Sweet memories, a manger, and the new bird tree...

I have such sweet memories of my Nana, whose china I proudly display on my dining room hutch.

(click any photos to enlarge)

I so enjoy decorating the hutch at Christmastime, and I like to think that she's right here with me as I unwrap each delicate nativity figurine that will go into the manger...


That's a photo of my nana when she was a young woman, in the center of the plate rack hanging above the hutch (between the two empty vases donning lampshades that may someday come in handy for lamps that I don't yet own!)


The manger/nativity takes center stage on the hutch every year. The oversized white figurines were found years ago at a Salvation Army for a song... Then I found the oversized manger several years ago at Target and couldn't believe my luck - it was the perfect size!

The candles I'm about to show you are very special to me. After my mom passed away in 1996, my dad didn't have the heart to decorate for Christmas. But a couple of years ago, he changed his mind so we went through all the old boxes of Mom's decorations and ornaments (Mom loved decorating for Christmas!) Dad only wanted to put up a tree and nothing else, so I got a lot of Mom's old decorations for my house. These are the things I grew up with as a kid and they bring back such sweet memories...


This tall glass encrusted candle, in its own little stand, is titled A Home in the Country, and it features a beautiful, snowy New England style scene that wraps around the whole candle. My mom purchased these in the early sixties. That's a baby photo of my mom next to it...


I wish my photos captured the beauty of these encrusted images...


On the other side of the shelf is the companion candle titled The Skating Pond. Mom used to put these on the fireplace mantel every year. And that's my baby picture next to it...


Here's a closeup of one of the skaters... I'm sure these would be beautiful if they were illuminated from within by burning the candles, but my mom used them strictly as decoration, so that's what I will do, too.

Every year I decorate my "bird tree," which up until this year was the little white one in my dining room bay window. But my bird collection outgrew that tiny tree.


Luckily I had this skinny tree stashed downstairs from about 15 years ago (sometimes it pays to be a packrat!). It was the perfect size to squeeze in next to the hutch, and it allowed me to hang all my bird ornaments in one place.

The tree is also decorated with a silver jingle bell garland, white berries, frosted sprigs, and white lights. The most sentimental part is the tree topper...


... which isn't really a tree topper at all. Again, it's one of the decorations my mom used to put out every year at Christmas time... just a little glass candle with glass ornamentsand silver foil leaves on a little round stand. There used to be two of them and I hope to find the other one in dad's basement some day!

The tree is actually sitting on a stack of magazines to give it some height, so I hid those with a vintage embroidered table topper and then placed a nest at the base of the tree.

These are just some closeups of the many bird ornaments on the tree. My mom's favorite bird, the cardinal, is so special...

And you might recognize the pastel bluebird I got in Concord at the end of October, at the top left of the photo...

Here's a hummingbird (with a broken wing), a reminder of summer spent on the deck watching them at our feeder... And the Carolina wrens who make their home in the birdhouse by our front gate each year. And everyone needs a little bluebird of happiness in their tree, right?

The beautiful white glittery bird right under the silver sparkle bird at the top right is a gift from my friend Jill (who I am trying to convince to start a blog!) She has incredible taste... She's the one who also gave me the Christmas lamb that I just posted about!

There's Mr. Bluejuay that I picked up in Concord (the same day I got the bluebird ornament)... He is very happy to be living in the bird tree, and he reminds me of all my bluejay friends who come to the door for peanuts..

There are Baltimore Orioles, a robin, chickadees, finches, nuthatches and so many more birds, all enjoying the Christmas season in our dining room... How lucky am I?

So this is where the bird ornaments will spend their Christmases from this point on. (I am sooo glad I hung onto this tiny tree!! It just fits!)

And the glow from the lights at night is just magical!

Tomorrow we'll head back into the living room and I'll show you closeups of the fireplace (of course our little cottage is soooo tiny, you can see it from here!!)

Till then, wishing you all a wonderful weekend!


Donna

Spring... a time for nesting

I thought I'd do a little tweaking to my dining room hutch...


I got a little mini-lamp from the Christmas Tree Shop for one corner.


...because I've seen so many blogs with lovely little accent lamps on their hutches, and I love that look!

