Let It Snow

 

Well, things here at LTHS have been moving at a bit of a snail's pace.  My writing got a bit sidetracked because I wasn't feeling up to snuff on Thursday and Friday.  I decided I wasn't going to let that stop me from seeing a 50 foot Loch Ness float at the Scottish Walk in Old Town Alexandria on Saturday, but apparently it wasn't meant to be. 

Our sweet Miss Kylee, our older Border Collie, required an emergency trip to the vet on Saturday morning.  Her heart condition continues to worsen, and I wasn't about to leave Mr. Tide with a puppy and a very sick dog to care for while I went gallivanting around the countryside, so I stayed home.

They have adjusted Kylee's meds once again, so fingers crossed that she'll do better on this new dosage and that she'll be back to her happy, active self...which she already is for the most part.  It was a scary time though and we all cried, including me, Mr. Tide and the vet on Saturday when the going was particularly rough!

Even though Nessie and I did not have a chance to meet, it was a wonderful weekend once we got animals and people squared away.  My daughter, who came home, and I went to lunch and did some shopping late Saturday afternoon.  And Saturday evening, we visited a local horse farm that goes all out decorating for the holidays.  It's called Flat Iron Farm and besides having lights galore, they also open their stables and several shops up during Christmastime to get everyone in the mood for the holidays!

We took little Misty Belle with us and held her as we wandered around the stables looking at the beautiful horses and a variety of other animals that live on the farm.  The stables at this place are nicer than some people's homes, and I know Misty remembered the scent of hay and horses since she was born on a horse farm!  It even began to snow while we were there, so it was a restful end to a very emotional and hectic day...it was perfect.

It was just what I needed to get my unmotivated self in the mood to decorate my own house.  For some reason I've been dragging my feet this year, even though I've been excited about the prospect of putting out my Christmas decor for months now. 

So when we got home I asked Mr. Tide to head out into the garage and start bringing in the bins of decorations.  He quickly suggested we watch a movie instead, so we sat down with our daughter and enjoyed the new Alice in Wonderland movie on Netflix. 

I was a little more persuasive on Sunday though and got him to lug everything in so that I could start getting this house ready for a visit from Santa!

You may recall the post I did (here) about how I decorated the wide window ledge above my kitchen sink last year for a holiday party we hosted.  I'm one of those weird people who likes to change things from year to year, which also means lots of tubs since I seem to add to my collections every year, so this year I wanted to do something a little different.

I loved how the lights looked in my mason jars last year, so I knew I wanted to repeat that look, but I wanted to go with more of an all white theme  instead of the greens I used last year.  So out came my fake snow, which consists of cotton batting with flecks of mica on it.  Then I added white lights with white cords...FYI don't send an 18 year old to buy your lights at Lowes...let's just say that he wasn't batting 1000 with purchasing what I wanted....read the box hun!  He was quick to politely remind me that he did at least buy the lights and that maybe next time I should get them myself...point taken! :-)

I added several small mason jars this year as well for a little extra light, plunked one of my glass snowmen and some sparkly birds scattered about on the snow.  Then I added some icy branches to each of the tall mason jars and tucked a few branches behind the middle one for a little something extra.  Then for a bit of whimsy and color, I added the two adorable chilly penguins that my daughter gave me for my birthday a few years ago.  One of the benefits of having a December birthday is that you get cute holiday decor.  I think I'm at my decor limit though these days, but I do treasure the things I've received over the years!  Every year when I open the bins it's like opening a bunch of Christmas packages as I'm greeted by my old favorites and surprised by a few things I've forgotten about or ones I purchased after the holidays and haven't ever used!

I hope each of you had a productive and wonderful weekend and please check back this week as I'll be sharing with you several wonderful sales that will be happening in southern Maryland and northern Virginia this weekend.  One is a sale at my friend Susan's house which I showed you HERE.  She has decided to part with some of her very special things and has invited a few friends to join in and clean out their "closets" too, so if you're in the area you won't want to miss it!  I'll be posting more info and pictures in an upcoming post so stay tuned!


Until then my friends!!