one with light) brought me right back. The illustrations were just like what I wanted to and created for my darling little daughters all of those years I was home. There are pictures of cooking in the kitchen, lots of things on the counters. In the book there is bath time after playing outside. There are snuggles in bed with books, and everything in between. I found a treasure of a book this summer and it lit something in my heart. So grateful, oh so very grateful for thirteen years home.  And what a perfect start to thinking about our own memories I want create this Christmas season for my family this year. So from this book, our Memories past Christmas Kitchen ... join me inside ❣

And look at this beautiful (I want to live in it) scene Scott bought me last year. I love it oh so much. The vintage, snowy town matched just what I wanted to create from the book, and the colors are just perfect. 

I added some snowmen to match the cover. I 'sprinkled' them throughout the room. 

Here is a peek into my Christmas Baking Center and laundry room. I love how it all turned out -- a bit of whimsy, charm, and oh so Christmassy. 

Love this vintage Christmas cake dish more than anything. All of the old things are the best. 

This is my pie cooling window - perfect little window shelf for cooling pies but when there isn't a pie right outta the oven, it's the perfect seat for a Christmas cake! 

I do love how this turned out - full, almost messy, just like the story book that was my inspiration. 

A look from the kitchen into the laundry room that is all decorated for a country Christmas look. 

Christmas Tea Table - This year I removed all of our 'regular' mugs and filled it with my collection of vintage Christmas mugs. A few Christmas tea cups too. 

The peek from our dining room. 

Vintage Santa mug and a flickering candle in an antique old fashioned oil lamp. 

Ironstone mugs and a crystal dish for red hots... perfect for a nibble or decorating gingerbread cookies! 

I love my ironstone creamers all lined up ready for warming syrup (even on a early school morning)  

Next to it Christmas creamers - lovely lovely 

This little corner is new this year, a few Christmas cookbooks with two great big ironstone cookie jars (currently filled with gingerbread cookies. Love it so much next to this natural looking Christmas tree. 

Always Gooseberry Patch, the best cookbooks ever. (the oldest ones are the best) 

Cozy little corner... 

Always the first place I begin decorating -- always the place I think about all year long -- what will I do in the kitchen?? When I figure that out, the rest of our home just simply 'comes together'.  

I believe in setting the stage for a Happy Home Life. And this is ours... 

Merry, cozy, Christmas!