Christmas time is here once again, and it seems to have gone by so quickly! As a young child, I can remember thinking that the weeks until Christmas seemed to crawl by...Of course now that I'm older it seems it slips by so quickly and in a flash is gone.
As a Christmas treat for you, dear reader, I thought I would invite you into Blueberry Barn and show you around. It may be small, but our little home has a lot of heart, I can assure you! I do wish I could invite every one of you over for some tea and eggnog scones, and maybe someday I'll be able to, but for today please know you are most welcome here in Blueberry Barn. So why not put on some music (if you click
here, I have an excellent option for you!) and I'll take you through my little home.
We start by the front door.
My, how chilly it is today! The frost is clinging tightly to the door frame and the wreath I made last Christmas - a child's ice-skate filled with evergreen branches. Abigail painting the door to the barn to look like the TARDIS from the British TV show 'Doctor Who' as a wedding present for Quinn and I. Somehow it always makes coming home feel like an adventure.
I hurry you inside from the cold, "My goodness! I'm so happy you've come. Please, take your coat and hat off, and let me show you around."
The first sight that greets you is a spindly hemlock tree covered in paper cones. This is my Victorian tree! Underneath it hide wrapped presents for Greta (which she has already sniffed and shaken), and on the bending branches are cinnamon ornaments, gold tinsel, and candles.
I made these paper cones last year, in October! Quinn must have thought me rather silly, but I was so excited for Christmas I simply could not bare to wait a moment longer! I was happy to see that they survived sitting in the Christmas box all year.
Across from the tree are the kitchen shelves, carefully decorated for the Christmas season. Quinn had no part in this, since I knew exactly where I wanted everything, ha!
I brought out our Christmas dishes a few days before Thanksgiving. They were a gift from Melissa and Paul several years ago. What a surprise it was to come home and find our counter laden with large packages and gifts! They make the season seem so much more special.
Throughout the rest of the year, we use the Blue Willow dishes that I asked for as a wedding present. They look so lovely next to a set of Polish Pottery tea cups from my mother - they remind me of a winter wonderland!
"Pick out whatever cup you like and I'll put the kettle on." I tell you as we pass into the rest of the kitchen.
The little spruce tree on the counter is my Scandinavian Christmas tree, looking quiet festive in all it's lovely shades of red. The straw ornaments were a treasured purchase in the town of Poulsbo when visiting my parents on Bainbridge Island last year. This may be my most favorite tree, I simply love the rustic charm of it! (
To see Quinn and I go Christmas tree hunting, click here.)
In the kitchen windows hang banners of dried oranges, cinnamon ornaments, and paper stars. In the evening they cast beautiful shadows onto the ground outside. Drying the oranges is always an interesting task, as our little stove is rather temperamental, not wanting to stay at the low temperatures required to dry the oranges (and mostly burning them!).
Another treasure: a Brambly Hedge Christmas plate, found in an antique store in downtown Juneau (and marked far less than what it was worth!), sits in a place of honor on the counter top, ready to be used for tea time biscuits.
And above the counter - where Quinn and I often sit together - hangs a sprig of mistletoe, though this one seems rather soft to be real. "Don't you think it's the perfect place for it?" I ask with a laugh. The kettle start whistling, so I grab a tray and start ladening it with a mini tea party. "Can you believe there's only a few days till Christmas?" I ask, pointing at the Advent calendar on the wall.
"The tea is all ready!" I say as I usher you up the stairs, pausing only a moment to show you the lovely Christmas cards clipped to an old bicycle tire. We head up the stairs, where the banister is beautiful decorated with red berries, with giant gingerbreads hanging from them. "I made the gingerbread animals and the things with my in-laws. They took us an entire day, but they turned out so lovely!"
On either side of the stairs hang some of the artwork Quinn and I have collected. A row of Christmas cards also stands on the wall ledge, making it look extra festive!
Above the stairs hangs my favorite lamp, a wreath of white and red found at an Ikea while on tour down south two years ago. I "accidentally" left it up almost all year, it's just the prettiest thing!
At the top of the stairs sits my gingerbread village, and underneath it sits an old wooden cradle I found at a second hand store here in Juneau, decorated for the Christmas season.
"Go ahead and sit on the couch," I say as I put a Christmas record into the old-timey record player that sits next to the couch. "And make yourself comfortable as I light the candles!" Our big Christmas tree takes up one wall of the barn, our Scandinavian pocket bed - built by Paul and Quinn - takes up almost the whole wall opposite you.
On either side of the bed hang handmade stockings, given to Quinn and I by a Native Alaskan woman for our wedding. They are already filled with exciting little packages, and out of the top of Quinn's you can spy some chocolate.
Inside the bed glows a lovely winter scene, casting shadows on the wall above it. And right above the bed hangs a happy sign, telling you to "Be Merry!"
As you sit down on the couch with your cup of tea, the tree in front of you glows and twinkles. Most of the ornaments are handmade, from the first year Quinn and I were married, but there are a few ornaments that stick out from the rest...
"How many corgi ornaments do you think we have on our tree?" I ask with a laugh, "Would you believe that we have five? And I'm sure next year we'll have even more!"
Underneath the tree you spy colorful gifts and packages, in all manner of bows and ribbons. You even think that one there might have
your name on it!
We chat and talk all evening as the sky outside grows darker and darker. And when the mountains start to turn blue with the coming of night we bid farewell. "What an amazing time we had together! Please, do come over again soon, alright? Goodbye dear friend! Merry Christmas!" I call from the front door, as you wave goodbye and make your way through the darkness by the light of the glittering Christmas lights.
Truly, what an amazing night we had! Thank you dear reader for joining me in Blueberry Barn this evening. I do hope you enjoyed your time here. From my family to yours, I wish you a very Merry Christmas. May the Lord Jesus be with you in the days to come, and may your New Year be bright and joyful!
"While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."
Luke 2:6-7
Wearing our biggest coats we climbed in the car, even bringing along a blanket to sit on once we found a sunny spot. Greta didn't seem to mind the cold at all, with her thick white and black fur, but Quinn and I shivered a bit, Quinn especially, as he chipped away at the ice on the car windows.
Paul had gone ahead to a beach not far from us and was building a warm bonfire. With this promise of warmth in minds, we trudged forward, every step leading us into the cold shadows of the trees. Greta hopped along ahead of us, smelling that her dear friend Lupin wasn't too far ahead...
