Christmas at my new house

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I think everybody is busy this time of year. Here's a quick recap of what I've been up to the past few weeks, and some pictures of my new house all decorated for Christmas. : )

The first event I got to host at my new house was December's Girl's Night.  This was December 12th, and less than a month after I got my keys. Since I didn't have a table for eight, I decided to do tapas and a champagne bar.  It worked out really well, I picked a few recipes I had found on Pinterest (my Girl's Night Idea Board) and the phillo dough wrapped asparagus & baked zucchini fries with sweet onion sauce were a hit... the pineapple jalapeno sauce for the shrimp, not so much.  I had just enough chairs and tables in my living room to make everything work with my Christmas tree, and we had a really good time.

I feel like there was a lot of running around between the 12th and the 24th.  There was a trip to Clemson for the Backstreets Christmas Party, Cookie Day at a friends house, a gifted rug, friends in from out of town, and enough other stuff going on that I don't think I had more than 2 nights with nothing on the agenda.

I also got my first Christmas present between Cookie Day and Christmas Eve.  The friend who introduced me to Chattanooga Auction House (read about my first trip) went completely over the top and got me a much needed dining room table!!  The picture does not do it justice, and it expands out to 7 feet.  It is adorable in my kitchen, and I just love it.

I've started collecting milk glass.  These pieces are from Grandmother

Christmas Eve was at my house this year, and turned out really well.  Our family tradition is to celebrate Christmas Eve with my dad's family at my grandmother's house.  As she has gotten older this tradition evolved to dinner out, followed by desert and presents at her house.  This year (even though I offered to make use of my brand new table) we did dinner out, and then dessert and presents at my house! Grandmother enjoyed spending time in the house she grew up in again, to the extent she didn't want to leave.  I think it was 11:30 before we were all back at my parent's house, and opening our Christmas PJ's - way past Grandmother's usual bed time.

Christmas was at my parents house.  The funniest part was that my sister confessed to thinking, until college, that everybody had steaks for Christmas dinner. My dad's birthday is December 25th, so we have Christmas morning, and then birthday dinner - typically steaks.  My sister didn't realize that other families typically served turkey or ham, and was a little jealous that people got two Thanksgiving style meals in the fall.  Gotta love her.

I'm going to close out this ever growing post with a few more pictures of my kitchen.   I think it's turning out pretty well, and although I really need to find batteries for my camera, these pictures give you a good idea of where I'm at so far.

I'm not in love with the color of the raw silk curtains around the sideboard, but for $8 a panel,  they are great insulators.   For Christmas I put out my red dishes on the sideboard, and hung cinnamon scented pine cones from the other window.

I do love my snowman fridge, and he will probably be up after the rest of my decorations are taken down.  I also love having my directors chairs (or any seating) next to my front door, bridging the cap between my kitchen and dining room.  I think it's important to have good places for people to sit when you are in the kitchen getting everything ready for a party or just dinner.  The rug in the bottom right picture was made by my Great-Great Aunt Marie, and part of my Great Aunt Inez's estate.  My mom inherited it recently, but it looks much better in my house than hers!

     

That's it for now, I hope everybody has a safe and happy new year!!