Happy New Year! 
Tonight, I have book club. Twice a year, 8 of us meet for dinner and then walk over to the bookstore to select our books for the next 6 months. It is very democratic. We all scour the store for books that were recommended to us, that we have read and loved or ones that we want to read. Then we sit down together and each member gives a little summary of her books, passes them around and adds them to the master list. After each person has pitched her books, we vote, choosing 6 books each. The books with the most votes become our reading roster. It works like a charm. We get a broad selection and it keeps us from getting stuck in one genre. The trick for me will be staying on task and out of the cookbook section! 
I loved Princess Diana.
When we put colored Christmas lights in our bushes, I knew that it would give a festive glow to the house. What I didn't expect was the 10 inches of snow we got in a blizzard the week before Christmas! It's been like "living in a snow globe." The colored lights glowing from beneath the snow looked like a scene from a Christmas card - simply magical.
I wanted to show you the jelly bean fireplace that I am so proud of...tah dah. This year the snow-covered lawn is made of tapioca pearls.
This would make a great puzzle! Can you find "Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer" near the bottom of the picture? And next to him is a "House full of love" (covered with red hearts) - look closely and see that the roof is strung with colored Christmas lights. Can you find the "Elephant with the purple blanket?" An important cookie in my family - I wrote about the tradition of it here. Now that says it all, doesn't it?
Every year, my husband and I spend a day in December baking and decorating my grandmother's sugar cookies with our 7 nieces and nephews. The kids (ages 17, 17, 15, 15, 13, 13 and 10) have been building this tradition with us since the oldest was only 4 years old and it really defines the holidays for me. There is Christmas music playing, "chocolate tea" (hot cocoa) on the break between baking and decorating and a general sense of ease. Rolling, cutting, baking and frosting is a long process, so the kids just relax and take their time.
I have always referred to my decorating style as "Swedish Beach house" (paying no mind to the fact that we live neither in Sweden nor by the sea). 
I am in the middle of a blizzard and I can't stop thinking about Laura Ingalls Wilder's book, Little House in the Big Woods. Can you see the little house on my table runner? So sweet!
I think that anticipation is an underrated concept for grown-ups. When I put presents under the tree, I want everyone to: 
When I am traveling, I'm always on the lookout for things that bring delight. My sisters-in-law in Texas are "on board" with this concept and consider it their mission to take me places that we don't have in Michigan.
I wanted to show you a wreath that I made from "paper scrap." If you like the idea of a wreath, but want to highlight non-traditional images (I hang this in my office year round), this is a neat way to go. 
If you have been searching for Hansel and Gretel, look no further. I have found their gingerbread cottage in the lobby of the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester, Michigan. My lovely neighbor and her Garden Club girls (age 9 & 11) invited me on a "field trip" to see this giant masterpiece in person. The gingerbread boy nearby boasts the recipe: 220 pounds of sugar, 300 pounds of gingerbread mix, 90 gallons of water, 240 eggs...wow.
Some days I simply have to give up on my "to do" list and make something. My "jewelry box" is calling - beads, buttons and baubles all waiting to evolve into something wonderful. So the moment I return from a Christmas lunch with the Garden Club girls, I will begin. I am imagining pretty little boxes of jewelry under the Christmas tree for all the girls on my list!
To me, making a gingerbread house is a lot like designing jewelry. There are an infinite number of combinations and the building materials are gorgeous!
I was having people over for the holidays and decided to serve my ginger cakes as a sweet treat. The last time I baked them, a friend pulled me aside in the kitchen and confessed that she'd eaten four! That was all I needed to hear.She thought about it, hesitated, then walked over to a cluttered shelf. "Well...we have these," she said as if there was no way that they had what I wanted. It was the exact reindeer from the magazine and was the best $2 I've ever spent. They took my box mix cupcakes to a whole new level, and became an unexpected party favor - no one wanted to leave without their reindeer! I tell you, delight is everywhere.
A floral arrangement in antique white can look so lovely this time of year. I was lucky to find a bunch of hypericum berries in peach and paired them with cream roses in an old-fashioned sugar bowl. So pretty! And this photograph captures it forever. 
I believe that little touches are the secret to making a big impression. An understated couch with one fabulous pillow. A classic watch with a velvet ribbon band. Or in this case, store-bought cookies (Ikea) embellished with Wilton white frosting. Don't they look like they are from a little Swedish bakery? I was inspired by the beautiful baking at the Swedish Christmas fair and this is the result. I am starting off the week with a cup of coffee and a ginger cookie. Join me?
One year I received a Christmas card depicting a horse-drawn sleigh carrying a young couple home with a fresh Christmas tree. I loved the image and wanted to preserve it some how. So I thought, why not make it a Christmas ornament?
Are you looking for a pretty centerpiece? From my perspective, nothing beats a little paper village after a marshmallow snowstorm. And it smells as sweet as it looks! Keep your eye out for vintage-style buildings in discount stores and antique shops and as you build your collection, just make sure that the houses and churches you choose are all the same scale. I love how my little Winter village looks, I hope you do too.
There is something so magical about department store windows at Christmastime. I took this sugarplum fairy vignette last year at the Macy's on State Street in Chicago. The figures moved back and forth into graceful poses - it was lovely.
This is my maternal grandmother as a little girl. Oh, to wear big hair bows! In those days a photograph was so precious - she must have been thrilled to have hers taken.
My mantra for holiday preparations has always been Visual. Edible. Givable. In that order. 
Today the world wide web is a-buzz with holiday shoppers. Traditionally, the Monday after Thanksgiving is so big for online sales that it has been dubbed "Cyber Monday."
