Birthday Celebrations

Amidst the Christmas season rush, Terry and I took the time to celebrate my birthday, which was on December 21st.

The Sunday before, we went to north Michigan Avenue in Chicago for 5:30 tea at the Peninsula Hotel, our favorite posh place to celebrate! It was a very cold day as we walked the 2 miles from the train station to the hotel.

Tea is held in the Lobby, which was all decked out in its Christmas finery.

The decor is very grand and the atmosphere is formal, but welcoming.

Chamber musicians played softly in the balcony while we sipped our organic Earl Grey.

A 3-tiered serving stand held wonderful gourmet sweets and savories. It's always a surprise to see what the chefs will make for us!

The finger sandwiches were the traditional cucumber and cream cheese, a marinated portobello sandwich, and a marbled rye wrapped around tomato and fresh basil.

Next were ramekins of gourmet pot pies topped with puff pastry.

A basket held both berry and maple scones, served with jam, clotted cream and lemon curd. Finally, a plate full of cookies, cakes, sweet breads, brownie-like cups of chocolate and meringues! And a macaroon, fresh from the oven, was an added bonus!

Everything was scrumptious!

What an elegant and memorable birthday present from my dear husband, Terry!

After tea, we took a brief walk up Michigan Avenue to take in the sights and sounds of the season.

I always say hello to the carriage horses!

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On Tuesday, my actual birthday, Terry took me out for dinner at my favorite nearby restaurant, Olive Garden!

My parents joined us there. It was so nice celebrating with everyone.

Thank you, Terry, for always making my birthday very special.

And thank you, Ma & Pa, for giving me a birthday

and helping us celebrate!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day is here!

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday. This year, we will spend Christmas at my brother's house, and tomorrow will get together with my husband's family. We are both so lucky to have our families close by.

This morning, Terry and I exchanged gifts.

The cards have all been delivered and are displayed on our door.

The mistletoe is hung in a most convenient place!

I bought myself an early Christmas present. I just couldn't resist this beautiful Christmas lamp!

I love this framed lithograph Terry picked out for me a few years back. The image contains so much of the things I love!

This penguin and polar bear bring a bit of cheer to our chilly winter!

I usually put this buggy near the tree. This year, I also decided that the antique doll and settee would also make a nice vignette near the tree.

The buggy contains my 3 teddy bears: Oatmeal, Cream of Wheat and Cocoa Wheats.

Penny approves of this year's vignette.

And so does Phoebe!

I used to place a beautiful handmade lace tree skirt under our tree. Then Penny came along. She is very mischievous around the tree. The lace tree skirt had to be replaced with a white sheet. Many of our beautiful ornaments have to stay packed away because Penny thinks the tree is one giant Cat Toy Holder.

Little angels waiting for Santa.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree Tour 2010

Where did we leave off?

Ah yes, the Christmas tree!

After the lights were put on the tree, a strand of candle lights

are added for an old-world touch.

Next, strands of wooden cranberries.

The angel comes out of her box to adorn the top of the tree.

Add all the ornaments and...

Voila!

I created a video that shows a lot of our ornaments.

The music is a fantastic Christmas medley played by the

local concert band at a live concert we attended a few years back.

Click the picture below to watch the video on YouTube.

Here are some of our ornaments shown in the video.

Of course, we have a fair share of cat ornaments!

And other animals besides cats. We're both big animal lovers!

Of course, the tree would not be complete

without the angels.

Some ornaments are mementoes of special days

in our lives.

And some are just for fun!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our 2010 Christmas Tree.

Here's wishing you all a beautiful Christmas

filled with love and good cheer!

Deck the Malls

What a busy month this has been so far! Winter has definitely arrived in Chicago. Here is a recent view of the garden...

... and here is the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, all lit up for Christmas and Hanukkah. Here's a fun fact: the Merchandise Mart is SO big, it has it's own zip code!

This Saturday, we went to the stores and malls to do some Christmas shopping.

I think we're done, and that's a relief! Look, there's Santa!

The stores were packed, and the parking lots were full, so going back would be a major headache.

Sunday was "Put The Christmas Tree Up Day."

I've declared it as such because it literally takes me ALL DAY to just get the tree up and decorated.

I began at noon. I know, I should have started earlier.

Here it is, going up in stages. There are 11 tiers of branches on a 7-1/2 foot tree.

This year, we ran into a few snags. When I finally got the tree put together, I dragged out the box of lights. I started stringing them onto the tree, when I came across 2 major strands that were not working!

It was 4:30 by this time. We hopped in the car and drove to the nearby Ace Hardware and bought 2 new strands. As we were approaching Ace, Terry noticed a car on the other side of the road losing control, spinning out, jumping the curb and hitting some evergreen trees. We stopped to call the police and waited until they arrived, then continued our shopping.

When I got home and opened the first set of lights, it did not light completely! A faulty set! The other set was fine, so I got that one put on the tree.

The entire tree fits in these two bins

By this time it was too late to go back to Ace, which closes at 5:00. So we drove all over the area looking for more Christmas lights.

Menards, Target, Home Depot all were out of lights! I couldn't believe it! Luckily, I decided to pull into a Walgreens on the way home and they had some left. Whew!

Once I got all the lights on the tree, it was time to take a break and eat dinner. I made us a yummy asparagus casserole. Mmmm! It warmed our cockles on such a chilly evening!

OK, so this is no Tablescape Thursday-type photo! Just my everyday dishes which do not match the tablecloth. And my everyday husband Terry. Nothing fancy going on here!

After dinner, I went back to the tree. I got the rest of it all done by 10:45 on Sunday night!

I'll leave the rest of the tree photos for the next post. I did manage to pull this angel out of storage for our table centerpiece. The rest of the Christmas decorations will have to wait for another day!