21 November 2012

Thinking about Christmas decorations.

At the moment I'm still at the thinking stage, nothing done yet. For me it's too soon.
It started  off yesterday morning after a visit to our new out of town shopping area, which opened last year and is called   Family Village - Limoges  I find it quite strange to have an English title in rural France.
All the shops were full of beautiful Christmas decorations, with areas set out in different coloured themes.
I thought back to 23 yrs ago to our first Christmas here in France. The house was still in it's very early stage of renovation and our only thoughts were of buying building materials and making bedrooms up in the grenier. When we first arrived we stored most of our furniture in the large barn, plus everything that was not immediately needed, only unpacking the essentials and everything else stayed packed in boxes. So even the thought of looking for the box labelled Christmas decorations was not on my priority list of things to do.
Then our daughter returned back home after a not so successful trip around Germany and plans to spend the winter in the ski resorts. This was like a gift from heaven to have her back home with the family and for me to share some  feminine things in life, away from sand and cement, especially for the Christmas holiday.
The week before the fete my daughter and I went with our two Labrador dogs  for a walk into our woods searching for all the seasonal greenery associated with this festive period. Our first find was a small spruce pine tree just the thing for our tree to decorate and  we were able to dig it  up and take it home. For me it was like something  out of a children's story book. being able to find all we needed to make our Christmas, all there on our own land. Then we found the Mistletoe high up at the top of an old Cherry tree. This was like the icing on the cake to end our forage in our woods. We arrived back to the house with arms full of greenery ready to make a building site look like a home ready for the Christmas celebrations.


Our son & daughter, so young.
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The wood burner had just been installed, not completely finished
 but just the place to hang our Christmas stockings.




This was our Labrador Della's favourite place.
She was also decorated with a bit of red Christmas ribbon.


Looking back at our first Christmas in France.
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Now I  need to think about decorations for this Christmas. 
Do I stay with my usual theme, of red, white and gold, or do I change.?
This is one of  my styles and sometimes I do  a country style,
 that's when I put every decoration I possess on the tree.




This was Christmas 2006 
when we were fortunate to have all the family together.




I've just been looking at my favourite Danish magazine Isabellas



There seems to be a lot of purple for Christmas his year.




I love these cones made out of corrugated cardboard and trimmed with fancy ribbon.
These would be nice as a table decoration with a little gift tucked inside for each person.
Or with a ribbon attached so that it could  hang from somewhere.

I think this weekend I'll have to get my box of decorations out and think about the colour theme.

 I'm beginning to like the purple, and Carol from Parisbreakfasts told me that purple is 
THE colour in Paris at the moment, & if you read her blog you will know !
 although she didn't mention it being used for Christmas decorations !! 

What about you, do you have a favourite colour theme or do you  like to change?
I'd love to hear about your preferences.

A bientot.

Barbara Lilian













10 comments:

  1. Hi Barbara! I love the old pictures you posted. It's fun to get those out sometimes, isn't it? And I really like the corrugated cardboard cones in the magazine...hmmmm...that might be fun to make. Wish I could read Danish! I haven't decided on a color scheme for Christmas this year. I pretty much do the same thing every year with the classic Christmas colors, like you. But maybe I should think outside the box? Will enjoy seeing what you come up with. Have a great day!

    Debbie

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  2. Your memories are lovely:)
    I like everything at Christmas..I do..I have ornaments we hung on our tree 40 yrs ago..and every yr..more are added..bought..received..or hand made.I love looking at them every yr.
    I don't follow a theme:)
    It's a lot of work to do Christmas..but our daughters have followed in our footsteps and look forward to Christmas touches in their own homes:)
    This year..was my Alicia Paulsen yr:) of adding things..If you like to sew..you could look at her kits..they arrive PDF at your computer.

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    1. Thank you Monique, I'm glad you enjoyed sharing my memories. My daughter also loves to decorate her home in her own lovely style, We will be spending Christmas with her & her family. My sons wife is Danish & I know their home will be beautifully decorated, I love the Scandinavian style. Enjoy your thanksgiving with your family.
      Barbara

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  3. Hello Barbara, Isn't it lovely to look back at photos and to see how your home has changed. I loved the cones in your Danish magazine, like you I thought they would be lovely with a little gift tucked inside. I tend to be a red and green type of girl I'm afraid, like you, we have a real tree at Christmas as I love the smell of pine. Having said that, I do have a pink Christmas tree, yes honestly, a pink Christmas tree, with pink and purple decorations. This tree is in my kitchen and is in honour of our daughters, which we put up when the girls cannot make Christmas. We have ornaments on it that they love and which their grandmothers have given us. It just makes us "warm and fuzzy" thinking about them. Take care, Best Wishes Daphne

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  4. Very sweet pictures!
    Love the cardboard cones from Danmark.
    Yes, do go purple for Xmas!!

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  5. Hello Barbara
    Thanks for your visit this morning and I will dust off my taller boots. I've never been a fan of the traditional red and green Christmas colours. My colour theme is silver, teal and purple with some pink. The table top tree is a faux silver one and good enough for the 2 of us since we celebrate the holiday at our daughter's.
    Judith

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  6. It all looks so beautiful! And yes, what a delight to be able to go searching for your own greenery!YUou are so lucky to have a Danish daughter in law..their homes are beautiful and their Christmases so dreamy. Isn't it great to look back on pics of our, oh so very young children?
    Enjoyu preparing for Noël.
    Ronelle

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  7. PS: I have a problem with your link in my sidebar..not matter what I do, the feed just won't take..I have this problem with some blogs..still trying hard to sort it out..you don't have a solution maybe?
    ronelle

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  8. I guess that answers my question about your favorite magazine! Your memories & photos are very sweet & lovely. I like multicolored decorations on the tree & I've had different types over the years. One of my favorites was an all orgiami tree, it's when I was teaching art to children.

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  9. I just recently found your blog and was reading back through your Christmas posts. I would have enjoyed finding all I needed to decorate in the forest as well. It would make it feel like pioneer Christmas, which I always love. It's always fun to have a walk down memory lane.

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