A Desert Christmas

It seems a bit corny to give an account of Christmas so I will just say it was a time filled with good weather, good food and good company and let the pictures say the rest.

 

Our Southwestern Christmas

This post is really for my Mum and Dad because they wanted to see how we had decorated the house for Christmas but, of course, anyone else who is into Christmas is welcome to read on too. Where else to start but at the front door, festive with red bow.


Where does that messy wire on the left of the picture lead too? To our little baby Saguaro Cactus who is decked out for the holidays. It looks very pretty at night all lit up, however during the day the hummingbirds get very angry when they can't get any nectar out of the red bulbs and they keep buzzing it.


Inside the front hall we have a pressed metal Christmas tree from Mexico


My mate was a little perturbed when he saw me dragging a large branch in through the front door (it barely fit) but he liked the end result.


A place to put all the 'fuzzy' animal decorations that we have collected over the years.


They seem much more in their element in a natural wood setting rather than amongst twinkling Christmas lights.


There is a very brief nod towards the concept of a white Christmas but nothing remotely chilly here.


I didn't clear the wrapping stuff off the table for the photo but you get the general idea, simple and red.


Chilli's always feature strongly and they make a very festive wreath (smells pretty yummy too!)


The fireplace is swathed and I was so excited when I managed to find Christmas stockings with Saguaro Cactus on them! Who would have thought?


Last but not least is of course the Christmas tree and I have had a great time over the last couple of months scouring ebay, shops and farmers markets looking for appropriate ornaments.


A buffalo


Prickly Pear Cactus


The omnipresent chili peppers


Reptiles of numerous species and colours


The Wily Coyote howling at the moon


And of course, no tree would be complete without several different Saguaro Cactus ornaments


Happy Christmas everyone and I hope you all have a very Happy and Healthy Festive Season wherever you may be in the world.

The Other Christmas Project

What to do for the Mom-in-law's Christmas tree? My Mom-in-law loves Christmas decorations and so when she spends Christmas with us I try to give her her own tree in her room, as well as our usual one in the living room. She loves the sea so I decided to go with a sea life theme.


First off some wooden dolphin cut-outs.


Drill a little hole in them, attach a hanger and then paint them.


Add some blue beads for eyes


And then go crazy with the glitter!


Same idea with some seahorse cut-outs.


And then onto the shells. I picked these up the last time I visited my parents - not many seashells in Chicago!


The trusty glue-gun comes into play to attach hangers and beads. (The glue-gun is such a great invention!)


And then the glitter comes into play again! For some reason I was having camera issues here, so sorry for the blurry images.


Some of the shells need just a touch of glitter to enhance them and make them look festive


The plainer ones lend themselves to a more generous coating of sparkles


I tried to follow the natural patterns on these with the glitter


These were really fiddly and I think I probably ended up wearing more glitter than the shell!


It is only at Christmas that you can get away with all this glitter, and it is fun :)


Finally all the glittering was done


And it was time to put everything onto the tree


I hid the ugly tree stand with a piece of material and scattered more shells around


And voila! Sea side tree


Not sure if my Mom-in-law liked it, she didn't say but I had fun getting in touch with my inner five year old and getting covered in glue and glitter :)

Christmas Fare

One thing about me - I am about as artistic as a teabag! Never could draw, paint, play a musical instrument or do anything else remotely creative. That being said, as Christmas draws near each year, I feel the urge to 'make stuff'. It is definitely a seasonal thing and when the new year comes around the urge has passed. But each November, December the urge has to be satiated. Good old Martha usually has a few suitably simple projects that I can adapt. This was one of this years.

Take a dark green Christmas ball

Add a little snowfall

and some snow-covered trees

a flight of festive cardinals

Finally a gentle snow storm

And then hang the finished item on the Christmas tree.