A "mini" Christmas Tour....

Welcome to our dining room/den I suppose you say. It really is kind of all together. So it is pretty much decorated the same. Hope you enjoy the peek.

Our stairway decked out in red, blue, cream, silver, money plant and...

...pine cones, and netting, and well, just about anything else I could stick in there.

My red hutch in the dining room with a lil' festive cheer on top and a lil' candy and the gingerbread house Casen made with his buddy, Madison, and her sweet mom, Karen.

Happy, Happy - Joy - Joy...

Oh and yes, that above mentioned "sweet Karen" also made us some SCRUMPTIOUS homemade red velvet cupcakes, peanut butter balls and coconut bon bons (which are my favorite - so I've already "hid" that platter. She brought us three in all - love her sweet heart!

One of my prized possessions. A hand carved Nativity made by a cousin of mine. It was given to me by my grandmother and was hand made in 1984. I'll keep it always.

The wise men...

...and baby Jesus. I love the detail.

On the table...

My BIG wreath - you can't even hardly walk up the steps - hehe...

...a peek into both rooms...

...Our family tree...

Balls and greenery hang from the light fixture...

"Merry Christmas to all" - that is what my lil' boy wanted me to write on the chalkboard - consider it said.

...My lil' blue cabinet with some holiday cheer...

My small carolers under glass...

A closer look...

And another prized possession. My BIG carolers - handmade by my sweet, Mamaw Cleo. I'll treasure them forever.

Thanks for stopping by. One more day to get ready so I gotta go...

Merry CHRISTmas!

Cathy

I'll have a blue (and yes, green) Christmas without you...

...no need for "the blues" here. This is my happy colored, light and bright Christmas tree in our bedroom. Just a simple tree covered in green, blue and white balls, several colors of ribbons and netting and a few butterflies, dragonflies and hummingbirds flying around.

I just put my star in the middle of the Christmas wreath, tied on some netting and that's 'bout it..

In my cabinet - I just filled up the clear cylinder with extra ornaments...

Remember those paper flowers I told ya about - they make oh-so-pretty and so-very cheap package toppers.

Up on my cabinet with my picnic baskets - I simply added some garland, some lights and the same type of ornaments.

Snowflakes hanging on the mirror...

Don't ya love always seeing your reflection. Ya think you are being all secretive and you upload your pictures and - well - there you are - staring back at yourself! Busted. hehe

Here is for a merry and bright Christmas day.

Cathy

A Monday of Change...

...Did you all think I'd skipped the country? I'd like to - hehe. No, jus' kidding. Just been busy like the rest of ya. First I will say that I PROMISE I'll show you pics of the house - tomorrow night. This is just a quick picture of our bedroom decked out for the season. More to come and I'm not lying (since I told ya two weeks ago I was gonna share them with you - y'all forgive me - o.k.).

But the title of this post is to indicate - how much things "changed" today. A Happy Celebration was for my husband - who turned (dare I say) the big 4-0 today. Happy Birthday my sweet Shaun. He had to have help blowing out ALL those candles - from our son and our sweet lil' friend, Madison.

On a more bittersweet note - today also marked the last week of my lil' shoppe being open. Twelve years ago - I began this journey and what a blessing it has been. But oh how I will miss it - my dear friends especially. But by making this decision - it has allowed us to follow other dreams. Dreams of a more peaceful, less hectic (I hope) life where there is much more time for family and friends. So I will try and not be sad about closing "my" Cobblestone Farms but be grateful for the opportunity I have had. An opportunity afforded to me by God, my family, and an incredible support team of friends and many, many, many dear customers.

So on to a happy change. This morning when we left to go pick out a front door - there were no walls up. But when we returned - we almost had a complete first floor. Wow - that was quick.

So - this Monday was definitely one of change. And even though there were a lot of different emotions involved with each "event" - at the end of this day - I simply feel blessed.

Merry Christmas to you my friends!

Happy Pictures tomorrow - Promise!

Cathy

My Christmas Porch...

Well, I survived the Christmas Home Tour yesterday - actually - I had a great time. We had many many people and it was all for a great cause. So I was tickled to be asked to be a part of it. Now, I thought I'd show you a few pics of our home this week. And I'll tell ya like I always do - nothing fancy here - just HOME. And as you all know - this Christmas will be extra special because this will be our last one here 'till we move across the way. So I want to treasure this season for many reasons.

