Joy to the World

May all your wishes come true in the new year.

A Southern Christmas Day Snow :: 2010

We got snow here in Greenville, SC yesterday--it started snowing around 3 P.M.
and stopped around 10 A.M. the 26th!

The last time the was a white Christmas here, it was 1963.

I wasn't even born yet.

So, needless to say, we all were very excited!

It was beautiful!

Here are some pictures from either a door or window, in our home.

This southern Yankee loves looking at the snow, but I don't like getting out in it!

Did you get a white Christmas, too?

Welcome to Our World

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God.
You've been promised, we've been waiting
Welcome Holy Child.
Welcome Holy Child.


Hope that you don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known!
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home
Please make Yourself at home.

Bring Your peace into our violence.
Bid our hungry souls be filled.
Word now breaking Heaven's silence,
Welcome to our world.
Welcome to our world.


Fragile finger sent to heal us,
Tender brow prepared for thorn.
Tiny heart whose blood will save us,
Unto us is born,
Unto us is born.

So wrap our injured flesh around You,
Breathe our air and walk our sod,
Rob our sin and make us holy.
Perfect Son of God.
Perfect Son of God.
Welcome to our world.

My Home for Christmas

Christmas is almost here and I can't think of a more appropriate time to thank all of you who support and visit Belle Vivir, even when you stop by quietly without letting me know who you are. Without you dear readers I wouldn't be here so, for that thank you. I wish you the best Christmas and I hope that wherever you are, you feel the peace and love of this special time of year. Please find below a few images of our home. This year we kept things simpler than usual. We did not put a Christmas tree, instead I created small vignettes around the house.

I decided to decorate this sculpture by putting poinsettia between the wings but, as Murphy's law would dictate, just when I was going to take a close up of my wingy sculpture one of the flowers decided to fall down.

Inside our Art Deco bar. You can see my lovely nephew's head through the mirror.

All images for/by Bellevivir.

Merry Christmas

Tiffany

Signing Off Until The New Year...

(This is one of my favorite Christmas photos - found via Tumblr)


Our house is filled with the sounds of Christmas music, little voices, laughter, its fair share of chaos and arguing (from those same little voices), and through it all, I hear happiness and love.

My kids are on Winter Break, my heart is full, and Christmas is almost here.

These days, at any given moment, our home looks like this...

...the coffee table pushed up against the couch to make room for sleeping bags and pillows, three kids and a dog in full rest-and-relaxation mode, and an assortment of toys, remote controls and princess dresses scattered around the floor.

On a daily basis we mix and sift and crack eggs and measure spices, and make a big, huge mess in the kitchen. While the cookies bake and I clean up (in preparation for the next batch), the kids take a break, and Classic Christmas movies play on the television. I can't help but think that these days, and these memories that we're making, are the kind that my kids will reminisce about when they are older. The same way that days just like these became my memories when I was little...


I want nothing more than to remember these moments with them, for the rest of my life.

I am so thankful that I get to call these little ones mine.
And so very thankful for their Daddy.


We've spent hours and hours in the kitchen creating all kinds of Christmas treats...


Our annual Gingerbread House decorating has taken place and the kids are quite proud of their work. We gave them carte blanche - the gingerbread house was theirs to become whatever their little 9, 7 and 4 year old hearts desired...

Our family's holiday festivities begin the morning of Christmas Eve and carry through into the following week. It will be a busy, fun-filled stretch of days that are going to fly by...

The goal this year: to be fully present and enjoy the moments as they happen.

After all, these kids of ours are growing up way too fast.

And they're only little for so long.


Which leads me to this - a post from Clover Lane called:

Just A Reminder: Don't Miss The Sparkly Eyes

I'm going to make sure that I don't miss any of it.



And if you haven't seen this, it is definitely worth reading:

My Heart Grew Three Sizes And Now I Have An Enlarged Heart. WORTH IT.

from The Bloggess

An incredible act of kindness that resulted in strangers helping strangers.

All I can say is, the tears were flowing! And that people are good.

...............................................................



This holiday season,

from our home to yours,

we wish you a very Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year!


~ See you in 2011 ~

Joyeux Noël ! :: Christmas in the Café

Bienvenue !

Come on in!

Today, I got the cafe' ready for a Fondue Party, simply, and wanted to show you!

When we built this home 9 years ago, we designed the whole basement for my grandmother.

She moved back to Florida, and we turned her Living Room into a Theatre Room,

her Bedroom into an Office, and her Kitchen into the Cafe' de Sous Sol,

which, in French, means, Basement Coffee House.

The curtains in the picture above separate the Café and the Theater Room.

Instead of making a Joyeux Noel banner, I just drew one on the chalkboard wall.

The three tables were a find on Craigslist and came from an old hotel.

The restaurant linens are from eBay.

Ikea shelving. My favorite side of the room.

All the glassware, silver or ironstone was a gift, an heirloom, or thrifted.

A salvage find for $10 from an old home, this wall hutch is perfect 

for holding all our Goodwill vintage jelly jars

Recycle bin.

So, I saw one too many beautiful coffee filter wreaths, and I had to have one, too. 

This one cost me $3 and 3 hours of my time. But, it was worth it.
And what better place for a coffee wreath, than a cafe'?

The black and white graphics are from The Graphics Fairy, whose site I adore.

Last year, my mom brought me my Nativity set from when I was a girl.

Someone must have given it to me, because it is old.

Paper mache from Italy, the pieces, printed on the bottom, are either 19 or 29 cents each.

Can you read French? Neither do I. Google Translate is a handy tool!

In English it reads:

Cheese Fondue

Dippers: bread, broccoli, cauliflower, green apple

Chicken Broth Fondue

Dippers: shrimp, meatballs, chicken

Chocolate Fondue

Dippers: cake, marshmallows, cherries, bananas, strawberries

The lovely Dry Erase Easel is from Dayspring.

All these ornaments are from Ikea, and I am so glad my friend, Ann, talked me into them!

The white ones are a mere inch across.

The larger ones resemble coasters. But I still like them, they seem Frenchish, don't they?

Close enough.

What do I know?

Ignorance is bliss.

If you are ever in town, (Greenville, SC), email me!

You are welcome here, so come on by,

I'll leave the coffee on for ya!

Might even bake you some scones!

To see the Cafe' Bath :: Salles de Bain, click HERE.







Joining the festivities here:
Blue Cricket Design: Show and Tell
Raising Homemakers: Homemaking Link-Up
House of Hepworths: Hooking Up with HoH #29