… 'trimming' the kitchen

I think that my favorite place to decorate is the kitchen. . . after all - it is the place where most of the preparation happens for the holidays.  One of my favorite (& easy!) ways to decorate is to use pine boughs. I think they give a lot of  decorative & festive bang for  your buck. I use the artificial kind of boughs. . . 

but I have one problem. . . 

. . . I find each year that my Dad has tossed the ones from the year before! Even last year - he had tossed the five (yes 5!) boughs that I used all throughout the house & when I. . . well. . . kind of threw a hissy-fit. . . he went a got three brand new ones. I thought that was nice. . .  (& needed - 'cause I had nothing to decorate with!). But then, this year when I went up to the attic to get down the boughs & decorations. . . there was just one bough! He had tossed two of the three (brand new) boughs. . .

. . . sigh.

I really tried to not have a hissy-fit this time.  . . (& he really felt bad) . . . but I told him NOT to go & buy new ones. (I think that maybe in the back of my head, I didn't want to have the money wasted - as there is a really good chance that they won't still be around next year!) So this year we have just one bough. . . strategically placed on the kitchen counter - where it is seen through out the day & evening from most all parts of the house.

A simple poinsettia & a red & white quilt help to finish the look.

And then there's the little 'candy shop' that has been a part of our Christmas tradition for years. It now holds what I like to call the "Grandpa candy". . . the 'Werther's Originals' that my Dad carries (& hands out) wherever he goes. (We always have bags of it on hand. . .) Even with just Dad & I here - it will still need to get filled up a couple of times this season!)

But really - the cutest things in this 'Christmas' kitchen are these guys . . .

I mean. . . really . .  how could I ever top these two!  By the way - this is what my Dad wore when he went around to all the neighbors - to deliver all the loaves of pumpkin bread he (& Bailey!) baked.  They look like a couple of Christmas elves don't they?   (. . . except for when Bailey looks a little nervous being held . . . I think he might have thought he was going to get a bath!)

I hope that you are having a great Christmas season. . . It's hard to believe that it's only a week away! 

xo, Bren