Tuesday 17 December 2013

That Thing You (Don't) Do

Only a week til Christmas Eve? We're getting excited here! That big lad of ours is flying home on Thursday, and by Monday, Uncle Dave will be back all the way from across the pond. The tree is decorated and Little E's fish tank (Nemo, not SpongeBob) is wrapped and ready. 

There are still some bits to be tidied up. I made a batch of white chocolate and cherry fudge last night and, you know how it is, you can't eat and wash dishes at the same time, something has to give. I don't mind Christmas detritus most of the time. Usually it's fun. But I'm only human: sometimes I'll look at a gorgeously styled seasonal scene in a magazine and think - maybe next year.

Sian Fair scrapbooking Christmas

There's always a little something I've never managed to get round to. You know, those things the magazines suggest? in a checklist?


- little gift baskets beside the guest bed. If I'm feeling uber-hostess-y Uncle Dave might get a bottle of mineral water and a tin of mince pies

- Bucks Fizz for breakfast. One of these years we'll do it. We are moving towards sophistication now that I've persuaded everyone their favourite starter is smoked salmon - when it's on special offer in M&S

- An all white Christmas table. It just looks so good in those magazine photos! and it's closely related to a

- Colour  coordinated Christmas tree. We have a throw-everything-on- it tree

..but wait. I like that throw-everything-on-it tree. It means the beautiful star Honore sent me this year - and the gorgeous snowman from Becky - both fit in perfectly. Perfectly?  Perfectly? Have I got there after all? Now, there's a thought...



What about you? Any dreams you have pulled from a magazine?

28 comments:

scrappyjacky said...

And when the red wine gets sloshed on the red tablecloth nobody notices.....but white....leave it in the magazines....it's a recipe for disaster,I'm sure....a throw-everything-at-it christmas sounds perfect to me.
I love christmas magazines....but mainly for drooling over....though a few of the craft projects do come to fruition.

helena said...

I've been drooling over window decorations in the magazines but haven't attempted anything flash. I am thinking of putting some chocolates in the mini stocking I crocheted to go on guest pillows this year

Miriam said...

Your Christmas sounds perfect to me!
Something I won't get 'round to?
I wish I would make a gorgeous page 'just like Sian's' ;)

Jo said...

Great post and layout. I only ever glance at the magazines while they're on the shelf, I know what I love about my Christmas and I don't want/need someone from a mag to tell me how my Christmas should be from start to finish. Christmas is in the heart after all :)x

Mel said...

Its so true Sian magazines and now pinterest have so much to answer for it terms of our expectations as homemakers. My mom always stresses out about having the house perfect for Christmas and all we really care about is being together as a family.

Ladkyis said...

I spent many years wanting Christmas to be "Perfect" with no tantrums and no tense atmosphere and no child banished to a bedroom for some imagined crime. Then we got free of that only for me to want everything to be "Really" perfect. I stressed every year for about three years until Mr M said "Who are you trying to impress?" and I realised it was me! Now I am that laid back person that everyone would envy if they knew me. Hahahahaha Your Christmas is perfect, now just enjoy it

Cheryl said...

Love that you captured this in a LO. Fall is my favorite season, so I find that after Thanksgiving, I find myself pouting over the many Pinterest pins, magazine articles, etc. that I never got around to trying. But I'm with you - most of the time, fall is perfect, even if there are items that I never crossed off my list. Hope you have a perfect-for-you holiday!

Cheri said...

Beautiful layout Sian! Yes, I'm guilty of drooling over the vignettes in the Pottery Barn catalog and imagining my table set with special Christmas dishes. Never going to happen - I don't really want to own and store an entire set of dishes that only gets used once a year! And as much as love all the decorations, I don't really get as much joy in putting them out as I do in putting them AWAY and getting my house back in order! Silly me.

Lisa said...

such a simply gorgeous page and so very true! I drool like crazy over all the different dishes to cook for a truly sophisticated Christmas dinner (even though I'm over here I always put in an order for BBCs Good Food Mag). But to be honest? We love my standard turkey with all the trimmings and when you have more than usual numbers for dinner, that's not really the time to try out more complicated, tricky recipes!!! I DO have a coordinated tree though! I'm a control freak and there are no little or even big hands to interfere with my pale pink and soft gold (this year) decorations! He he!

Becky said...

I love your layout Sian. I would love a colour co-ordinated tree, but like you, ours is a throw everything at it tree and I love it for all the memories it brings so I will never replace it. Perhaps I'll do one in another room though! This year I AM having a colour co-ordinated table - silver and white and I can't wait to lay it up. No doubt within 2 minutes of sitting down someone will drop gravy on it, but as long as I get a photo of it to scrap beforehand I will be happy!

debs14 said...

