I am usually 3/4 of the way into my Christmas decorating by now…but with some travel and other commitments, I am running a little behind….

I hit the ground running with the Christmas decorating after Thanksgiving Day…

…..and had a wonderful day on Saturday at SuzAnna’s Antiques in Raleigh..

Prior to the milk paint workshop and book signing…

…..I had a wonderful lunch with Marian (Miss Mustard Seed) and Kristen (Sophia’s Decor)….

Marian presented a wonderful workshop.

…..She taught us many wonderful techniques using her milk paint and waxes…

…………I learned so much.

She cut her hair…it is so cute!

Marian took the time to write something special in each book…

So after the book signing..there was time to “shop”

Here is Marian and Kristen….

And me…

And Marian bought this beautiful chandelier from Kristen’s booth at SuzAnna’s…

Kristen has beautiful items in her booth, including her magnificent painted furniture pieces.

And I cannot believe that I did not get a pic of my friend Brittany of Pretty Handy Girl….
…..Brittany is currently remodeling her kitchen from the ground up…it is going to be awesome.

So after a wonderful Saturday, spent with many wonderful blogger friends, I continued my decorating…

And here is my very first Christmas decor reveal for this year…

…..my “take-out Santas” Kitchen tree..

……….and how appropriate as tis the Season for take out!!!…at least for me!

The tree has velvet bendable stems made by Raz…

…..the Santa “take out chefs” were a purchase many years ago from Bombay Company.

This one is the “Chinese Take Out Chef”

Burgers and fries anyone?

And here is my new addition…my “chalkboard chef”…

From another angle…

These little “guys are new”..bought them after Christmas for 75% off…
…..a good thing, as they were originally $14.00 each..

And on the other side of the table is my “Egg Nog Station”…

…..a vintage Egg Nog set by Atlas.

I found the Egg Nog Milk bottle many years ago…it was perfect for my Egg Nog set.

Now this Egg Nog is for “adults only” as it definitely has a “kick” to it!!

Hope you enjoyed the first of my Christmas decor…lots more to come…

…..just finished another little kitchen tree…stay tuned…

Do you have a kitchen tree?…

I will be joining the following wonderful link parties:

A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

DIY by Design Fall Into Fall Party

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Stone Gable for Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits

The remarkable Laura from Finding Home asked me if I would be interested in participating in a project that is very close to her heart…

A project that she created called “The Greatest Gift Project”.

I was so overwhelmingly honored and happily accepted!

It is an avenue for those who want to share those who inspire them…

…..those who have made a difference in their lives…

……….those who in large or small ways, brought joy, encouragement, and support in your life.

You can link up stories of “your inspiration”

Today, I wrote about my life long friend Ruth…

…..for over 25 years, she has battled a congenital kidney disease that took her mother and sister far too early.

Whenever life hands me a bit of stress from silly little nuisances…

…..I reach into my “Ruthie Perspective Box”…and those silly nuisances fly away….on Angel Wings.

Here we are…my sister in law took this picture of us 5 years ago when I traveled back to Florida for a visit after moving to N.C..

Ruth came to pick me up for a day of shopping…AFTER she came from the Dialysis unit…
…..the treatment often leaves her “wiped” but she’s a trooper…She took me shopping all day!!

This picture is always in my living room…where I am reminded of “The Greatest Gifts of Life”

So hop over to this great blog…“The Greatest Gift Project”

…..where you will read wonderful stories of inspirations from the following contributors and links of inspirational stories from others…AND..today…

……….My story of my friend Ruth..I think her middle name should be “FAITH”.

Have a wonderful day of inspiration!!

The Greatest Gift Contributors…

Founder…Laura of Finding Home

Heather and Vanessa of At the Picket Fence

Jaime of Freckled Laundry

Jen of Jennifer Rizzo

Jen of Migonis Home

Kari of Thistlewood Farm

Kristi of Creative Kristi

Laura of Top This Top That

Lucy of Craftberry Bush

Shirley of Housepitality Designs

Tiffany of The House of Belonging

Trish and Bonne of Uncommon Designs

The grocery shopping is done…well, except for the couple of things my daughter in law will pick up for me…

…..and today I will be preparing just a couple of things…

……….the rest will be left for tomorrow morning…

Prepping for the cranberry relish..

And in-between a little cooking…

…..I am doing some Christmas decorating…

And nothing could be finer than to see your grandchild in her Thanksgiving School Play…

She was the cutest little Pilgrim!

And here she is with her best friend…

As I scurry to bake and cook, and clean and decorate…I find myself sitting back…

…..and counting my many blessings.

………..and for what is most important…are the beautiful memories.

I send you the warmest wishes for a Blessed Thanksgiving to you and your family!!!

Several months ago my home was featured on Debbie-Doos…

…..it was such an honor to be featured on her blog.

So, today, I thought that I would present this post …my home tour.

And to see it before the rooms transition to “all things Christmas”!!…

I live in North Carolina….

We relocated to North Carolina from Florida, where I had lived most of my life. We love it here.

It was a difficult move as we were leaving our friends and family, so that we could be close to our son and his family.

We had our home built in a beautiful golf course neighborhood.

We chose this plan as almost every room had a view.

A view…”it’s all about the view”…..So come on in and hope you enjoy the tour!

