Red Lion

My Red Lion amaryllis is roaring in glory, just in time to welcome the Christmas Season.

I am absolutely in love with it's brilliant color, curves, and textures. There is nothing like having something alive indoors!

All four flowers are open now, and another stalk is getting taller and ready for it's own show. 

I love how the petals are iridescent in the sunshine. I am in awe! 

Picking a Christmas Tree

Buying a real tree is a family tradition steeped in memories for me. Since I can remember, every December I have participated in choosing the "perfect" tree.

Back in the day sometimes they were flocked, sometimes they were firs, but most often they were noble pines. Nobles are my favorite because they are full and yet they still have places for ornaments to hang down. This year at Happy Valley Trees, we learned that our preferred style is called a "tweener" because it's in between the natural growth pattern of nobles (tall and spacy, more like a Charlie Brown tree), and the highly pruned growth pattern (thick and full, looking almost like a Douglas Fir).

In our new house with high ceilings, we went for 9 footer! It was really convenient to have the truck this time... usually we are roping it to the top of my old Altima! 

If you buy a real tree, make sure they give you a new cut and trim off enough branches to fit in the Christmas tree stand. Then keep the trimmings and take them home to make a wreath!

 

Lighting a real tree is always the test... "Is it really worth it?" I ask myself over and over.Without fail I always have to buy more lights halfway through the process. But once it's lit, decorated, and filling the house with it's fragrance, yes it's worth it.

To make a wreath with the extra boughs, simply trim them to size and wire them in a circle, or buy an inexpensive wreath form and wire them on. Add pinecones, bows, or homemade ornaments and enjoy your fresh decor!

Festive Centerpieces

I haven't done anything flowery or crafty this week so I took a look back in the Christmas archives. I love hosting Christmas get-togethers if only because decorating for them is so much fun! My favorite centerpieces include live flowers, but there are lots of pretty things you can do even with a few ornaments.

One time (in the years before kids!) my friend Bethany and I hosted a little dinner and made this fancy centerpiece. I still had a floral wholesale license back then, so I took a trip to the flower cooler and picked up evergreens, red callas, and berries. Floral foam held everything in place in a small vase within the larger vase filled with ornaments.

Another year a friend asked me to do a large centerpiece for a party she hosted for her husband's work. She actually just found the flowers at Costco: white callas, red glads, red berries, and greenery. (Sometimes you can special order things from the Costco florists--check with your local store.) I love the height and simplicity... stunning.

I also love these handy nesting vases... all you need is a few roses, some greenery, and small ornaments and you have a sparkly little display.

Continuing the ornament theme, it's pretty enough to just fill clear vases with shiny ornaments or berries and call it good!

I found these other sweet and simple ornament centerpiece ideas here. Use whatever you have--candles, cake plates, crystal bowls... the sky is the limit!

Happy hosting!