Christmas Eve

I've spent so much time decorating, baking and - in general - getting ready for the holidays that I haven't had time for blogging about it. Tonight as I wait for Santa to arrive I'll try to catch up.

 For a while now I've become rather partial to cloches and mini greenhouses. I usually use only one or two at a time and change them out seasonally, but for Christmas I pull out all the stops. Here are a few of the vignettes-

A simple vignette of candles, trees and cloche on the dining room sideboard. The candles are plain white candles wrapped with scrap booking paper that looks like birch bark. The white bottle brush trees are from Target.

I used rice lights under the snow and in the tree to make this greenhouse shine. The Santa on Skis is an original cast Barclay toy from the 1930's.

Winter is so dark and gloomy in the Seattle area...not just because it's cloudy and wet, but because our northern latitude gives us shorter days than you folks who live south of us. But I am a creature of light! I use lots of light colors and reflective surfaces especially in winter. Here a bookcase is decked out for Christmas using neutral colors, with very little green and red. My hotel silver is polished and plenty of shiny balls and glass are used to maximize the bright effect.

Look how much punch the silver platter adds to this shelf. The woven "silver" box is a salvaged vintage purse.

My Navajo sheep collection is white, warm and woolly. Add a little bling in bowls to make it sparkle. My books are covered with plain tan paper to maintain a neutral backdrop.

A few red and white transferware plates add a pop of color without being overly "Christmassy".

I like an uncluttered look. Adding more to this shelf would look too busy.

The floral arrangements I made three weeks ago were looking a bit tired, so I made up some new ones. From one large bouquet of flowers from Costco I made a large centerpiece in a vintage ironstone soup tureen.

 Plus I had enough left over to make a few little arrangements to tuck into spots around the house.

Finally I like to get the table set and last minute baking done on Christmas Eve. 

Tomorrow our extended family will feast on Standing Rib Roast, Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, sherried mushrooms, broccoli with cheese sauce and fresh, honey-and-lime-dressed fruit salad. And afterward, please save room for Black Forest Chocolate Cake. The frosty whipped cream icing covers rich chocolate cake with a dark cherry and whipped cream filling. The lighting in the photo makes this look yellowish, but it's really snowy white.