On the second day of Christmas… I share with you a tree!

My mom had this brilliant idea of doing a chef-themed tree for the kitchen island.  AND I LOVE IT! We stuck mainly with German chef ornaments… made either by Ulbricht or Steinbach. I’m sure you’ve seen some of these cute little wooden ornaments on your shopping adventures at Homegoods or Tuesday Mornings!

Underneath the tree sits some chef nutcrackers and smokers! 

I especially love the tiny pig chef above.. he’s actually a smoker and when you use him the smoke puffs out of his nose! 

Some of my favorites ornaments include the mouse chef, who I’ve named Remy, after the tiny mouse in the Disney movie Ratatouille. 

It makes cooking in the kitchen super fun, you can look up and see all of the cute ornaments!

 A closer look at some of the ornaments… a pig chef, a Thanksgiving chef, a heart chef, and a mini wooden gingerbread cookie!

I don’t have a tree topper… I had put a chef hat on the tree but didn’t like how it looked.  Guess I’ll have to keep shopping…

I like the natural wooden ornament below and the red gingerbread house too! 

Initially we were going to mix up the ornaments with food themed… but then when we got all of these chefs on the tree we thought, oh! We’re sticking with the chefs.  I *may* have hidden a cute little pink macaron ornament in the tree. I saw it and couldn’t help myself.

I had never done any themed trees before, but my Mother-in-Law has all of these cute themed trees all over her house and I just loved it… so the chef tree was born!  Plus, it’s an excuse to put up more Christmas trees. This year I have FOUR. I’ll be sharing them with you one by one…

linking up at: The Scoop!  Metamorphosis Monday’s Inspire Me Tuesday Wow us Wednesdays! Share Your Style Thursday Favorite Things,  Home Sweet Home Feathered Nest Fridays Foodie Friday & Everything Else  

Written at http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com

Christmas is here in just a few days.  I’m sure most of you have started your holiday traveling.

I want to give a shout out to my mom who has her birthday this week.  Happy Birthday Mom!

I thought I’d just share some pictures from last year’s Christmas posts…

Unfortunately, I have to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas. Not to mention I also worked Thanksgiving this year and I work New Years’ Eve and New Years’ Day… clearly my scheduler hasn’t been thinking about my holiday schedule this year… Enough of my whining (hey it’s my blog and I’ll whine if I want too!).  

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Will be back with more posts in 2015!!

I did away with my old Department 56 village and put together this glitter putz house village.

The mini Santas are tiny little candles I picked up at HomeGoods.  I made the glitter path ways to match the houses with some cardboard and German glass glitter.

It lights up at night with some string lights that I got from Homegoods.  The houses are from Homegoods, Tuesday Morning, and Pottery Barn.

I like my updated look.  The Dept 56 village was really cute, don’t get me wrong, but it had been in the family for 20 some years and I was bored.
Written at http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com
Linking up with these fabulous link parties: The Scoop!, Inspire Me Tuesday,Wow us Wednesdays!  Centerpiece Wednesdays, Creative Ways,  Home Sweet Home , Feathered Nest Fridays, Foodie Friday

Welcome to Peonies and Orange Blossoms’ Christmas House Tour of 2014!
First you are greeted with a fresh fir wreath:

Next, you step inside and notice the living room.  I hung wreaths with a santa and reindeer garland this year.

A closer look… I just can’t get over how cute this garland is!

Then you are greeted by the tree…

 You notice a little wooden Christmas village tucked away with a pyramid…

This spinning pyramid catches your eye too..

You see the Snowmanland table…

This vignette is hidden in the hallway…

The nativity scene moved this year to this little table…

The new Christmas glitter village…

And one last look at the Christmas living room…

Thanks for stopping by!
Written at http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.comLinking up with these fabulous link parties: The Scoop!, Inspire Me Tuesday,Wow us Wednesdays!  Centerpiece Wednesdays, Creative Ways,  Home Sweet Home , Feathered Nest Fridays,

Next to the tree sits the buffet table… completely full of my nutcracker Santas, Steiff snowmen, and my favorite gingerbread advent calendar!

The banner below says “greetings”. I didn’t know where to put it this year so I went with this spot.

Pinecones are from the yard…

My favorite nutcracker!

Thanks for stopping by!
Written at http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com
Linking up with these fabulous link parties: The Scoop!, Inspire Me Tuesday,Wow us Wednesdays!  Centerpiece Wednesdays, Creative Ways,  Home Sweet Home , Feathered Nest Fridays, Foodie Friday

So while Christmas shopping this year… I spotted some awfully cute Christmas stuff!  You can see in my post here some other things that caught my eye….

