Christmas Decorating

I'm going to share with you a story of a Christmas Past.  This Story begins in June of 2005, when Mr. CSP & I were married after an on-line relationship and courtship.  Why on-line?  Because I lived in Wisconsin, 5 1/2 hours away from the future Mr. CSP in Michigan.  Neither of us had the flexibility in our schedules to travel and have a face-to-face meeting for 9 months.  By then, we knew we were going to marry.  Finally, in April the trip was made...
he travelled from Michigan to visit for several days and took some of my belongings back home with him.  I stayed in Wisconsin to get my apartment rented and everything sold .  I had an apartment full of furniture, dishes, everything - and it was all sold, paid for and hauled away in just under 4 hours.  ALL OF IT.

In May, I moved to Michigan...into Mr's house.  His previous Mrs had passed away of cancer the year before.  The month I lived there, before our wedding, he stayed at a friend's house at night - all very proper.

We both loved birds, especially Cardinals (and Chickadees) - so out came our gorgeous Cardinal dishes, with pretty red chargers.  I really preferred softer, pastel colors to the red of the Cardinals, but the plates were so pretty.  (sorry about the flash in the photos, I had just begun blogging)

June 25th - 2005, we married.

After our honeymoon in Wisconsin - we returned home and began working on it...ripping out aqua blue carpeting and even some shag carpeting...and refinishing the hardwood floors.  I ripped down wallpaper, cleaned the entire house and painted just about every room in the house.  

Then along came our 1st Christmas.

Here's our table set for 2 for Christmas Eve Dinner...complete with Topiaries.

Looking out the window, you can see the snow. 

Jim Shore Nativity Scene

Our First Christmas Tree

It had about 150 lights per foot - and it was a 7' tree...loaded with ornaments, too.  Then when I was finished decorating the tree, I let the SNOW fall from above the tree, as I stood on a ladder and sprinkled it.

We had a huge window, and most of the Christmas Cards fit nicely in the center along with the 2 1/2' Snow Lady and 3 small Christmas Trees. 

Here's the view from near the front door coming into the Living Room...the room on the left is the Dining Room.

This was Mr. CSP's Sectional (La-Z Boy) - that I cleaned up and bought new pillows for - pulled to the center of the room, with walk-way from the front door, into the house, behind the sectional.  I had a table and 2 chairs next to the closet door you see on the left - under the lit-up Wreath...a great place for removing shoes or boots.

I will be sharing a few more Christmas past Stories in the coming days, so watch for them.

Merry Christmas!!