Have you had the best Christmas??/

Have you? I definitely did !!! I enjoy nothing better than spending a few days with my close and loved ones and then of course there are all those yummy presents that you receive and the wonderful food and drink, it is just magical. So I am sorry if I went a bit quiet and I am really sorry I didn't get the chance to wish you all a Merry Christmas on here but it was a bit manic, I worked till 3 pm Christmas Eve and after that I was frantically trying to get the house ready for our friends and family.

And while I had a truly lovely time I am now itching to get into my stamping space( clean stamping space for once) and ink some rubber, I cannot tell you how hungry for a bit of play I am after such a short break. It makes me realise just how important having this hobby in my life is. So because I have nothing crafty to share with you I thought I would share some pics of my house at Christmas. I like nothing better then to decorate my house and it involves carefully picked colour combos (tend to have different ones every year) and of course picking the right tree. This year I took inspiration for my lounge decor from SU *Holiday Treasures* designer paper, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. Here it is

Now I took those pictures today after the tree have been subjected to a full week of central heating so is not at it best looking but it still a wonderful tree don't you agree? and while is not the best we had is definitely the most interesting we ever had colour wise, you might not be able to see from this bad photo but it has really deep green branches with lighter tips which makes for a cool looking tree indeed. My ornaments are a mixture of old and new ones, but I needed Old Olive desperately and those lime green were the best I could find, courtesy to B&Q. Looks really traditional but quite funky because of the lime green. Oh and the sky box was strategically placed behind the stand but it stopped working and hubby had to pull it out and never bothered to put it back(neither did I for that matter).

This is our bay window in the lounge and I always decorate those candlesticks with whatever greenery I have in the garden and leftover branches cut from the tree. Oh and yes our phone lives in that little house( if it can be hidden chances are that it is in this house LOL). I also made a fresh garland complete with lights for my mantelpiece( forgot to take a picture of that one).The hallway is next...

..and because of the black and silver wallpaper I have kept to a white and black colour scheme, loads of white shimmery butterflies some black birdies and two very beautiful and not so black peacocks

Looks lovely at night but a bit crappy in daylight, cos you can see all the cables from the lights not matter how hard I tried to disguise them amongst a beaded garland.A view of the stairs, two very realistic but oh so fake garlands with the obligatory lights and one of those tall and narrow pop up trees that is just perfect in that corner on the landing.(not sure you can make it out in this photo)

Oh and is Christmas even in my cloakroom LOL

Just how fabulous is this boot hey? Every year my hubby's company used to have their Christmas due in a beautiful little town called Oundle, and this place has got the most gorgeous independent shops ever, so every year my highlight of this trip was to go early and have a couple of hours browsing those wonderful places and pick up interesting things for the house, and it was on one of those outings a couple of years ago that I have spotted this boot and I just had to have it!! it set me back £25.00 (I think) but so worth it!! It is incredibly sparkly and very tacky according to DH( what does he know?)

Next a glimpse of my kitchen /dinning room.

Because this room s adjacent to the lounge I had to follow through with the red but I have paired it with white as our units are Shaker style. A mixture of felt decorations and some handmade gingerbread ones that I have bought while on a holiday in Croatia ( they've reminded me so much of home), and a fresh pine garland adorns my kitchen windowsill, I have also got a radiator cover like the one in the hallway that has a garland complete with lights and two tall candlesticks ( forgot to take a picture of those too), and plenty of fresh flowers everywhere. but the best for me was this little guys smile, he truly decorates my life and I miss him so much already.

This was the face that realised there are some fabby looking things under that tree (we didn't bother wrapping his presents)And then of course the presents needed test driving. LOLI hope you enjoyed peeking into my home and I hope you truly had a wonderful and peaceful Christmas. Hugs Monica xxxx