Trash to Treasure Tuesday: A Family Heirloom Passed Down...

Welcome to Trash to Treasure Tuesday hosted by Diane at A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words. For today's trash to treasure, I would like to share with you something I'm very proud to have received over the weekend. Below is a few pictures from a few different angles of an authenic Persian rug that dates back between three hundred fifty to four hundred years. It belonged to my Great Aunt Mary Emma years ago. It was then handed down to her sister Anne(who is my grandmother), and she used it in her home for over twenty five years. It was then passed along to my Aunt Robin, who has used it for the past several years. She recently did some remodeling in her home, and decided not to use it. She asked me if I would like to use it in my home, and I jumped at the opportunity. I'm sure you can see from the pics why:) I didn't know until this past weekend that Persia is what is now known as Iran. The rug is hand woven, with a beautiful unique design. I'm very proud to have it, and hope that one day I will have someone very special to pass it down to. Thanks for stopping by. Have a good day!

Santa Came!!

Cooper, enjoying a blueberry Pop Tart on Christmas morning
He's already got the hang of it, on his new Power Wheels 4-wheeler.

Daddy helping Cooper along...

Turned out blurry, but all of us laughing at Cooper

Connor, loving his new remote control dinosaur...really cool...

Merry Christmas

The boys are snug in their beds with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads. Mom and dad are tired and weary, but keep on going for the boys to be cheery. Ooops, what? Connor is up! What to do? Just guide him back to bed, and then say Whew!! Santa is coming tonight, while the boys sleep tight... (umm, yeah right) ! They have such a sweetness and innocence that will one day fade, but the true reason for the season is something they will in their hearts save, to pass on to others one day!

Hope you have a joyous and wonderful Christmas Day! We are having Christmas Day dinner at our house for the second year in a row. It's been hard, but we love every minute of it. We have lots of good support! We will be surrounded by our family, with good food and fellowship!

I posted some pics of what my table looks like set and ready for tomorrow! Turned out pretty good, for the most part. Gotta go, I will be up in a few hours to set out the yeast rolls to rise:0)

Merry Christmas!

A Pre-Christmas Southern Meal...

Have you ever wondered what you're going to cook for supper? Well, since my pantry consists of ingredients for Christmas cooking/baking, I had to get creative. I had some ground chuck in the refrigerator, so I pattied them up, sliced up some onion, and started on some hamburger steaks. (one of my husband's favs) I found some potatoes in the pantry that were still fresh, so I peeled and cut them up, and put them on to boil for homemade mashed potatoes. Fresh peas are always in my freezer, and you can't have peas without southern fried cornbead from your grandmother's black iron skillet. My husband always likes rice and gravy with his hamburger steaks, so I whipped some of that up too. We had a great supper last night, I'm sure you can see from the pics... Enjoy!!

Christmas Open House

Welcome to Kimba's Holiday Open House. Please click on her link to see more homes decorated for Christmas. I have several pictures posted, so I'll keep the writing to a minimum.

These are 3 wisemen that are from Southern Living at Home. They are my favorite! I broke the one in the middle this year, trying to wrap the garland around them :(

Also from Southern Living at Home, an angel.

Our dining room table...




Nativity from Fontanini...

This picture really doesn't do our tree justice. It's decorated in red, white, and clear ornaments...

Just a touch of gold...

The North Pole Village from Department 56...my mom gave me a few to use this year in the boys rooms. These are on top of Connor's shelves in his room...

Another touch of gold, around the Nativity...

Front porch things...

A little funkiness to the light fixture in the breakfast area...

Love these...new this year from Pier 1... decorative bottles with pretty beads to decorate with. I plan to fill up these bottles with wine, to use Christmas Day...

You've probably seen this before...part of our mantle...

More North Pole Village in Connor's room...

Beautiful Santa, standing at fireplace...

Platter , new this year, found at gift shop from work...

A Simple Mantle

I'm quite sure that my mantle isn't as fancy as most of the others. I like to keep things simple. Years ago, I used the "permanant" garland with the lights, and all those pretty decorations . I just got tired of struggling with it every year. So, two beautiful boys later, and several years down the road, I came up with a solution that's easy for me. We usually buy our Christmas tree from the same place every year. I always ask them for a whole bunch of the trimmings from the bottom of the trees because there's just so much of it laying around. I lucked up this year, because the guy wasn't stingy with it as they have been in the years past. I'm able to decorate my mantle different every year by doing this. I just find cute trinkets from the dollar store, and pieces that I already have to decorate. The mini cedar tree in the urn , my husband and I found in the woods behind our house. I thought it added the needed height. Don't mind the mallard duck up there. That's his home!!

Thanks for stopping by! For more Christmas Mantles visit The Nester at

http://nestingplacenc.blogspot.com

Trash to Treasure: A Christmas Wreath Rescued From the Attic

Have you ever put something away at Christmas because you were tired of it, only to discover it years later? I bought this wreath several years ago at an after Christmas sale for 75% off. I used it for a couple of years, then just got tired of it.

My pictures are out of order(don't understand why), but this is what it looks like at night.

This is the wreath after I had already stripped it of most of the decorations. It had some red apples, berries, and some birdhouses with red doves on them, all over the wreath. It also had this hideous wide red velvet ribbon weaved through it. I had already removed it by the time I took this picture.

A couple of the birdhouses that I took off the wreath. Cute, but not on this wreath.

Here is the final product. You can click on the pictures to enlarge. It doesn't show much of the detail in this picture. It's really beautiful though. I love the traditional red at Christmas. I don't know if I'll ever change my colors, regardless of trends that come and go. Red will always be a traditional Christmas color to me.

For more Trash to Treasure Tuesday, visit Diane at A Picture is Worth 1,000 words.

Have a great day!

Trash to Treasure : Beautiful Santa

Have you ever seen something in a store and just thought, I'm not sure I like that? Well, down here in the South, we have these stores Hudson's Treasure Hunt, and then Hudson's Dirt Cheap. I know, it couldn't sound any more Southern could it? Well, Hudson's Treasure Hunt is better quality items, that usually come from department stores, etc.. that have burned or flooded, or went out of business. Dirt Cheap is the same stuff, but it's slightly more damaged merchandise, at a very discounted price.

So, hence this beautiful Santa, that my mother-in-law spotted one afternoon when we were in Dirt Cheap. She spotted several of these Santas, and at the time, I couldn't see the beauty that she was seeing. We each bought one that day, and we still both look foward to putting our Santas out each year. I love this Santa now, he looks perfect in my home. I'm so glad that she was able to see the beauty that I couldn't see that day.

Please visit Diane at A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words for more Trash to Treasure Tuesday. Have fun, and enjoy visiting!