To start you out - these are some pics of our back porch - which is really the main entry to our home (especially since I have a Christmas tree right smack in front of the FRONT door-hehe).

I usually do more rustic/natural back here BUT this year I was inspired by some color. I had these blue and red toile place mats and napkins I had never used and also a wooden box in red and blue gifted to me by my friend Audrey. So that is where it all began.

All the silver balls were leftovers from years past and I thought they added a lil' "bling" if you will to the outside.

Those pretty clear snowflakes - .50 cents from the Dollar Tree (on clearance last year) - they look just like ice. Love them - thank you Mamaw Cleo.

My blue box with red polka dot ribbon - thanks Audrey - was the perfect container for one of my lil' Charlie Brown trees.

My "Basket window box" which is one of my favorite things - got dressed up with some garland, magnolias, snowflakes, balls and a "winter" garland I made. Stole that idea from my friend, Cindy, over at Cottage Instincts - thank you.

Best part about it - it can stay up till February - let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

My Christmas tree pillows my sweet mamaw made for me years ago - not a great match but I love 'em still. You can see we had a lil' skiff of snow today - LOOOOOOVE it!

Here is another tree I placed in a wicker sleigh I have. Pretty much decorated the same - ribbons, balls and some great white wire open balls I had for sale at the store. I have used them everywhere - I really like them alot. I'm gonna use them after Christmas as well.

My pretty fresh Frasier Fur wreath in the back corner as well as my white pine garland draped all around the outside of the porch came from my favorite local feed store, Central Farmers Supply - which is another post all together - and I'll tell ya that great news another day.

Love my watering cans...

Cute lil' wreath I picked up at Big Lots...

My window box filled with ornamental cabbages and kale we grew, sticks, magnolia, some nandina stems and berries and some silver balls.

And last but not least, my pots outside the back door - just dressed up a little bit.

Hope you enjoyed a peek inside the back door - I'll take you inside a lil' later. Hope you have a great start to your week!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Cathy

Been Busy...

...decking the halls and walls with balls and balls and well, enough rhyming. No kidding - I've been decorating maybe more than usual 'cause our lil' house is on the Christmas Home Tour this weekend.

Not really for sure why they asked me - BUT - it is for a great cause - it is a fund raiser for our local Junior Miss program. So even though I'm sleeping like - NONE - I'm happy to be of some help! Anyway, I'll show ya more pics after Sunday.

Till then though - ya know those paper flowers everybody is making - myself included - try making some for your packages. They are so inexpensive but so very pretty. These are for my lime green and blue tree. But do ya want to know how behind I am - they don't even have anything in them - they are "dummy" gifts - ha - I haven't bought the first thing. One thing at a time Cathy... just breathe!

What lil' time I've had to look around - everybody's decorations are just BEAUTIMOUS (that's my word). One of my favorites for inspiration - Cindy over at Cottage Instincts - go and take a gander now - won't ya?

Happy Thursday Friends and Merry Christmas!

Cathy

Our farmhouse will soon be...

...here. Yes, things have been moving along quickly since I mentioned to you all a while back about us building. Now, I'll have to say - if it were up to me - I would have loved to have found a great old house - but since we have been blessed with our land - we are not going anywhere. So I thought I'd share with you where it is gonna be. You can see here in this picture of the dirt being cleared away and a few stakes in the ground - but - just a few days before it looked like...

...this - just looking over the hill down in the valley. See it is going to be left of the nearly 200 year old cabin that sets just beyond those trees.

Here is another shot of the flat space...

And lucky us - there is another barn quilt down there - this one is "glitter - glitter".

And we have a great cave that is jus' in behind the house - which my son absolutely loves...

turning over rocks and catching crawfish.

And here is Shaun's dad who is helping clear some brush. You all please remember him - as he is putting up a great fight against cancer.

Here is another view from up above.

Even since these pictures - we have poured footers and they are laying the block today. So - here we go - I'll keep ya posted along the way. We are excited, scared, nervous but trying to enjoy the process. We also feel very fortunate to be able to do this. So we are thankful for many things this Thanksgiving - a new house being the least of those. It is all about family and the blessings money can't buy and we are so incredibly blessed.

May you have a beautiful Thanksgiving with your loved ones!

Happy Monday,

Cathy