Saturday, December 20, 2014

A Little Christmas Color



I love all things Christmas! And I love to Christmas-ify the house. In recent years I've fallen in love with vintage Shiny Brites, and I can't seem to stop buying them. Here they are on the large antique bottle dryer we have mounted as a kind of light fixture in the dining room. (It's great because you can hang anything from it.)






Beneath it, in a manger built (by Clementine) from bits of several block sets and a pair of candle holders, is the nativity we got at the Union Square Christmas market in New York City last December. It's felt, can't remember where from. Central Asia. I think one of the 'stans. Does anyone know?




I love the way the chandelier looks at night:




Well hello, Witch.




And Hazel. Cat pictures. Weird. What are you doing here?




Little oddities.






The living room.




One of the antler women we brought home from San Miguel de Allende last year.




 Dinosaurs roam freely. We have a dinosaur problem. This reindeer is from Mexico, last week!




So that nativity scene above was our first, but then I couldn't resist this one from India at our favorite store Cargo. It's all tiny and adorable, and lives inside a "clock box," also from India.






This painting! Jim and I painted this together years ago. Mostly Jim though. We've finally put it up. 






There are some vignettes happening in the pharmacy cabinets. 
Ornaments from Mexico make a backdrop to terra-cotta figures from Provence:




A French paper village, with a Mexican nativity retablo purchased in Austin TX while on book tour:




And this tin nativity found at the wonderful Montevilla Antiques Mall for a few bucks. 
(There may be a beaver skull in the corner for no good reason.)




In the background is Clementine arranging a house for her kitten doll Marte inside the other pharmacy cabinet. Luchador, of course, on the sofa. (His name is Sin Cara, or "Without a Face.")






In the kitchen:




The coffee table is a procession of deer (with some help from camels and zebras) 
pulling Santa's sleigh.




Someone on Twitter told me that they call these deer "Glambi's", which is pretty perfect.





 


The tree! 
With being gone for 2 weeks of December, we decided to go with a fake tree for the first time ever, and I've kind of always wanted a white one, so here it is. I LOVE IT.










My grandmother won this Christmas village in a contest decades ago. She probably never imagined it populated with monkeys, three-headed dragons, and Ultraman. (Clementine was here.)






Stockings made from old sweaters.










This adorable candle holder from Copenhagen,
a present from Alexandra when she went there last Thanksgiving.




Happy holidays!!!






6 comments:

Gill Edwards said...

just gorgeous! I adore your white Christmas tree and all your nativity scenes from around the world.
i'd like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2015 X

Marina said...

Wow! You weren't kidding when you said you loved Christmas! It all looks so gorgeous. You couldn't help but have a wonderful Christmas surrounded by all that Christmas spirit. Merry Christmas!

Laurence King said...

I love, love, love your Christmas decorations, Laini! It's completely magical!! I'm curious, did you get to visit the museum of Santons in les Baux de Provence when you were there? They have all sorts of old-fashioned terra-cotta figurines, and I know you would just adore it. Merry, merry Christmas!

Heather said...

This is what it is like to live in a house full of creative people! I love the white tree - breathtaking! I obtained a small purple one and a small black one for my daughter's "Nightmare Before Christmas" birthday party this year (her birthday is in November). I love all of the different trees! Also, make sure you don't leave that lady with gingerbread cart laying around when I next visit. You may never see it again! xoxo

Artemis Grey said...

Just beautiful!!! Thank you so much for putting up the pictures and sharing your Christmas-drenched house with us. I utterly adore everything! I buy antique ornaments almost compulsively, having been raised around all of the ones passed down from my grandparents and great aunts. My two favorites (one of which *used* to be a dirigible) date back to the 1930s. They just don't make them like they used to.

My cat, Mad Max, would, unfortunately, slay any Glambis or small nativities he could reach, so our versions of those items are either larger, or up on shelves where Max can't get his portly body perched.

Merry Christmas to you and the family!!!

Cyrene said...

Happy new year Laini & family. I've been following your journey for a long time, since your little yellow house and struggle with your first book, which I bought first thing when I landed in US in 2007. It came with me when I moved to Italy and still read it for time to time.

I have to admit, now I do not visit your blog as I used to; I just loved the old blog and posts with crafts and simple life. I hope 2015 will make you slow down a bit and enjoy the little simple things. I also hope you will shed more light on simple green living, protecting the environment and this beautiful earth which we are destroying by our unsustainable lifestyle.
All the best and keep the smile
Cyrene and critters

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