Joyeux Noël!

To all my lovely readers, followers and dear friends, wishing for you a season of warmth, joy, peace and happiness as we all come to the end of another year and seek the renewal of new life...thank you for your many kindnesses this year!

with love from Kit

This Little Charmer...

...arrived yesterday from Betty Lou Phillips  (you know her for her amazing line up of French design books) by way of beloved blogger of A Femme d'un Certain Age fame, Tish Jett.. and what a captivating little story it is! Charmingly illustrated, this is the  haute stocking stuffer of the season!  You can buy it below for all your chic girlfriends this Christmas!

click here to buy!

click here to browse
Betty Lou Phillips'
iconic French
design books

thanks for stopping by!   Kit

Christmas Chez Nous

Lovely Christmastime is here again! This year I was inspired by the light... since we've had a nice little run of really good weather,  the light has not been gloomy and dark, even for Winter Solstice time. I wanted to capture the pretty light of day and infuse our home with it's cheerfulness even at night. 

Using things found, I pulled together our Christmas home in no time at all... the perfect setting for our Christmas Eve dungeness crab feast and Christmas morning brunch. 

Hoping your holiday is filled with light, warmth, love and peace!

this simple green wreath adorned only with pinecones

is a refreshing sight in front of the mirror

the Christmas tree peeking around the corner to 

see what all the fuss in the dining room is!

the mantel holds fresh white tulips in vintage glass

the mid-century star keeps company with the

rare pink coral and the silver fish on the

windowsill

the lovely Christmas Tree 2011! I just wanted to use

green and white, and these giant balls were the

perfect choice (from my stash of ornaments, that is!);

I tucked white starfish in the branches

and we're done!

this old French painting of a battle scene (inherited!) 

sets a somber & serious tone... so I used
antique paper Chinese lanterns,  pink peonies and
Mexican angels to lighten the mood; flanking the painting are

 wrought iron peacock door panels

silver pitchers holding peonies reflect

the light and bounces in back into the room

dining room is ready for the festivities! 

I started to create a flowery centerpiece then I decided I 

really like the simple beauty of the

way the bottles of water capture and disperse the light

and left it at that

Christmas place settings using vintage pieces:  

French flea market silverware,

 the dishes (you've certainly seen a lot of those Minton

dishes I scored at l'Isle sur la Sorgue last Easter!)

 and the heavy 60's goblet

***

thank you for visiting, today and always!

Kit

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The Rains Ended...

After the excesses and storms of Christmas Day, it was refreshing to wake up to a little sunshine after our rain soaked holiday. I walked out into the garden early this morning just after sunrise and reflected on the simple joys of this season!

I love this Deco vintage French carte de Noel

our naval oranges are sparkling

with raindrops in the dawn light

I couldn't resist bringing the silver Christmas bowl

outside in the early morning light!

we love our Pendleton blanket, a wedding

gift from my cousin Phillip

that is so perfect at Christmastime

simple and lovely angel and crown

we wrapped all our gifts in this pretty

paper with green ribbons

the Provence birdcage filled with

glass Christmas balls

the charm of the unmade guest bed, vacated

excitedly on Christmas morning by

our daughter Lisa!

***

Christmas morning we opened presents then dressed up and headed over to the Claremont Hotel in Oakland for a lovely, three-hour Christmas brunch with family. My husband's family has been going there for fifty years!

the dehydrator gift... does Steven love it? why is

Lisa laughing so hard?

the tree ornaments witnessed our festive morning!

the "treize desserts" are now down to about "trois desserts"

(nobody really likes the dried oranges and the figs... not when

there is chocolate nearby!)

the stunning Claremont Hotel and Spa is the setting for

our Christmas Day brunch

the gingerbread house in the hotel lobby took 294 lbs of sugar to make!

our adorable nephew Blair and Aunt Lucile "a table"

***

hoping you and yours had a very...

Un petit Cadeau from Hermes... No Really, You CAN Afford This!

Is anyone else just a "little" busy this week? Would you like to waste a little time right now, my friend?

I haven't posted in ages, and now here I am taking screenshots from the Hermes site and pushing you there. I spent precious Christmas prep time whiling away at these cool, fun, incredibly inventive and creative games on the Hermes site, and now you can too!

Like to play the slots? You can here. Like to put together jigsaw puzzles? Do it at Hermes, online. Want to do some seriously fun coloring in a sophisticated colorbook? Look no further. How about a real time-elapsed peek at a shopping day in the fabled shop in Paris?

Affordable (bien sur, it's free!) Hermes! You need a break, now! Oh, and please send me your pages from your coloring book when you're done, I'd love to magnet them on the refrigerator door!

Enjoy!

it's playtime!

clicking on "Surprises" takes you to this screen; it's a little bit

like the iPhone, no instructions, just explore and have fun!

go ahead, you've got the time :)

***

play the slot machine!

***

the tres sophisticated coloring book ... color online

to your heart's content then print out your masterpiece!

a spread from the coloring book before I began to color!

on my way to true masterpiece... your kids will also LOVE this!

in mere moments I was on my way!

***

le Jigsaw puzzle, not so easy!

***

go here now, see the Parisians shopping ... really shopping!

this starts out as b & w line drawing and the design

is created before your very astonished eyes! c'est magique!

the little winged guy of Hermes

spying one of these boxes under the tree always

quickens the pulse a wee bit, non?