Home from the holiday

In California it rarely feels like Christmas does in places

where it is really winter, like Colorado.
So, after happily visiting real Christmas time weather,

and being reminded of what that feels like,

I returned to the warm sun and my little SoCal Christmas tree.

I returned to roses in my garden at the end of December.

Geraniums.......

and Peace Lilies

A Christmas Cactus

And a kitty sleeping in the sun.

Welcome to the New Year!

Christmas in Colorado........

(Ignore the date stamp. I had no idea it was on and it's off by a few years!)

....was wonderful, full of love, laughter, good food and family.

Santa found us all tucked in and cozy.


Everything was beautifully deocorated.


The Merry Christmas Emmy was a sight to see.

Lights glowed on snow.....

while Penguins skated on sweet dreams.

We were all home for the holidays.

Much love and laughter and silliness occurred.

It was all quite perfect.

Thank you so very much!

A Mr. Bonomo Christmas!

I had Mr. Bonomo barely a month before Christmas came around. In that short time I had gotten a pretty good grip on who he was and who he was gonna be. Adjectives to describe him were naughty, funny, naughty and fun!

Knowing this, I knew I was not going to go out and buy him a tree to climb, one that would be irresistible once covered with the sparkly, shining lovelies that annually adorn my tree. With all this in my head and a certain amount of trepidation, I set out to get ready for the best day of the year.

First, the issue of the tree needed to be addressed. 2005 was the year Scrooge hit the big screen and at Ikea I found a fake tree that weighted about 5 pounds and had a long top branch that hung down the side, meant to sort of look like a holiday hat, with a big red ornament attached to it's end. Adorable and perfect! How much damage could one little pint size kitty do to that?! Home it came along with plastic Christmas goodies to hang on it. Plastic...imagine that on my tree but, this was uncharted territory with this naughty little love. Mostly the tree was decorated with gold and red velvet bows and it really looked pretty and festive when all was said and done.

Mr. Bonomo took one look at this little tree and a love affair was born. He climbed up the center plastic pole and would poke his little head out where ever he happened to be and I swear he was grinning...or maybe that was just me as I watched him. And Mr. Bonomo so loved his little tree that he began to drag it all over the house.

Several, several times it met me at the front door when I came home from work, wondering, only the first time, why the front door wouldn't open. Another night I lay in bed wondering where all the racket in the hall was coming from. As the noise got closer and closer to the bedroom, I finally turned on the light and there was Mr. Bonomo trying to drag the tree into our cozy bed. I got a lot of practice decorating our tree that year. I also got many laugh-out-loud moments, lots of heart warming moments watching him discover the wonders of Christmas and of course, lots of Mr. Bonomo.

And so my sweet friends, I wish you a very merry Mr Bonomo Christmas: one filled with a lot of laughter, a little bit of naughty and a whole lot of love!

Lizzie is in the house!

Once upon a time in a big empty house,

a man and a woman lived together but

they were all alone and lonely.

There was no pitter patter of little feet,

no chow dish needing some lovin',

no bed warmer that purred.

They were very sad.

Then one day that all changed!

Introducing Miss Lizzie Elyse Robinson!

She entered the Robinson's world on December 6, 2008.

Lizzie is one lucky kitty to have been rescued them!

And they are no longer alone and lonely!

They now have a new boss!

What a sweet lovely face....

And those eyes....

Every princess must have her throne!

Look at all your lovely colors, Lizzie!

She is already hard at work bossing her new humans around!

And they will all live happily ever after...

so long as Lizzie gets what she wants....

like a little pancake!

Sweet little beings

The Flowergirls make everyday special.

Occasionally,

I think about putting one of them up for sale on ebay.

She is forever three.

But, she is a great bed warmer so any thoughts of selling

her go out the window when she curls up on the bed,

falls a sleep curled up against me and

her soft little snores start.

She's one smart kitty cat!

I guess I'll keep her.

Lily is a little lady.

(Cat, cat for sale....as if I really could.)

The Flowergirls Christmas Story

Petunia's Christmas Story

It was a Christmas eve Petunia and Iris will never forget. Iris was visiting Petunia for the holidays. They had just finished a grand Christmas dinner with lots of cookies, Petunia's favorite. The grown-ups were in the kitchen cleaning up. Iris and Petunia were playing in the living room when all of a sudden they heard singing outside.

Petunia and Iris ran to the door, and there standing in the lightly falling snow were Christmas carolers singing Silent Night. It was so cold you could see the singers' breath rising in the air like puffs of smoke. The carolers called for Iris and Petunia to join them. It was late, but Petunia asked if they could go for a little while. Yes! So, Petunia and Iris grabbed their coats and hats and gloves and went out to sing with the carolers. It was great fun!

