Merry Christmas!

I just want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. Dear Son and I thank you for all of your support. I thought you might enjoy a few holiday photos of our studio apartment. Starting with the living area...


The view into my bedroom...



My cat kept running over to each section of the apartment as I took photos so he's in quite a few of them...

Although my place is small in size, I went for all out glamour. The gold bedding was perfect for Christmas.

Some pretty candle rings on the crystal and gold sconces.

I love the simplicity of the bedding...just one display pillow. Next year, I might try swapping out the display pillow for one with burgundy, cream and gold.

Since I only have room for a small table on the right side of the room, I kept the decor to scale.

Moving around the room...

I didn't do a lot in the bathroom. I did add a crystal Christmas tree dish edged in gold but didn't get a chance to get a photo of that.

Regardless, a little decor for the towel bar. The Noel ornament was a gift from Dear Son's babysitter. She was an older lady and was great with him. She worked for us for a few years.

This Christmas photo is one of my favorites. Dear Son was only six weeks old when this was taken. My sister made the Santa hat and bib.

This was one of his first Christmas type photos in the mall. He was actually really fussy but it looks like he's smiling. I don't think he cared for the sweater, lol. He couldn't sit up at this age but was propped. If you look closely, you can see his eyes were a bit crossed as well. He had surgery a few years later.

Moving along to Dear Son's side of the room. I could do much over here since I had to keep the floor space open in order to move around. He has a hoyer lift that I keep on this side and although I store his wheelchair in the hallway, I couldn't put a tree on this side since I need to be able to move him around. I did add lights in the window and some beautiful silver deer to the mirror.

Wiggles, the cat, refused to get out of the pictures so I told him if he wanted to be in the pictures, he had to wear a Santa hat. He didn't care for that very much.

You can see the lights in the mirror.

Here's the cat after I made him wear the hat; he doesn't like it as you can tell by his face.

This is my favorite photo. On Dear Son's dresser is his Mr. Christmas musical train that we got him last year. He loves listening to the Christmas music and watching the train going around. In this picture, the cat was just near the train and made him laugh but I couldn't get the photo in time.

And finally the outside view. You can see the stockings in the window and the wreath and lighting on the balcony next to it. That is right outside my window.

I hope you enjoyed our holiday tour. Have a wonderful holiday.

Around the House...

Just a few pictures of the apartment at Christmas. I can't say that I've really been in the mood to decorate this year which explains why some of these pictures look a bit disjointed this year. This past year has been a lot more difficult after Dear Son was released from the hospital last year. In 2009, he was able to go to school and that afforded me more time to get things done. Back then, I was exhausted when there was a three day weekend and I was caring for him 24/7 for those three days. After he was released last Christmas, everything changed and I went to caring for him 24/7 seven days a week, which has taken it's toll. Caring for an invalid 24/7 is very different than watching your children. Taking care of a 190 pound man, is a bit tough at times. A picture of the coffee table and then of the end tables.

I love the sconces when they are lit at night.

A foyer table.

Dear Son was only five weeks old when this picture was taken. It's one of my favorites.

The armoire in the dining room.

The dining room.

I made the centerpiece this year, not sure if I like it. Just added a glass dome to the deer. Regardless, I was trying a few other options yesterday and the dome slipped and broke into a million pieces so I'll have to try something else next year.

A view of the living room. For some reason, nothing seemed to photograph very well this year.

But the best news is that Dear Son has started to move his feet again. After the hospitalization last year, he was no longer able to move his feet, legs or toes for that matter. I worked for a few months trying to help him regain the movement in his extremities. Over the summer, I'd sit him in the his wheelchair, take off the leg/foot rests so his legs would dangle. Then I'd take a giant exercise ball and gently roll it towards his legs and when it hit his legs I would tell him to kick it back. For the most part, I couldn't even get the slighest movement at all from his legs. I used the giant ball in hopes that when I rolled it to him, the ball would hit his legs and perhaps if he moved slightly, it would look like he kicked the ball and help him move. Nothing worked and I was fairly certain he'd never move his legs again. Dear Son has lost so many skills with each hospitalization and with his progressive neurological disease.

