Our Christmas Decorations 2006 – Part 2
Press here to go back to part 1 of 2006
Press here for Thanksgiving 2007
Press here for Christmas 2007
On the other side of the foyer is the dining room.
This room is decorated mostly in copper and turquoise:
From L to R: KC and I on his 40th birthday, KC’s graduation, my father (RAF spitfire pilot)
From L to R: KC and his sister, my mother
A view of the dining room and foyer from the kitchen.
In this shot you can see the outside swag visible through the center window and the ones on either side of it, inside:
The basket on the table is made from a huge burl! I found it at the local pow-wow.
The bow on the basket is the same red and gold ribbon used on all the outside decorations. The basket is filled with copper and turquoise balls which reflect the spotlight from the fixture above them.
Press here to see the new light fixture in the dining room
Notice the balls nested in the Spanish moss?
A Santa Fairy with 3 French Hens:
The windows in the dining room also have gold swags over them:
On the wall next to the stairs are some more nutcrackers, a musketeer and a woodchopper:
The next group of pictures shows how the house looked when all the Christmas lights were on.
The effect of so many tiny lights was magical, like a house full of candles!
The kitchen in this house needs to be redone but we can’t afford it yet so we’re making do with what’s there. The colors – mint-green walls and mauve counters – meant we couldn’t carry the red/turquoise theme in there so we went with burgundy, gold, and ivory.
We didn’t have any Christmas lights in the kitchen, so the pictures will seem harsh by comparison.
The window over the sink:
One of our collection of funny hats:
In this shot you see some of my cookbook collection:
Here are some more of them:
And more… (this is not all – I don’t have pix of the rest):
In the shot above, there are some more nutcrackers (the cooks), and part of another collection, my tableware.
Here are close-ups of the nutcrackers:
Here are some more shots of the tableware collection. The rack is from a restaurant-supply store, steel that can hold 500 pounds per shelf. Everything is stored in plastic to protect it from dust as there was nowhere inside the house to put this monster.
I’ve been cooking since I was 12 and collecting dishes since I was 16….I’ll be 50 next month so this is over 30 years worth of collecting!
We have a large picnic table in the kitchen so that the inevitable crowd that gathers in there will have a place to sit, out of the cook’s way. Although it’s a bit too red, this tablecloth did bring the leopard theme into the room!
The light fixture over this table (and a very dry ‘real’ wreath on the door):
Another collection, my spices. Each basket has three rows – two in the back and one in front.
On the door to the basement (off the kitchen) is a grapevine wreath with burgundy grape clusters:
Off the kitchen is the powder room, also green and mauve, so we continued the burgundy theme in there.
A nutcracker hand towel!
All the bathrooms had a stocking on the door to help our guests find them.
Here is the one on the powder room door:
At the top of the stairs is another bathroom that is frequently used by guests. It, too, is mauve but with yellow walls (also waiting to be redone).
Leah Bathroom:
The upstairs landing:
One more nutcracker:
Another room in need of a paintjob, the Master Suite. It, and the attached bath, will soon be antique white and the pictures will be purposefully hung (at the moment, they’re on the nails that were already there). I ran out of time and didn’t get the red bows onto the bed posts so imagine that they’re there:
A close up of the lights on the plant and KC’s graduation portrait. My girlfriend thinks his uniform looks like the typical nutcracker…I wonder if that’s why I like them so much. Unfortunately, I don’t have one with a blue jacket, or I’d display it under this portrait.
A close-up of the one I did display there. At least the sword and hat are accurate….
On the wall on the other side of the bed are some more nutcrackers, the knights.
Here is a shot of the wall opposite the foot of the bed with a glimpse of the master bath:
In this picture you can see the stocking on the door to the commode.
And here is the only decorating I did in the master bath, in-between the two sinks:
Press here to see the newly decorated master suite!
Here are some quick shots of the nutcrackers in the basement:
These two are hand carved:
Some of the HB (hoffbrau) nutcrackers in the bar.
The one of the left is hand carved:
My biggest one – he’s almost as tall as the TV table next to him!:
On either side of the guestroom bed:
And the two bathrooms in the basement:
Not exactly a great note to end on, the WC. But, that’s all I have photos of at the moment. There are a few more nutcrackers in KC’s office and several that I didn’t display this year. If I can get shots of them before I put all the decorations away, I’ll add them.
One more look at my favorite room in the house:
The menu for candlelight dinner
December 22, 2006
Pomegranate martinis
(locally brewed) North Shore Vodka
Jicama and radish with 4 gourmet salt dips (pink, red, brown, black)
Shrimp with basil-lime marinade on cucumber with alalea salt garnish
Chocolate toasts with walnut oil and smoked salt garnish
Steak tartare with pickled papaya
2001 Palliser Estate Sauvignon Blanc
2002 Kurt Hain Piesporter Goldtropfchen
2002 Domaine Parent Pinot Noir
Cream of walnut soup
Quail egg ravioli with mixed greens
Coddled pork shoulder
Tuscan beans
Sautéed arugula with garlic and pancetta
Potato galette with wild mushrooms
1995 Cigluiti Seraboella Barbera d’Alba
Grapefruit sorbet
Buche de noel with meringue mushrooms
Coffee mit schlag
The menu for Halley-Jen Christmas Eve dinner
December 24, 2006
Pomegranate margaritas
Marinated olives and mixed nuts
Boiled shrimp on ice
Lemon-habanero mayonnaise
Kunz ketjap
Tomato bisque
Sweet potato ravioli with sage cream sauce
Coriander and garlic pork tenderloins
Risotto with canellini beans and tomatoes
Buttered peas
Buche de noel with meringue mushrooms
Chocolate fountain
with persimmon, kiwi, apple, marshmallow and cream cheese cake dippers
Coffee mit schlag
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Thanks for looking! I’ll be adding links to the recipes later.
Press here to go back to part 1 of 2006
Press here for Thanksgiving 2007
Press here for Christmas 2007
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Last Revised: Jan 11, 2008
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