Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Christmas at Casa Kittling


I am a very lucky person in many ways. One of those ways is in how I celebrate Christmas. I concentrate on the bits of the holiday season that I like and ignore the rest. I'm lucky because I am in a situation to do so. I don't have any sort of peer or family pressure on me to drag me out of my own happy little zone. It wasn't always this way, but now I'm a tall version of a Christmas elf that goes throughout our house sprinkling fairy dust in as many places as I can.

In years past I've spread some of my holiday cheer here on Kittling: Books by showing you how I decorate our home. This year won't be any different, although I won't be showing as many photos this time around. For those of you who are Facebook friends, you can see lots more of my holiday decorating on my Facebook page.

I told myself that I would stick to six photos. Let's see if I can hold to that! (Click on any of them to see them in larger sizes.)


The living room as seen from the entry way.

When you see our house from the street during the holidays, all you can see are Christmas trees in the picture window. There are seven decorated trees in the living room, from two feet tall all the way to 7½ feet tall.


My Christmas Forest in the living room.

In the photo above, you can see all seven trees. With all the lights and candles lit, this room is magical at night!


My TBR shelves decorated for the holidays.

I don't care what interior designers say, I love my books-- look at the glimmer of lights on the dust jackets!-- and bookcases are perfect things to decorate for the holidays, especially if you have collections like finials (tree toppers) and 50-year-old carolers made by your mother that you don't want in areas where they can be damaged!


My craft room/ library.

My craft room has four trees. You can see three of them here. The front edge of my work table has goodies for three types of people: fiber fans to the left, book lovers in the middle, and cookie munchers (Creme de Menthe Cheesecake cookies) to the right.


Christmas cheer in the family room.

The family room is where I have my kitchen tree, but since I've shown it in years past, I decided to show you a different area of the room. The afghan on the sofa is the very first one my mother knitted back in the 1960s. And if you're wondering just how many trees I do have, that number would be fourteen. No, that's not a typo!


New for 2012: my Butterfly Tree.

My favorite theme tree this year is my Butterfly tree. At night with the lights shining through the butterfly wings, it looks a bit enchanted. Next year I plan to change out my other theme trees, and I already have several ideas percolating in my head.

Especially in these troubling times, it's important to focus on one's blessings, on what is right and joyful in our lives. One of the ways I show how blessed I feel is by decorating this house-- and I hope I've brought a smile to your faces, my friends.

From our house to yours-- Blessings!

30 comments:

  1. Awww ... you are living in a Christmassy Winter Wonderland!! LOVE IT!!

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  2. Wow, I bet you can't sit among all those beautiful lit-up trees without a smile on your face. 'Merry Christmas!

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    1. I can't walk through the room at any time of day without smiling, Joanna! And at night? It's the perfect place to daydream and feel at peace with the world.

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  3. gee, that is a lot of trees...
    I only have my one, but even that makes me smile.

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  4. Cathy - How very festive!! It all just invites you in for an eggnog and a good read. I love how warm and welcoming it is.

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  5. No one knows how to decorate for Christmas like you do. I love the butterfly tree!!

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    1. That butterfly tree puts an extra big smile on my face, Kathy!

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  6. Absolutely beautiful!!! Thank you for sharing. I'm guessing that you love this time of year lol. Happy Holidays!!!

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    1. Well... I love *my* version of this time of year, Cheryl! LOL

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  7. Wow, you really go all out! I've been lamenting that our home isn't completely overrun by Christmas decorations, but I'm not sure how to fix it, exactly. There's really not room for more than the one tree! I love this post, though. Gorgeous.

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    1. Another way that I'm lucky-- I have the space to do this in.

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  8. Those are gorgeous! What a beautiful place to relax in! Do you use real or fake trees, or a combo? This would be such a fun thing to do, especially with that lovely window to display them in - hopefully someday we'll have a nice big street-side window/nook to put a tree by. For our monstrous treadmill is by the window.

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    1. I use fake trees, Alyce. I have a few allergies, and with this many trees, the pine smell would overwhelm me.

      You have a treadmill, we have a stationary bike that's in our family room. For some reason, I didn't share any photos of that. ;-)

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  9. How pretty! I love the Christmas tree forest.

    And WHOA you have a lot of TBR shelves! I thought I was bad. :)

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    1. I am *very* bad with my TBR shelves, Jessica-- but don't tell Santa! ;-)

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  10. I'm impressed. You have way more energy than I do. The digging the totes out of the garage, then putting them all back again,then digging them out to put everything away. Bah Humbug. I really don't feel that way! I love Christmas. Your home is awesome. Lucky you to be able to do it your way.

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    1. I know what you mean. I really don't enjoy the loading, unloading, loading, unloading, etc., myself, but I love the results. I just formulate a battle plan and deal with it! LOL

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  11. I love all your Christmas trees! I look forward to your Holiday decorating pssts every year.

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    1. Awww, thanks for letting me know that, SuziQ!

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  12. It's very nice. But seven trees in the living room! Is that a world record? It's all so much work, but you seem to love to do it.

    I love the butterfly tree.

    I don't do any of this, but I so love other people's holiday cheer.

    I do go to a friend's house every year and put up the lights on her tree and help decorate it; then she makes the best dinner of my year. It's very special.

    Your house looks magical.

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    1. I doubt that it's even a record for the city of Phoenix. I seem to remember touring the inside of someone's house who had way more trees (and other stuff) than I do. The house is so packed that the only thing I can figure out is that the family lives in a shed out back somewhere because even the garage is on the tour!

      I love Christmas and am passionate about decorating for Christmas, but I refuse to live in a shed out back during the holidays! LOL

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  13. Wow you go all out Cathy; love it! So cheery and Christmas-y; seven trees impressive! Looks magical. Quite a TBR book shelf too.

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    1. Yes, I need to work on getting more space on those shelves so I can gather together more books! ;-)

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  14. I'm glad I took the time to catch up on your blog - haven't even turned on the computer some days. I love the way you decorate your house for Christmas, so beautiful, magical even. I stopped decorating several years ago and we don't really celebrate Christmas, but your house could even get us in the mood for all the traditional holiday cheer.

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    1. I'm glad you like my decorations, Barbara, and don't worry about turning on the computer. It will still be there after you've rested up! :-)

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  15. How lovely! Your home is beautiful. I need to get my Christmas pictures up.
    2 Kids and Tired Books

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    1. I always love seeing other people's decorations!

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