~~PROUDLY DRESSED IN GLITTER AND LACE~~ Noël à la Chaumière de Briarwood

First thing in the morning when I come down the stairs for a cuppa hot tea I round the stairwell post and pass in front of my favorite room in our entire home, our dining room.

We gather together as a family and share meals, birthdays and holiday celebrations in this room.  When we first purchased our home in 1992 it was our formal living room.  But, once our children married and our family began to grow we no longer felt we needed a room no one ever actually sat it.  If you'd like to take a peek at how she was transformed just click HERE...

We have tentative plans to open up the wall the china cabinet is on.  This will mean some rearranging of furniture,  but it will open up the space making it less congested in our entryway when lots of people are visiting...  I love the idea, but it took a bit of time and me yappin' it up to convince my Mr. AGPMan it would look gorgeous!  I'm thinkin' he was thinking "it looks like allota WORK to me!" :)

This year I changed things up just a little.  I moved the larger Christmas Tree (the new one I just bought at SAM'S CLUB) to the far corner and moved the smaller one closer to the the French Doors.  I actually love the change as our new Tree is bigger than the one we had to toss out last year.  Our new slimline would have stuck out too far and would have been in the walk-way...

I can get ten people around this table in a pinch.  If we have more guests (and we have!) my Mr. AGPMan made a removable table top that is larger out of plywood and with a little bit of adjusting we can seat up to twelve in this room!  It's covered up with a tablecloth and no one ever knows...

Found a spot for that new Joyeux NOEL Pillow I finished up last week.  I'm sure before the Season is over it will be moved around at least twenty times!

I try and use fresh flowers for our Christmas centerpiece or a grouping of tall candles.  For now this simple tree with the pink and silver bulbs will have to do...

When my son was a baby one of my ceramic-loving-friends made me these gorgeous white Christmas Tree Napkin Rings.  She had a set made up in bright green and she thought I was NUTS when I told her I wanted mine white.  That was Christmas 1982 and I've never once regretted choosing the color as it goes with everything!  Over the years I dropped one of the Trees and snapped off the tip. :(  A little glue and a bit of spot-painting and no one has ever noticed it was once broken.

 

MY PINK CHRISTMAS TREE

Proudly dressed in glitter and lace

Shimmering pink she takes her place

Ribbons and Roses, she's clothed to the nines

Filling the room with the fragrance of pine

Bedazzled with ornaments

Twinkling and bright

She shines through the darkness

A beacon of Light

Carefully holding

Her memories of love

She stands representing

The One from above

For all of her beauty

For all that we see

If not for the MIRACLE

She'd just be a Tree

(c) Rebecca S. Nelson/2009

And there you have a peek at some of our Christmas decor for 2011!  I'll be sharing more of our home soon!

Blessings as you continue to celebrate the miracle!

Love to you...

~A SHABBY PINK CHRISTMAS TREE and Chic TARJAY?~

~TOTALLY TRANSFORMED PINK TREE~

Yesterday I moseyed my little self down to our local BULLS-EYE store (um...that would be what my once pre-school children called the place with the big red and white sign) to have a look around.  I like calling TARGET by it's snobby sounding counterpart, TARJAY.  Doing so (albeit in a mocking sort of way) helps bring into focus how easy it is for people (and yep, that would be ME!) to get caught up with shopping at big-dollar stores because they have 'rich' sounding titles.

Totally ridiculous! :)

~LOVE THE NEW LOOK...DON'T YOU?~

(Chic Tarjay)

That said...I love Tarjay!

I LOVE TARJAY!

I LOOOOOVE TARJAY!!!!!

(See...I told you that is what I call it!)

Anyway...after carting the things I actually visited the store to purchase (boring food stuff), I decided to BROWSE around a bit just to see what was new.  Now...after hauling a bunch of  worthless pathetic junk no longer needed items to our local charity this past summer I vowed to 'nevah, evah' again allow myself to even get close to the possibility of becoming a hoarder.  So...I planned just to LOOK and maybe DREAM.

I did figure I was fairly safe as my Mr. AGPMan was in tow and us ladies know that when our men are pushing the cart for us it isn't nearly as fun to window shop.

~"SUGAR" COATED and GLITTERED~

As we turned the corner onto the Christmas goodies aisle I just stood there for a second.  The store had many lovely things...some shiny blingish decor (is blingish a word?), glitzy retro stuff and lots of mirrored table-top Trees with a 1960's flair!  I also saw lots of 'lodge looking' stuff that I immediately thought would look lovely in some mountain cabin.  I somewhat expected a big MOOSE HEAD with those gigantic antlers thingies to jump out and attack me  or something, but in the end I felt pretty safe.  Still...all in all I must tell you I was a little bit disappointed by their holiday offerings...no real 2die4 finds if you know what I mean!

As my guy and I headed towards the checkout we passed a crowded end-cap and it was there I saw the PINK TREE you see at the top.  Only it wasn't PINK!  It was RED!

~TOO RED FOR ME~

Well...my mind quickly started to race and so I reached up and grabbed the lacy looking find.  There were actually two sizes of Trees.  One fifteen incher and one that was about a foot tall.  I chose the tallest one and decided right then and there it would be mine.

Now...I truly thought this little sweetie would look charming after her makeover and would be the perfect complement for my romantic cottage home this Christmas.  I already knew I'd paint her a soft, pale pink and quite possibly give her a quick "sugaring" and maybe even a light dusting of sparkling glitter.

 Before long my soon to be PINK TREE was whizzing it's way down to the cashier right next to the latest issue of ROMANTIC HOMES MAGAZINE (which I remembered to grab on my way out).

~EEK!  AS ADVERTISED~

(I'm in Print!)

As my guy paid for our purchases I thumbed through the pages of the Magazines for a quick look inside.  After a few seconds I found it!  Dressed in pink, complete with ribbons and roses was my A Gathering Place Ad!  

"Long time coming" I thought.

Early this morning, hours after the Tree's transformation, I couldn't help but feel so blessed.  The simplest of life's joys continue to make me smile...

Little things like red trees I dream of turning pink...
shopping for groceries with my honey at TARJAY...
finally getting the courage to place an ad for my tiny business...

and sharing my heart (and finds) with you!

Thanks for stopping by again~

Love to you this beautiful Tuesday...