It's a perfect little accent light for at night, when a full size lamp isn't necessary (this little guy takes just a low watt chandelier bulb)...

These photos were taken during the day so you can see the lamp better.

It's surrounded by favorite family photos, two little white bird/napkin rings...

... and, of course, a nest...

...because, after all, spring really is a time for nesting... Wishing you all a happy spring week wherever you are!

Donna

A time honored tradition continues...

This is my first time posting a 'tablescape,' so I hope I'm doing it right - Thank you, Susan!

This year, the arrival of spring inspired the table setting for our annual St. Patrick's Day dinner...
(click any photos to enlarge)

... with garden statuary birds and a vintage, cottage-styled tablecloth...

...of pink and white flowers scattered across a cheerful blue background.

But the real star of every St. Patrick's day dinner is Nana's china...

I always assumed my Nana had purchased this china (Marx & Gutherz Carlsbad #1446 Austria, circa 1885-1898), as it had been passed down from her to my Mom, and then on to me. But after researching this pattern and seeing the manufacture dates, I'm now wondering if my great-grandmother originally purchased it and started the tradition of passing it on to the next generation (my Nana would have been just a baby in the late 1800s!)...

The one thing I am certain of is that these dishes have been part of every St. Patrick's Day (and many other celebrations!) on the Irish side of my family for a minimum of 90 years, but more than likely well over 100 years ...

The curves and lines of the serving dishes are so beautiful, as are the delicate pink and blue flowers in the pattern... I definitely think my Nana (or great-Nana) had excellent taste when it came to picking a timeless china pattern!

Now this may not be as pretty as the china, but for a St. Patrick's day dinner it's every bit as important! I took possession of my mom's large cooking pot after she passed away. Every New England boiled dinner I remember her serving was simmered in this pot. So the tradition continues...

... a St. Patrick's day dinner of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and onions.

This year the meat was so tender, it just pulled apart...

These beautiful serving pieces really make the food look so good!!

Thank you for letting me share our St. Patrick's day dinner and table setting with you. We're usually pretty casual around here at dinner time, so I don't often have anything to share on Tablescape Thursday!

After dinner, the cleanup begins. Naturally all of Nana's china is carefully handwashed and dried; and then it's back to the hutch until our next celebration!!

I have a favorite photo of my Nana as a young woman hanging between two of her plates above the hutch. I think she'd love that very special memories are still being made around the dinner table set with her china!

Now I'm heading over to Susan's beautiful blog, Between Naps on the Porch, to visit all the other Tablescape Thursday blog posts! I hope you'll join me!

Donna

Hutch Makeover - From Prim & Proper to Shabby Cottage

This was our dining room hutch three years ago... We had so many projects going on back then, and this was one of them...


Like all of our furniture, this little hutch started out as an inexpensive piece of unfinished furniture. And, like everything else back in my prim days, it was immediately stained dark brown. (How do you like the plywood subfloors that I painted white? After ripping out our ancient wall to wall carpet, we lived with those for 2 years until we could afford hardwood floors last year. I could never do white floors again - too much work to keep clean!)


But about 3 years ago the cottage bug hit me, so this is how it looks today. I also happened to take possession of my Nana's china during that same time period...


So I refer to it as "Nana's hutch" because I have all of her old china displayed on the shelves and stored inside... I placed a favorite photo of my Nana between two dinner plates on the plate rack above the hutch (perhaps taken about the same time as she picked out this china, as she's a young woman in the photo). Below that is a 1950's photo of my mom and Nana (her mom), with my mom's crystal candy dish on the shelf right below.


The glass knobs and rose & cherub appliques really help with the "prim to cottage" transformation! (The large framed photo is my mom and dad in front of their Niagara Falls honeymoon cottage back in 1951!)


I don't know if it is 'proper' decorating or not, but I love having all the photos of Nana's side of the family mixed in with her good china, and I think she'd really like it, too!


Here's a close up of the pattern and a photo of my mom and dad from the early 80's... So thanks, Nana! I love the pattern as much as you did when you picked it out so many years ago!! I think it's just perfect for my little cottage!!

Donna