How cute is this reindeer topiary?!?

Or this collection of topiaries? Of course it’s from Roger’s Gardens in Newport Beach.

 How cute is this display of new Christmas Juliska?

I have always wanted a canopy bed… I LOVE how they put greenery on the posts!

This was at Anthropologie…

These poinsettias were so beautiful.

Love this French chair with the ribbon and wreath!

This tree was very beautiful as well, it is on Main Street in Disneyland!

I could not believe how pretty the castle looked at night in Disneyland!

And this was on my drive around looking at Christmas lights.  Do you drive around looking at Christmas lights too?

Thanks for stopping by!

Written at http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com
Sharing with: feathered nest fridays, http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com

Here is my Christmas tree for this year:

Doesn’t it look pretty? I love the lights on at night.  

The tree topper is a cardinal. I just can’t get him to sit perfectly straight. I love the burlap and tinsel “Merry Christmas” mini garland at the top.

A look at the tree during the day… 

…Then at night: 

Hope you enjoyed looking at my tree as much as I do!

Written at http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com

Linking up with these fabulous link parties: The Scoop!, Inspire Me Tuesday,Wow us Wednesdays!  Centerpiece Wednesdays, Creative Ways,  Home Sweet Home , Feathered Nest Fridays,

Here are some things that caught my eye whilst shopping around for this Christmas season.  I didn’t buy them due to budget, but I like them!

This holiday candle by Nest.  I’ve seen it at so many places.  Actually, I’ve smelled it too!  There I am, shopping around, and I smell something good! And I look for the scent… and it’s this one.   Although I don’t know if it beats my FAVORITE Christmas scent, Frasier Fir by Thymes. 

Nest “Holiday” candle,

Williams Sonoma Christmas Peppermint Bark. It’s SO good. But I never buy any. Just “sample” it.  Why is it so expensive? Why is it better than all the knock offs??!

Peppermint Bark, Williams Sonoma

I wish I had a video of these candle lights below.  The flame DANCES.  It looks like a REAL candle on the tree!  It’s so cool!

Luminara Dancing Christmas Candles

Oh geez, Juliska. WHY did you have to go and redesign your dinner plate to make it cute?  Maybe next year… I’ll keep my eye out on you…

Juliska Winter Frolic Scallop Dinner Plate

Saw this cute stocking holder at Anthropologie.  It’s not very Christmas-y.  But I liked it.  It seems solid, would do well holding a stocking that is full!

Snow Hopper Stocking Holder at Anthropologie

My husband and I have eyed these trees for several years.  They look really cool. The question is, where do we put it?? We don’t have room right now. You can’t hang ornaments on them really.

Birch Holiday Lit Tree, Restoration Hardware

This year Restoration came out with this string of ornament lights. They look super cool!!  They are also super expensive.  Le sigh.

Starry Glass Bulb String Lights, Restoration Hardware

Christmas Pyramids!

Christmas pyramids are yet another one of my favorite Christmas decorations.

It is unknown when they originated, but it is thought as early as the 1500s from the Erzgebirge region in Germany.

How do they work?

The heat from the candles rise, causing the blades above to spin.  In a dimly lit room, the figures dance on the ceiling and walls.

They come in all sizes.

Here are mine:

The rabbit one is powered only by wind.  Set him under a heating vent and he will turn!

The one below is one I got at an estate sale.  I have never seen anything like him before. 

I don’t know his age, probably at least 1960s or older.

The candles provide the power, and then when the fan turns it rings a bell.  I had this one sitting under a vent… it turned annoying very quickly!

antique pyramid

 Here is my kitty cat wind powered pyramid:

My “big” pyramid, a single tier, sits in the center of the table.  I never took a picture directly of this one!

A sampling of single tier pyramids:

By Christian Ulbricht, love how the birds fly above

Another single tier pyramid.  Single tier are the most popular.

a more modern pyramid, I like how it resembles a palm tree

Now, double tier!

a very fancy pyramid

another double tier! from Kathe Wohlfahrt

And now… THREE tier!

three tiers!

Three tiers not big enough? How about… FOUR TIERS!

from Kathe Wohlfahrt

 another 4 tier….

oh my goodness, FIVE TIERS! They had to add another tier of candles to power this baby!

Not big enough for you? You can buy a 6 tier pyramid! (Note, this one is electric!)

a colorful large pyramid

And of course, the Germans have a really big pyramid in the center of a Chriskindlmarkt.  How cool is that?!

