Day After Christmas

I always love the day after Christmas.  So peaceful, great leftovers, and time to relax after all the craziness leading up to the big day.  And now I have many hours to spend getting to know my new camera - the wonderfully powerful yet small Canon Powershot S95 - thanks Santa!  

We got a small tree this year.  With our busy schedule, we stayed in Brooklyn and did not host Christmas for Ronnie's family this year.  We did have his parents over for a lovely Christmas Eve dinner - it would have been a shame to decorate and not show it off a bit!

The same guys from Vermont always set up a tree stand across the street.  They are always beautifully shaped, but very tight.  I can only fit my smallest ornaments on it.   My favorites are the old ones and those my mother made.  

A chickadee - my mother made a whole flock of them when I was young.  These are very light and are perfect for the top of a branch.  Styrofoam ball, feather, paint, pipe cleaners, bead for the eye and a seed for the beak.  

Mom is a master at needlepoint.

Santa Claus made from old wooden spools.  She also made "toy soldiers" out of the same materials but they are too big for the tree this year.  Dad helped with the necessary wood-work.  

Mom and her sister Ruth collected these wonderful delicate ornaments.  

Another of Mom's little wonders.  This display piece is about 3 inches tall.  

Mom & Dad still send Advent Calendars every year.  I love this tradition, and this year's was one of the best ever - many cute little animals revealed including our favorite, the red squirrel!

A photo from last year in New Hampshire.  This ornament (from a generation or two back in my father's family) was hung wherever on the tree until the year we saw one exactly like it on the cover of Antiques magazine.  As you see, it now receives special treatment.   Not the prettiest face, but very delicate and detailed.  

We are finally in the middle of a snow storm much like I've been reading about out West and in Europe.  I'll enjoy it more once Ronnie gets home from work safe and sound.