Transitions

I always have a problem deciding what to do for a winter look in my home.  I take down all the Christmas glitz and find that things look.... bare. The changeover from the abundance of the holiday season to the simplicity of ordinary is one I find awkward.  One of my problems is that I tend to associate anything winter with Christmas, so it doesn't feel right leaving it up after the holidays. This applies to snowmen, snowflakes and poinsettias, all items that I suppose could transend the holiday season, but which come and go with the rest of the Christmas decor.

Like this lovely lantern candleholder. My hubby bought this for me for my birthday, which is a few days before Christmas. I love it and put it out for display with the rest of the decorations.  After Christmas, I had it in the pile of holiday items to be put away.  'Why are you taking that down, it's not a holiday decoration?' he asked.  Hmmm.  I completely associated it with the holiday.  I'm not sure why, perhaps its the pinecones and snowy effect on it.  He's right though, it's a winter look, but not December exclusive.

So using this lantern as a base, my glass compote got some cinnamon-scented pinecones, and I completed the look with my stainglass turtle light.  It is now feeling like winter may be outside, but we are plenty cozy inside. A great transition for a season which keeps even us folks in more temperate climes indoors more often than not.

One of the reasons I love this look is because it reminds me of cabins and lodges surrounded by pine trees and mountains.

Even my patio deer is displaced.  Workers outside have asked us to clean off our patio areas so they can paint and replace the facia boards on our condo buildings.  My sweet doe does add to the forest feel, along with her bunny friend.

This year will include many transitions for my family. We hope to sell our home and relocate to a larger place.  My daughters will be graduating, one from college and one from high school. When we find our new home, my mother-in-law will be moving in with us.  Quite a few changes coming up.  Many decisions to be made - keep, purge, where, when.  We'll tackle them as they come up, and learn to adjust to our new lives and adventures as they occur. 

Linking up with Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for her special 100th Table Top Tuesday event.

Good Thoughts for 2012

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last blog?  Okay, I know I didn't post everything I wanted to over the holidays, I got rather caught up in, you guessed it, the holidays.

It's hard now to remember the particulars of the last days before Christmas, but it was good.  Three days after Christmas we headed off to Las Vegas to spend a few days, including New Year's Eve.  Yes, we did New Year's Eve on the Strip.  Yes, it was memorable.  Fun, thrilling, and downright scary for a 20-30 minute block of time when we and hundreds of other people were squished together so tightly no one was able to move for about half an hour, till a hotel finally opened up a gated-off area and allowed escape for the trapped pedestrians.

At this point I'm doing major reflecting on what 2012 will bring.  I do believe it will be a year of positive changes, but I realize I have to play a big role in making these changes happen.  We have been concentrating on getting our condo ready to sell since last year, and since we want to put it on the market in maybe April or May, we need to very seriously start finishing up.  The current real estate market and predictions for a still grim market this summer are very intimidating, I'm hoping we see at least some improvement.  Regardless, people do sell and buy homes in depressed markets as well as 'hot' markets, just not as quickly, and not as profitably for sellers.

I hope 2012 is prosperous and successful for all of us, whatever our endeavors.