Pbenjay's Blog

I really am some kind of Christmas junkie.  For me the addiction is in decorating the house.  Over the years I have varied the look from time to time and when I had a large Victorian-style home in Connecticut, we had Christmas trees that were 9′ to 10′ tall and full of ribbons, flowers, bows, lace and confection.

Then there was the year of The Toy Story Christmas; My daughter and I were living in a bungalow-style small house and there really wasn’t room for a real tree.  I spent hours making a good size Candy Tree.  That was a treat (no pun intended), so colorful and sticky too.  Presents were piled on and around an old golden oak hall seat, stuffed animals sat here and there, Woody himself  was near the tree.

One year I went full-out Martha Stewart! I made the cookie ornaments featured in the magazine and a small flock of penguins hand-painted in blue and black frosting set in snow (salt), strung cranberries and popcorn and wrapped all the presents in brown paper tied with raffia.

When I married Peter (who’s Jewish), Christmas was still very much present, however, now I was living in a New York City apartment and soooooo;  the living room which has an Art Deco look became a silver and crystal wonderland.  Reindeer inhabited every room, shelf and nook – they’re so ecumenical, don’t you think?

Fast forward to the present and this year Christmas will be in our little cottage at the shore.  La Vie en Rose is a true confection of a cottage, at least I like to think so.  A small cottage can only handle so much decoration so again there’s no tree and by the way, that’s okay because over the years I have given all of the ornaments of their youth to my two now grown up kids.  The cottage is Victorian on the outside and eclectic on the inside.   Color is the key and this is what it looks like today.

A Pink Christmas is Perfect

The tree really isn’t supposed to have any ornaments and comes pre-wired with tiny lights but I guess I couldn’t resist hanging a couple and now that I see the photo, I think I’ll remove them.

Flamingo and Penguin Co-exist at Christmas time

I love the reflections.

My Army of Nutcrackers

Pink Ribboned Tree

I have been looking at photos from other Christmases in the cottage and I see that this tree has been promoted to the first floor!

The First of the Ball Jar Bulb collection

There’s a few more jars and bulbs and a jingle bell wreath on the door.  I need to take a few more photos to do this all justice.

Merry Christmas to All!