I know you don’t need to hear from me that Christmas is coming fast!  I am definitely feeling it, though.  My house is finally all decorated, though, gingerbread houses have been made, and I’m almost all done with my Christmas shopping.  I’ll be sharing some creative gift wrap ideas tomorrow, but today I thought I would share my kitchen decorated for Christmas along with the gingerbread I made earlier this week… I made the same gingerbread I’ve been making for the past few years.  You can find the mini gingerbread house templates and recipe HERE. Each year, I make some of the same houses, but I’ll also try some new ornaments shapes and gingerbread house templates.  This year, I made some mini houses that sit on the side of mugs… I got that ! …and I hand-cut some ornaments based on 17th-century embroidery designs.  Because, why not? As far as

I wasn’t planning on doing much Christmas decorating beyond the living room and dining room, but once I had the Christmas music playing and the tree decorated, I felt inspired and just kept going.  I love it when those moments of inspiration and energy happen. I don’t want to go overboard with trees and decor, but I want to add little touches and hints here and there.  Some greenery, pinecones, a pair of mittens.  Just simple things that make a statement about the season, but aren’t overt Christmas decorating.  So, that’s what I did in the foyer… A large ironstone bowl that was displaced when we shuffled furniture for the tree in the living room tops the pine chest.  I tucked in a few pinecones I collected from the ground around pine trees near the entrance of our neighborhood. I also added a over the antique coat rack.  I wasn’t