The Gypsy Wagon

Christmas Palette

Formal tree
Originally uploaded by The Gypsy Wagon.

This year, I went with a limited palette in the living room and dining room because the wall colors in both rooms are so strong. Behr's winter wheat is the living room paint color, and this room stays rather dark. I used lots of white lights, my collection of ironstone urns and platters, and added golds, silvers and small shots of red and green. The bows on the tree are made of two types of wired ribbon - one is an irridescent deep red or olive green (depending on how the light hits it), and the other is a sheer organdy cream ribbon. I found long elliptical ornaments in brushed gold and brushed silver at IKEA - half price!- as well as garland in the same tones. The shiny surfaces of all of the silver and gold glass balls and the garland, reflect the little light in the room. I added the dried hydrangeas that our house in Maine provided last summer (and for which I am eternally grateful that the movers agreed to pack safely for me!), and then ordered pheasant feathers on line. The mantel shown in the previous post is composed of things that are out in that room all year - I just added the feathers, the lights, the ornaments and some old postcards that I bought years ago. While the family room tree is far more sentimental to me, I really love the way this one turned out. I've done trees in the past that stuck to a theme, but never one quite like this. The living room feels very finished and very grown up, and it's a peaceful place to spend time!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas!

I had such wonderful intentions for my blog. I envisioned updating daily - maybe twice daily! - and the updates would be so witty and ful of engaging photos

Mantel Christmas '06
Originally uploaded by The Gypsy Wagon.

that it would take on a life of its own and demand to be updated and read.

You know what John Lennon said, "Life is what happens when you're off making other plans". Lots of life has happened since my last post, and honestly, I don't know where this blog is going. I do plan to resuscitate it to - at bare minimum - its previous level of activity and then see what happens.

Someday, maybe I'll go back and fill in the gaps between the last post and this one, but not today. It's water long past the bridge, and perhaps not all that relevant anyway.

Christmas is in full swing here. The house is as decorated as it's going to be with two live trees - one in the living room, and one in the family room, - two artificial trees - one in the dining room and one in Carey's room, and an aluminum feather tree in the kitchen window. If that sounds like overkill, so be it. Maybe I'll be a minimalist in my next life, but for now 'if a little is good, then a lot is way better.'

I love the whole process of decorating for Christmas, the planning, the execution, the excitement when the boxes are opened and ornaments are greeted like old friends. We've moved since our last Christmas, and there's always a brief moment of trepidation as the lid comes off the box. Did the ornaments survive the move? Are they intact? Were they treated with care?

Fortunately, this move was very good to our collection of ornaments, and the process of reacquainting ourselves went very well. I had already decided that the family room upstairs would be the home of the tree with our family memento ornaments. This is for me, the tree that is full of memories. We hang teeny Baby Gap high tops on this tree, as well as the beaded wooden pacifier leash that once held Cullen's precious binky, and the construction paper ornaments adorned with glitter and glue and preschool photos. The pine cones dusted with glitter and wrapped with a pipe cleaner stem are on this tree, and the Popsicle stick reindeer with the red pompom nose - the kids' names written in shaky and unsure printing. This tree holds the ornaments made by my grandmothers - early ones are fine examples of nimble fingers, intricate beading and tiny stitches. Later pieces are more elementary - a product of arts and crafts time at the nursing home - simpler, but loved every bit as much as the more complicated ones. Souvenir ornaments of every place we've been - first as a couple, then as a family, remind me of vacations past, and cities that were once our home.

Christmas may be one of the biggest reminders to me of the old saying that 'Home is where the heart is'. I think about the idea of the Gypsy Wagon, and realize that as we move from house to house, we move our HOME with us. In 15 years of marriage, we've never spent more than two consecutive Christmas' in the same house, and have often not two consecutive Christmas' in the same state! Yet, each year, we unpack the same funny ornaments, the same Nativity scenes, the same stockings and, no matter where we are, as long as we're together - we're home.