Silver and Gold

 I haven't replied to emails...

I haven't visited other blogs...much...

I haven't wrapped a single present...

I haven't baked any cookies...

I haven't mopped my floors...

Or finished pulling together the guest room for the visit from my in-laws...

I haven't been able to keep my son Bugs from trying to find every present hidden in the house...

I haven't finished all the laundry that's been piling up...

I haven't sent out a single Christmas card...

I haven't put a few bins away...and on occasion I haven't been able to breath...but... 

I DID finally get my house all decorated for Christmas...both inside and out!!!

I went with a silver, gold and white theme in the dining room this year and I love it's simplicity and sparkliness (hmm, is that even a word...sparkliness?!).  

I used a cheap mirror from Target that was supposed to go in my son's dorm room and put it on my white tablecloth which has silver and gold threads running through it.  Added a crystal tree garland to hide the fact that it was in fact a cheap mirror.  I would have gotten a real tabletop mirror if Ikea wasn't so darn far from me, and if I actually planned anything out longer than 2 hours ahead of time...yup my mind works in mysterious ways...especially at midnight!

Then I added some beautiful crystal trees I bought years ago, and 2 I inherited from my parents, some creamy white tree candles I bought on clearance a few years ago from Pottery Barn, a crystal sleigh (that came with nuts in it from the drug store eons ago!), and a crystal Santa my parents gave us when we were first married.  I also added some crystal look alike reindeer I purchased last year which are actually acrylic, and I LOVE them! 

Sprinkle some instant mashed potato flakes for some white snow, throw a few crystal and sparkly ornaments on the chandelier...and voila...instant winter wonderland!

I hope to be able to photograph more of both the interior and exterior of my house, and I apologize for not getting back to each of you or commenting on all of your beautiful decor, but the clock is ticking my friends...and this year I'm like the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland...LATE, LATE, LATE!

Soup, Sand, and Some Facts

We are lucky to live on the water, it's something I am thankful for everyday when I wake up, before I go to bed each night, and every moment in between! 

But when I tell people that I live on a creek they often imagine that as something flowing through the woods that is tiny enough to jump across.  The creeks along the Chesapeake Bay and it's tributaries are not narrow enough to jump across, but they are large enough to water ski, sail, jet ski, and crab in!

I know it's not easy to see from pictures, they always make things look much closer than they really are, but I thought I would do a tablescape just off our kitchen in a little sitting area that has wonderful view of the creek beyond. We don't own a sailboat, but at 300 feet wide (one of the smaller creeks), we can jet ski in our creek and we love kayaking out to the river from it.

And just for good measure, I thought I would throw in a few fun facts about the Chesapeake Bay!

The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary, a body of water where fresh and salt water mix. It is the largest of 130 estuaries in the United States.

The Bay is about 200 miles long, stretching from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Virginia Beach, Virginia.

The Bay's width ranges from 3.4 miles near Aberdeen, Maryland, to 35 miles near the mouth of the Potomac River.

The Bay holds more than 15 trillion gallons of water.

The Bay is surprisingly shallow. Its average depth, including all tidal tributaries, is about 21 feet. A person who is 6 feet tall could wade through over 700,000 acres of the Bay and never get his or her hat wet.

The Bay and its tidal tributaries have around 11,684 miles of shoreline—more than the entire U.S. West Coast.

Two of the five major North Atlantic ports in the United States—Baltimore and Hampton Roads—are on the Bay.  

The Bay supports more than 3,600 species of plants, fish and animals, including 348 species of finfish, 173 species of shellfish and over 2,700 plant species.

The Bay produces about 500 million pounds of seafood per year.

The Chesapeake is home to 29 species of waterfowl and is a major resting ground along the Atlantic Flyway. Every year, one million waterfowl winter in the Bay region. (Many of these waterfowl, including a variety of ducks, Tundra Swans, and Canada Geese, winter over in our creek!)

The Chesapeake is a commercial and recreational resource for the more than 16 million people who live in its watershed.

Want to win this wonderful sand bucket?!  Click Here to find out how!

***And you won't want to miss the gorgeous Featured Home for this week...Click HERE to see it!!! ***

I'm linking up for Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch.