"Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house."~Henry Ward Beecher
I love this quote and couldn't agree more. I'm taken aback when I see a house with no books; it just doesn't feel like a home to me.
Hi all! How's your week going? I'm making progress on our house now. The Christmas decorations are
coming down quickly and I'm transitioning to the softness of winter
decor. I like this time of the year; it's a chance to catch my breath
and re-group. This past weekend, our area had a winter storm consisting of freezing rain and a small bit of snow. We had a crock pot of chili and a skillet of cornbread here, and it helped to take the chill off.
Today, I'm sharing more pictures of my Mom's neighbor's house decorated for Christmas. In this post, I'm showing Susie's den and living room. I
Hello dear friends! Is it cold, wet, and dreary where you are? It certainly is here. Brrr!
I know you're all ready to be done with Christmas, but today I'm sharing the home of my mom's good friend and neighbor, Susie. I promised to photograph her house in all its Christmas glory, but I simply did not have time to get over there before Christmas, or even before New Year's Day. Last Monday, I visited my mom and we checked out Susie's Christmas home. I actually did another Christmas post about this house when my blog was still very new, back in December 2012. You can read that Here and Part 2 Here.
The sun has returned to our corner of the world today. Of course, we knew it was there all along, right? But sometimes lately, I think we've all had our doubts. I truly don't mind a few rainy (or snowy) days, especially this time of the year. The rain makes things that much cozier inside and makes me want to fluff the nest a bit. :) But the amount of rain we've had in 2018 just boggles the mind. It seems that the eastern United States and particularly the mid-Atlantic states have all had a sopping wet year in 2018, but thanks to two almost back-to-back hurricanes in the fall, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia really got slammed. Decades-old rainfall records were broken. Read here to find out more.
Yesterday seemed like one of the dreariest days of all. I'm not sure why except that it rained non-stop all day, and the sky never brightened until near sunset. Soooo, I turned the Christmas tree on in the morning, and left it on until bedtime. I thought I'd enjoy it one more time before we take it down. I also took some more pictures because I realized that I hadn't taken any in the living room or foyer with all the candles "burning." Sorry guys; I said in the previous post that those were the last of the Christmas pictures. 😏
Happy New Year to you! I hope you're all looking forward to a new year of good things. I know we are here at Forest Manor. Last year had some good parts and some really tough parts, but isn't that just life in general? We are thankful for the good things and pray for strength to deal with the not-so-good things. I really like the feeling of hopefulness and expectation that comes with the start of a new year.
Before I completely leave last year in the rear-view mirror, I want to share a few last pictures of Christmas decorations at our house in 2018. I hate that I'm so late showing all this, but I just didn't have time to do so earlier.
We love Christmas trees at our house, how about you? One Christmas, about 15 years ago, I decorated three trees for our house. That was when we had our finished room in the basement; we had the main tree in the living room, one in the den, and one in the basement. Never again. They were fun to decorate, but a real chore to take down.
It's December 26th; are you tired? I am a bit, but not as much as I thought I'd be. Our Christmas day weather was perfect -- cold but not bitter and not raining. Hooray for sunshine. :)
I so hope that all of you had a good Christmas, filled with the people and things you love. We had a lovely Christmas with our families, and it's been wonderful to rest a bit today. I also took the opportunity to take some more pictures around the house. I honestly have not had a spare minute to post any pictures before, so I'm sharing now. If you're sick of seeing Christmas decorations, you'll want to skip this post. ;)
