Thursday, December 26, 2013

Christmas...Erin and Allan style

So here's the thing. I have a store. It gets busy in December. I get behind in everything, even though every single year I promise to have it all done by the end of November next year. This year just to throw a whole new twist into it, I've caught a cold. What!? 
Usually decorating the tree takes about 6-8 hours. Allan did it this year. We always put up an artificial tree. Allan could not resist the lure of a free tree on December 24th. 


And look closely, you can see the decoration. I was calling the tree a giant smudge stick.


I asked him when he was going to cut it free from the rope. "That will just make it impossible to get out and get needles everywhere." That is my man!


This is last years tree. You really have to look close, but you can see the subtle difference in our decorating style. 


My David Winter Cottages.


Emma LOVING the burlap my mom wrapped gifts in. She is so clever. Everything can go into the compost bin rather than the garbage.


Kinda cool vintage sign. I am going to alter this a bit for next year, but it is nicer that this picture shows.


This warmed my heart. A dear family member seemed to be as OCD as me!!


I hope you had as wonderful a Christmas as we did. Ten of us eating at my little house, our funny tree which got more attention than mine ever did, and the house smelled like evergreen. Younger people playing a game I was completely unfamiliar with. And an abundance of butter on EVERYTHING.
Merry Christmas everyone. 

6 comments:

Gardeningbren said...

seriously..that didn't happen right? Your tree was beautiful last year...all those glass ice cycles we share..but..take heart..I do have that little horse one also..just bigger as a mantle decoration.. *sisters*

Erin said...

It really did!!! I am in hey he ugly chair just a few feet from it. I have taken the ornaments off so they don't get chipped with the tree. It's Allan...it could happen. He's a bit accident prone.

Merry Christmas Brenda!!

Mark Willis said...

I can sort of understand Allan's view on the tree issue: bringing indoors a tree that is fresh and springy is an awful lot easier than taking out one which is stiff, brittle and dropping needles all over the place! Still, the rest of it looks great - I particularly like the David Winter cottages. I wish I had some of those. Hope you have had a bit of time to make gardening plans for next year.

Erin said...

Happy Christmas Mark!! I bought one of the cottages back when it was new in 1987. Scrooges Counting House. I found out they aren't made anymore and found two more on eBay. I have my eye on one more. I am loving my little cottage grouping. I'm glad you enjoyed them.
I have my new Westcoast Seed catalogue, so I totally have the gardening bug. I have my kale in the hoop house. They seem to be frozen in time. No growth lately. Soon I hope, I love Winter kale.

Pam's English Garden said...

Love both your and Allan's style, Erin... I'm still laughing. Love the burlap idea -- now I know who you get your lifestyle from. Glad you had a happy Christmas, and I hope you are recovered from your cold. Ten of us celebrated here, too, and it was wonderful. Wishing you a very Happy New Year! P. x

Erin said...

Merry Christmas Pam. My mom comes up with some brilliant ideas. On Christmas Day she brought over some burlap sacks for me to store onions and potatoes in. I need to post a picture of the things my dad gave me. His father was a VERY devoted gardener. I now have four of his nearly 100 year old copper plant tags and a very interesting hoe/rake tool. We think it might have been for pulling hay. Stay tuned for the post!!!