Gallery 10 - My (New) Indiana Home in Winter Time

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Peaceful Holiday, Winter 2010

Butterball snoozing by Nativity

Dining Room Table

Butterball snoozing by Nativity

Dining Room and Christmas Tree

Living Room - Flora Sofa and Christmas Shelf Decor

Living Room Picture Window with long sofa

A Victorian Carolers/Frontier/Piebird Christmas Shelf

Grandma Abbie's Clock and Aunt Firma's Washstand decked out

Christmas Plates

Kitchen Shot

Kitchen Christmas Decor

KitchenMaid Cabinet with a blue theme

Kitchen Decor

Christmas Tree at Night

Hazel sleeping by the Christmas Tree

Sunny winter Day

February Sunrise

Sledding in field out back

A Nice Snug Bowl for a Winter Day

2011

Each Christmas Season brings a different experience. This year I started substitute-teaching in the spring. In the summer I got an opportunity to intern with a startup company Schoolhouse Partners. I worked there until December 9 at which time we went on lay-off until January 9. Time to do the holidays up right! I got the area and window for the tree cleaned and the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving (almost never happens!)and got lights in the windows and on the outside bush and wreaths up. My Christmas gifts (Walmart calendars and posters were mostly done, but still had more shopping to do). The first week I was off, I worked on our Christmas newsletter learning InDesign ( I love to reflect on the year past and prepare for the year ahead) and started cleaning and putting a shine and polish on everything - washing windows, wiping the furniture and floor boards down with Murphy's oil soap, and Kramerizing the wood floor. Bonnie did most of the cooking and baking, but I got a little in. I feel like I enjoy all the traditional activities. We went to the grandkids' Christmas Programs. Did a little something for Aunt Claudine's birthday, spent a day shopping with Mom ... We had our regular Christmas Eve gathering and since the house was so nice and I had the time, we hosted a New Year's Eve party as well for friends and neighbors.

Harvest Table

Christmas Reflections

Christmas Palm Tree

Living Room

After the guests have gone

All these photos, preceding and following were taken after New Year's - the waning of Christmas - before I started taking things down, putting them away, and getting the house back to it's winter look. The mules got loose between Christmas and New Years - Bonnie's friend Tony discovered them when he drove up - they called us as they were chasing them 700 and we caught up with them in a field close to Wise's. Long story short, Bonnie and I ended up riding them home bareback - my first time riding ON the mules - as opposed to riding on the wagon (boy was I sore the next day!) and we spent the day fixing the fence which had gotten a little in disrepair and the electricity wasn't working.

This December was very wet and cloudy - luckily I had some nice days when I was cleaning - I think it's the light that makes me enjoy cleaning this time of year. Ben reminds me that deep cleaning is traditionally done in the spring, but I like to do it in December - it makes sense, we close the windows, turn of the heat - time to get rid of summer's dust and prepare the house for a long winter's residence - and who wants to look out of dirty windows all the time. In January the days have been mostly clear - beautiful sunsets, gorgeous sunrises - last night was quite unusual. The western horizon was a beautiful orange, and the rosy light followed a line of clouds almost all the way to the eastern horizon, which turns a delicate pink when the sun sets. This morning's sunrise was beautiful as well. Still some green in the grass, frost on the ground, a beautiful orange sunrise, perhaps from those clouds that were in the western horizon last night, and the cyans and blues of the morning sky before the sun rises. Very peaceful time of year.

Christmas House

(leave in but reduce size of full size picture) Lob Lolly Pine Branch that blew down in Dec.

Early in December a wind storm blew down a large branch from one of our large lob lolly pines. I trimmed it and ended up with a rain barrel and a wheel barrow full of smaller pine branches - even after sharing them with a friend, I still had the rain barrel full. I filled in the wreath on the front door and filled wall pockets, pitchers, and vases with fresh greens.

After the Holidays (reduce size)

Christmas Reflections

Holiday House

My kitchen sink window faces east, so in the morning I can watch the sunrise. I can also look into our dining room/study/library from my kitchen sink window. I enjoy seeing our Christmas tree which is in front of the picture window in our dining room from my kitchen sink window (looking in from the outside). It's all about the light this time of year, so it seems appropriate that we choose this time to celebrate the birthday of the Light of the World..

Christmas Tree Light Reflections

Mouse in Mitten Christmas Ornament

Oriole Hanging Ornament

Mouse in Sardine Can Christmas Ornament

Birds Nest Ornament

Christmas Light Reflections

Cedar Waxwing Hanging Ornament

Chick Hanging Ornament Bell

Squirrel in Teapot House Ornament

Snowflake and Mourning Dove Ornaments

China Cupboard (reduce size)

China Cupboard

Grandma Renzetti's and Dad's Aunt Elsie's (Uncle Frank's wife) cookies

Christmas House (reduce size somewhat)

Dining Room Study Bookcase

Grandma Renzetti's and Dad's Aunt Elsie's (Uncle Frank's wife) cookies - filling is prune butter, graham cracker crumbs, nuts, chocolate, and grape jelly - I make my own prune filling - found a recipe online for Jewish Hamatashen filling (sp?)