And, another German city has a large pyramid as well.

a very large pyramid!

What size pyramid do you want to have?  I am thinking either a 3 or 4 tier pyramid for me.  The question is, go for the painted colorful ones or go for the natural wood ones?  Another question, Nativity themed or Winter themed? What do you think? Help me decide!

Images from Erzgebirge Palace unless otherwise noted.  These are all for sale, I highly recommend visiting their website and checking them out. (I have no financial interests in this company).

.. say what?

Schwibbogen.  Shwi (short i)- BOW-gen (gen as in again).

I know you’ve seen it before. Maybe you just haven’t heard of its name.

It’s a candle arch made of wood.  It started over 250 years ago in the Erzgebirge region in Germany.

Some light up with candles. Others with lights.

Below is the one I own:

The nativity scene is one of the most popular scenes, for obvious reasons.

from Kathe Wohlfahrt

Kathe Wohlfahrt

from Erzgebirge palace

from Erzgebirge palace

from Kathe Wohlfahrt

picture taken by me.

picture taken by me

picture taken by  me

picture taken by me

from Kathe Wohlfahrt

They make nice nightlights for the Winter!!

I’ve linked up with The Scoop! Visit Confessions of a Plate Addict blog,Tablescape Thursday at ‘Between Naps on the Porch’, Wow us Wednesdays! at Savvy Southern Style, Open House Party at no minimalist here,Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Seasonal Sundays & Oh the places I have been at The Tablescaper, and a stroll through life inspire me tuesday’s. 

My Steiff snowmen collection

One of my favorite things to display at Christmas is my Steiff Snowmen collection.  I have been collecting these for the years and frequently receive them at Christmas presents.

Steiff is a German teddy bear brand that created the teddy bear.  They create high quality stuffed animals.

Well, I collect their snowmen, which are all made from mohair.

Below, left to right:

The teddy bear plays music.

The tiny snowman is actually an ornament.

The blue knit one has a matching friend in red knit.

The one with the little necklace has matching Hummel figurines.

Below, left to right:
One on the left is my newest, I still haven’t seen one like it.
The tiny one is an ornament
The middle one is actually Muffy Vanderbear dressed as a snowman.
The big one is almost 1 foot tall!
The red knit one’s little friend is the blue knit one.

Aren’t these cute?  I leave them up in January too without all the Christmas stuff around because I think they count as Winter decorations as well.

I link up with The Scoop! Visit Confessions of a Plate Addict blog,Tablescape Thursday at ‘Between Naps on the Porch’, Wow us Wednesdays! at Savvy Southern Style, Open House Party at no minimalist here,Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Seasonal Sundays & Oh the places I have been at The Tablescaper, and life of the party at the grant life, and the style sisters, and Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard cottage

Tour of my Christmas House

It starts when you walk inside and you are greeted with my tree…

My “fireplace” with stockings hanging below it and nutcrackers at the side.

Underneath the tv is a small German village I picked up this year at my favorite Christmas store… Kathe Wohlfahrt!

My stockings… I made these myself!

In between the living area and kitchen, these boxes are tucked away. They are the 12 days of Christmas. They are from an estate sale… the other boxes were missing.

the song was long enough anyway.

Turn around and the table is right there…

Off to the bathrooms.  Of course I decorated them.  My star wreath hangs on this door, with cardinal towels in the background.

A snowman, Christmas moose, Santa, gingerbread man towel, and Christmas scent decorate this bathroom.

In the other bathroom, another Christmas tree hides.

The Swedish snowman towel and snowman candle are by the bathtub.

 Back outside to the main room…

Advent calendar, snowmen, Christmas platter, and garland are now on top of the buffet table.

My Snow Village sits on the bar!

Couldn’t get it all in one picture…  (DIY card holder in the background)

Now, look up, the nutcrackers are watching you from the fridge…

on top of the fridge

Tree #3 sits in its natural glory.  

A  Christmas vignette in the hallway…

A closer look at the nativity set…

And the Christmas bedroom!

The schwibbogen sits on top of the dresser, opposite the bed…

 And now for the last Christmas tree, tree #4… just red and silver decorations.

looks like there’s two trees!

That concludes my Christmas house tour!

See you back tomorrow for more 25 days of Christmas!

I link up with The Scoop! Visit Confessions of a Plate Addict blog,Tablescape Thursday at ‘Between Naps on the Porch’, Wow us Wednesdays! at Savvy Southern Style, Open House Party at no minimalist here,Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Seasonal Sundays & Oh the places I have been at The Tablescaper, and life of the party at the grant life, and the style sisters, and Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard cottage