The front facade of our home….
One day while my builder was supervising the pouring of our driveway…
….someone drove by and said, “Oh what a cute little house”…
……….He replied, “It may be cute, but not that little”…

A view of the back (in the winter…I love the snow on the ground)…

As you can see, we have many sets of french doors that overlook the back yard…

With the exception of a few bathrooms, and the bonus room, all the rooms have a view of the back yard.

So come in and make yourself at home…

The foyer:

Starting off with the living room area…..

As you will quickly see, the main floor is really one large room…
We wanted that casual, great room feel.

This room is how it looked several months ago…

and now it looks like this:

…..the stained glass moved into the foyer…

……….and antique wood and iron shutters were placed over the fireplace.

So now, we move into the dining room…It is a casual room…

…..unlike many dining rooms, it faces the back of the house.

The best part is that we use it every day…
…..unlike our former dining rooms in which the chairs “were warm” only a few times a year!

And now we move on to the kitchen….

The cabinetry is Cherry….
We had “discussions” back and forth as to the style and color of the kitchen…
…..We had many cherry and mahogany pieces, so it was best to go with the cherry…
………or so I thought at the time……
…………..But at least I sneaked in the farmhouse sink!!!

And then there is the pantry..It originally was slated for just a room with a door and shelving…but I had the
builder re-work it into a butler’s pantry with plenty of storage behind cabinetry….

Where was that wide angle lens when I needed one!…

And now moving on to the keeping/sunroom…

The windows in this room were not covered originally…our view was trees all around…
…..a true sunroom…
Then the house went up next door…so I decided to place curtains half way up..
…..so I do not subject my nice neighbors..to me in my PJ’s!!

When I saw this wicker at the High Point showroom, I fell in love with the color…(mfgr is Lane Venture)

And now..down the hallway..we go toward the laundry room and the powder room…
…..and beyond the door is the entry to the garage.

Now, have you had your second cup of coffee yet…

…..you may want to grab another as this post is heavy on the photos!!

I wanted the cherry cabinetry to flow through the main floor for consistency….

Oh..are those “orbs” in the lower left hand corner?…woooo..

And then across the hall…the teeny powder room…that is on my list for a facelift! No Botox…

I’m really needing that wide angle lens…hope “honey” is reading this!

Now we move on to the Master Bedroom…my builder loves making the ceilings very interesting…

The walls will soon be painted with SW Silvermist..the same as the master bathroom…

…..haven’t made it in there yet!

Now we shall move on down the little hall to the Master Bath…

So now..I am going to take you to the other floor….and hope that I have not lost your attention….
As I said, this is definitely a two cups of coffee (or tea) post….

So now we shall enter the main guest room…
Oh by the way, all the bedding in all 3 bedrooms are by Pottery Barn with some custom made pillows.

This room, always a work in progress…then again, so is the entire house!

I love that I am able to place chairs in most of my bathrooms….
…..a garden whirlpool tub is in this bathroom for guests to enjoy…
………..and also comes in handy after a long day of softball games!

So down the hall to the media room we go….

This is a great room for movies and enjoying company of others…

The saying over the doors are there all year round…a request from our Granddaughter!

A little kitchenette comes in very handy…

So let’s move down the hall…towards the second guest/little (and I mean little) craft space….

And here is my little craft space…hopefully soon there will be some new units there for crafting…

Another bathroom for guests…no windows here..so light not great….

A very large shower and toilet area beyond the door….

And here is a “glimse” of my hubby’s office…we utilized the 4th bedroom for it….he was in there working…shhhh….
He also has a great view when working….

Now, last but not least there is one more room to show you for today….whew…you probably thought this would never end!

Can you tell he loves baseball?…We added the wainscoting to match the pool table…

There is a wet bar up there…for those thirsty guys!…

There is a bathroom and a large closet in that room also…but not really photo worthy right now!….

So, I hope you enjoyed the very L O N G tour of my home….

A home that we love that is always “in the state of change”….

I am joining:

Judy at DIY by Design Fall into Fall Party

Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

This Home Tour has been featured on the following wonderful blogs:

Earlier this week, I shared a few pics of some Halloween decor in my neighborhood….

…..such as this one:

Last year it also had a giant spider and its “prey”

……and today I saw this….eeekk!! The big spider is back!

The spider has flashing red lights and moves up and down…

And then I found Casper…the friendliest of ghosts!!!

Later, my little “cutie” came by before heading out to Trick or Treat with her friends….

…..she was excited to show me the costume she designed herself!!..A girl after my own heart!!

She is “Princess Pikachu”…..she loves Pokemon!

And now I would like to announce the winners…yes winners….

…..as I decided that I would like to share this wonderful book…

……….Inspired You, by Marian Parsons, aka Miss Mustard Seed…

………………..to two of my readers!!

Now…without further ado….

The first winner is number “lucky 13″….Laura from “Top This Top That” !!

The second winner is number “40″………Mary from “Home Is Where the Boat Is” !!!

Congratulations….Will be contacting you for your information…

Thanks to all for entering the Giveaway…

And..thanks to “Princess Pikachu” for giving me 2 of her favorite numbers.

I LOVE THE BOOK SO MUCH THAT I ORDERED MORE…SO I AM DOING ANOTHER GIVEAWAY NEXT WEEK!!

Stay tuned!