Sometime a week or so ago, he was sitting in the rocker/recliner and he moved his foot slightly to rock the chair. He had been unable to do this in over a year. I was thrilled but tried not to get too excited. He did it a few more times over the next week or so. Then the other day, he was trying to get my attention as I sat across with him and thought he'd be funny and kick the Christmas tree. Well, of course, I told him not to do it, sort of...lol. I was so happy that he moved his feet. He kept teasing me and trying to kick with his leg and actually lifted his leg up and his foot was some three inches off the floor as he tried to kick the tree. He delighted in me telling him not to kick the tree (he likes to be a little bit bad, lol). It was like having the old Dear Son back. He would often tease me by doing something he knew would get my attention and then smiling once he got my attention. It was wonderful to see his personality again. For the record, he didn't knock anything off the tree, but if he did, I'd be excited. If there is anything I've learned in the last nineteen years of motherhood is that it's far better to have a little life in the house than to have a house with no life in it. Children make the world go round and for that, I am grateful. I think 2011 is going to be a good year.

O Christmas Tree...

I finally got around to putting up our Christmas tree on Saturday. I just wasn't in the mood to do it sooner although the rest of the house was decorated. Sometimes, taking out the artificial tree, putting on all of the lights, and then all the ornaments can seem, well, like a lot. Gone are the days when I had a tree in every room. In my home, I had a tree decorated with white and silver ornaments in the living room; it was very glam. In the family room was the gold and burgundy ornaments you see here, the guest room had pink and white ornaments, Dear Son's room had teddy bear resin ornaments with sports gear and the master suite had purple ornaments. Each room had a different tree and a different theme and I haven't even told you about the exterior. I had to stop at 5,000 lights outdoors since the circuit breaker couldn't handle any more.

Once I moved to an apartment, I scaled down to just one tree. Fortunately, I had some help from this guy.

You can't help but laugh with help like this. And Dear Son enjoyed watching all of this.

On to the tree. Two years ago, I switched to a slim tree and I love it! It takes up a lot less space and fits nicely into the corner. This is actually my favorite part of Christmas, to sit on the sofa and look over at the tree. I love to light the candle and also the candles in the sconces on the wall. It is beautiful. I'll show you the rest of the apartment later but for now, we'll take a look at the tree.

The theme for this tree is a music theme. It reminds me of singing in the church choir at Christmas. My favorite of course is the, "Hallelujah Chorus". I still sing it in my car all the time during the holidays. The ribbons have musical instruments and there are plenty of gold cherubs each playing a different instrument; all have crystals attached which reflect the light.
Gold scrolls and more crystal ornaments with gold. My favorite ornament to receive are glass and crystal ornaments with gold. When I had my home, I covered my staircase with fresh garland, gold and silver organza ribbon, lights and all crystal and glass ornaments hanging from the garland. It was stunning.

Here are some gold Santas.

Here's some pictures of a few more ornaments.

Here is a little glass church. It's one of my favorites. It doesn't photograph very well however it adds a lot of glamour to the tree with the lights shining through. This was one of many of the ornaments I was given over the years.

Some velvet fans and other musical themed ornaments.

I love these stained glass ornaments; reminds me of church.

More ornaments.

And some angels. The lack of a face is a reminder that angels can be anyone.

One of my favorite ornaments is this beaded sachet. Dear Son's babysitter gave it to me many years ago. She said it seemed "like me". She was right. I love it.
A picture of the entire tree.
I tried something new this year and added a mirror behind the tree. I am not sure it works. I love the of the mirror reflecting the tree however I think the mirror needs to be larger and wider. I tried to google tips on decorating with a mirror for the Christmas tree but couldn't seem to find anything.

And finally, one last picture of the tree.

I hope you enjoyed our Christmas tree.