Christmas at Mom's (part 3)

...If you missed Part 2, it is here, and Part 1 is here.

Are you beginning to understand why decorating my mother's house is not a task for the faint-hearted? The results are certainly worth it, but it's a major commitment of time and energy! I just have a few more pictures to share with you. There are places I forgot to take pictures of...maybe next year!

My mother loves garland. There is an "arch" of sorts between the kitchen and family room that gets this gorgeous garland....


The kitchen picture window gets dressed up by ropes and ropes of all things silvery and sparkly! (I really wish I could capture the sparkle!)


And here's the Christmas tree, and you can glimpse the garland between the living/family rooms above it.


My picture of just the garland didn't turn out. She purchased two pre-lit garlands from Costco a few years ago, but then she had me take off all the lights that were on it and replace them with these gold grape-cluster lights. They are really fabulous at nighttime.

My mom gave up on the "kid" ornaments many years ago, and she keeps adding to her collection of sparkly, dangly, beaded-y, FANCE-Y -type ornaments!

...but there are two ornaments that don't seem to quite belong! Those are my dad's "Christmas Story" ornaments. One is of Ralphie in his pink bunny suit, and the other is of the kids sticking their tongues to the lightpost! My mother grimaces about those ornaments every year, but the rest of us find it highly amusing!!

At the base of the tree you will find "Papa Willow" riding Mooseltoe, surrounded by his forest friends. I think my kids have named every animal!


Ahh, but what about my favorite decorations, that I promised to show yesterday?? Well here they are:


Back in this corner of the living room are my two contributions to the Christmas overload.

This is a counted-cross stitch picture on linen I made for my mother in 1996 (well...I finished it in 1996; we won't mention when I started it). It was my gift to her, although I had to beg a sister to help pay for the matting and framing!


The second Santa picture is also counted-cross stitch over linen, and I think I finished it in 2002 or thereabouts (this time a very talented sister-in-law matted and framed it). Oh, the things I did before I had quite so many children!!


So there you have it! Christmas at Mom's. It's lavish and beautiful, and I wouldn't miss it for the world!