Uh oh, I've got a colour coordinated tree. Can we still be friends? It's only because my daughter supervises the decorating of the tree - honest!
I wonder if any one does have all the finer details? I bet we're all the same, just thankful to have family around us! Who cares if everything matches to the Nth degree?!

Sandra said...

Please don't hate me but I have co-ordained trees and we're having a white table lol. Yes I am one of those that adores the magazines and they're ideas. Maybe it's because we don't have children or that I don't work but this year I feel so relaxed.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful looking layout Sian. I look at those colour co-ordinated trees and think it would be nice but I prefer our everything goes tree with our collection of decorations we've bought on trips, the ones given to me as part of one of my bridal showers, my parents few remaining ones and the ones I my sister & family give us every year. I'm sad it won't be going up this year but it will be up next year.

Stephanie said...

Beautiful layout! I don't read many magazines, but I do pin scenes and style shoots from Pinterest and think to myself "one day, one day". I do love the idea of an all-white Christmas table ... I'll have to add that to my "one day" list!

Amy said...

Well, you see, I like Christmas to be a bit of this and a bit of that - no magazine decor or food here ... if the people I love are with me and we have plenty of food and drink, well, nothing could be better. I was having this exact conversation with one of my sisters only two days ago and we both agreed that the fun is for the kids and the both of us really just want the family together over a meal. I think the seasonal difference comes to the fore more in this regard - hard to be coordinated when you're swimming all the time!

Lou said...

A great subject for a layout..I always love all the little details you include on a page.

Maybe those magazine's have rubbed off on me after all. We have the co-ordinated tree..as much as i love everyone's throw-on trees i've never been able to pull it off myself. We have the bucks fizz for breakfast (not the boys!).. Although we're still not sophisticated enough..yet.. for salmon :). Now a white table i would love, but seriously it's not practical..it would be spoiled before dinner is served, i am sure!
xx



Larry said...

Well I have 2 trees - the "throw it all tree" really owned & decorated by the small person which holds loads of memories and the "grown-up" tree which has a silver and white theme. White table? Strictly in my dreams! Love the lsy-out

Abi said...

It is so tempting to make christmas look like a magazine. I think the things I enjoy most at christmas though are those items and traditions that make it ours. The things that have lots of meaning. We are decorating our tree this afternoon and I can't wait!

Jimjams said...

The perfect Christmas is the stressless one ... where everything is thrown together, make done and mended, and where everyone is relaxed! Not one where everyone is on the edge of their seat not to spill, stain, put out of place! Have a wonderful family time with everyone's tales by the fireside!

Jennifer Shaw said...

I love your soft page. I usually have great expectations early in the season but as time goes by it is the same old thing. Maybe those fancy magazine ideas are mostly just for the magazines. ;)

Karen said...

I love your list (and layout)--and I also love my throw-it-all-on tree. There are so many memories tied to the ornaments on that tree, I'd never do anything differently. Matt and Betsy have all all red and silver decorated tree--stunning! But they're young and have had to purchase their ornaments rather than collect them over time.

Melissa said...

What a fun list to document! We pretty much have our own way of decorating around here & rarely achieve anything so picture perfect as a magazine spread - although it's just perfect for us!

Lisa-Jane said...

LOL! Little soaps and coordinating towels on the guest bed? Nah, I'm lucky if I can make enough space in the guest room for a path to the bed! Smiley people - that's the bit from the magazines I aim for :-)

alexa said...

Such a lovely page - you already do perfection :). I am sitting looking at a perfectly tidy living room and tree with lights which needs decorating, and NO food preparation done, and reminding myself that in less than twenty four hours there will be seven of us plus a large dog and all the phones, magazines, books, ipad chargers, etc which visitors bring strewn all over the place - and it will be perfectly untidy and untidily perfect!

Alison said...

I love the sound of that tree...mine have decorations from all over the world and gifted by so many friends...hope your boy is safely home
Alison xx

Chantal Vandenberg said...

This rocks!!!

Missus Wookie said...

Princess was very wise this year when she said she hoped she wouldn't be spoiled and feted... she wanted to be inside the family group not outside being waited on.

I don't read many magazines and don't do pintrest but like to have a put together by everyone horizontal-tree. Maybe in the next house we'll have space for a real one. Do have Christmas china - bought on sale and brought out for several meals over Advent and Christmas.

Maria Ontiveros said...

I once did the guest room basket thing - I put out some beautiful fresh fruit, and my father loved it!
Rinda

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