As Petunia and Iris headed home, the snow stopped, the stars started twinkling and the moon was so bright, they could see through the darkness.

Just as they arrived at Petunia's door,

Iris stopped.

"Listen Petunia, did you hear that? It sounds like bells!"

"I hear it, too!" Petunia said hurrying toward Iris.

"Look up there," Iris pointed.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Petunia asked.

"Yes! It's Santa! It has to be!" Iris gasped excitedly.

"Listen, I think I can hear him calling out 'Ho, Ho, Ho.'"

"Yes!" Petunia said, "I hear it too! It looks like he's over Lily's house.

We better get inside and put out the milk and cookies!

We need to get to bed ourselves."

If you want to make up your own Chritmas story go here!

Big Things Come In Little Houses

My Mom is a very talented lady. She sews, she quilts and she builds dollhouses. I am so proud to share her lovely little houses with you! My mother's thoughts on dollhouses and why she builds then:

"In both dollshouses I started with a philosophical premise - livable, traditional to its roots. I think I told you the living room wallpaper in the farmhouse is not to my liking, but I decided the people who live there lack taste."

"A dollhouse takes time, it is relaxing, pokey, deliberate and a dollhouse store is inspiring - a trap, actually. What will I do with miniature bricks? I need a farm light over the back porch. That diamond pattern in the farmhouse shake roof: I saw that being constructed by the roofers on a "This Old House" site on Nantucket; saw a rerun one day and quickly sketched their pattern as it was discussed. I have two of the diamonds in my shake roof. The bricks? They are built into two fireplaces in the English cottage; the Farm light is above the back porch of the farmhouse. Oh, the bricks also surround the farmhouse chimney."

The quotes that show up below some of the pictures are her comments. Enjoy!

We were not invited into the first house as the family was on holiday some place wonderful but we were allowed to wander around outside.

This little beauty's address is Burlington Gardens, England.

Even from afar it looks cozy!

At the next house we came to on our tour, the family was home

and delighted in our request to come in and poke around a bit.
Shall we go in?

Trailing Yew is the name of the Monhegan Island ( Maine)

hostel my mother and father have stayed at.

Adirondack chairs and a Purple Martin house...fabulous!

Be careful to step over the late and great "Patient Watson".

The living room looks like the perfect place to curl up with a cuppa.

The grand piano and bench are from the dollhouse
my mother got for Christmas in 1935.

What a great kitchen, all the details are perfect.

"The stove is the kind I grew up with; one Sunday during the dinner preparations, the oven door fell off at the hinge; Mother and I and the door drove several miles to the local blacksmith (this was not an easy undertaking as Mother disliked driving and every shifting of gears shook the whole town),. I think the blacksmith knew the door from a previous calamity, welded together the broken pieces, we drove home, placed it back on the stove and dinner roasting continued."

On the dresser is a tiny crocheted doily made by my Dad's Aunt Jenny.

I love the bathroom the best!


"The sewing machine is in memory of my father who designed small electric motors for Singer sewing machine and electric fans."

When we were little kids and then on Christmas when we were big kids, my mother used to create treasure hunts for us. She is an amazing doodler and her clues were always so fun! If you look at the lower right had corner of the attic, you will see one of her clues from a Christmas morning treasure hunt that led one of the lucky kids right to this little house! I love that detail.

"Attic: Papered with miniature reprints of 1930-50s newspapers, primarily New York City. Especially meaningful to me is the sports headline of Bobby Thomson's playoff home run that ruined the Brooklyn Dodgers' chance to play in the World Series. I was in the newsroom at the daily paper where I was a reporter and suffered silently the heart breaker while surrounded by cheering sports writers. This disastrous occasion of course was via radio."

My father has always had a train table in the cellar. This miniature train set honors him and his talent for creating his own kind of lovely little places, although the trains may be small, his train tables are not! Hmmm...I will have to blog about that.

I love back porches and rockers. What could be better?

Maybe a home made pie on the wondow sill?

Looks like late and great"Pushy Dodger"
wants to get inside for some some turkey!

And of course at every house, there must be a garden!



It has also been a lot of fun for me to pour over all these pictures and see so many of the dollhouse pieces my sister and I grew up playing with in my Mom's dollhouse which I think we (or was it just me?) ruined or at the very least, seriously altered when we thought it needed to be redecorated!




Thank you, Mama,
for allowing me to share your dollhouses
with the rest of the world!



A very special thank you to my brother Jim who did what he does best when he looks through the lense of his fancy camera and makes magic happen with the click of a button.