I know I am dragging out my MEMORIES of CHRISTMAS posts. . . however, I do want to complete my goal of sharing hi-lights of the season . Mainly, as I said before, I'm doing it for me. . . and for my friends and family. However, I also hope that you, my blog readers, enjoy it a bit as well.
My pictures from this near mid-December day, do not do justice to what or whom I was photographing. . . but please bear with me. You will be impressed. . . inspite of the poor quality of my pictures. . . you will be impressed!
So today, in this third installment of my Memories of Christmas 2009, I am introducing you to a very special friend AND family member AND hostess extraordinaire!
This is Eloise.
She is pictured in front of her fireplace on the day she hosted the most delicious and impressive Christmas Brunch!
Eloise is my niece's mother-in-law and a co-worker of one of my other friends.
She and I clicked from the moment we met. . . she is not only an amazing addition to our family, but she has become a very dear friend.
Eloise, like me, loves to decorate for Christmas. However, I pale in comparison when it comes to collections of seasonal items.
When she decided to have her brunch, I knew everything would be over the top. . . . from decorations to food.
I was right! Just settle back and enjoy the tour!
This picture shows one of the many groupings Eloise displayed of her collectible SIMPICH characters.
She also collects the DICKENS series of Department 56 houses, as shown in this photo.
THE STONE RABBIT wanted me to show you where my five Department 56 DICKENS houses spent this Christmas . . . and last Christmas.
It's so sad that I didn't take the time to get them out, because I truly love them. I fondly recall how excited I was when I had saved the money to purchase my first little Christmas house!
NEXT YEAR!!!
Somewhere in my many boxes of Christmas decor, I have two or three nutcrackers that haven't seen the light of a holiday since we moved here five years ago. Mine aren't nearly as beautiful as Eloise's German made fellows, but they do have special memories. I need to be sure I find a place to display them for Christmas 2010.
Eloise displayed her Hallmark "Santas from around the World" ornaments on a wreath near her fireplace!
I did a terrible job taking a photo of her large family room tree. I took several pictures and they all turned out blurry and tilted. Normally, I would not put such a poor quality picture on a post, but I wanted you to get the idea of how full that tree was with special decorations. Decorations that Eloise has gathered . . . .
as mementos of her travels. . . . such as this one from a trip to Washington DC.
She also had many ornaments that are part of the official White House Historical Society series. I didn't even know there was such a thing. . . . and they are beautiful.
Eloise has an impressive collection of Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates displayed in her family room.
This picture shows the tree in her formal living room.
It is full of hand made ornaments that artist, Lois Buck, created from goose eggs. You can see the tremendous amount of detail in the designs.
In addition, there were ornaments from the same SIMPICH family who made the wonderful characters I featured earlier and. . . . .
these in this lovely nativity set.
Next. . . the dining room!
On a previous visit to Eloise's home, I had seen these beautiful items.
I did not know, however, until the day of the brunch that Eloise had painted them! They are spectacular.
In one corner of the dining room is another little tree. This one was full of small baskets and topped with an angel that Eloise had created.
She had her table set in the loveliest fashion.
The runner on a table in the entry, was made by one of her sisters.
In the kitchen, there was a little shelf with more SIMPICH characters and a few of the gingerbread men that are in abundance in that room.
She also had a sweet little tree in the kitchen . . . . decorated in her gingerbread men theme. I have to apologize again for the poor quality of my picture.
We were treated to this outstanding array of food that Eloise had prepared for our brunch.
Wow! What a feast!
Not only did everything look picture perfect. . . it all tasted amazing.
Eloise has a large collection of one of my favorite things . . . vintage RODNEY KENT hammered aluminum pieces.
Didn't they looked great filled with Christmas goodies?
Here we are, ready to fill our plates and enjoy a great meal and a long visit while gathered around Eloise's dining room table. Pictured, L to R: Mary, Mary Ann (she works with Eloise), me, Eloise, Beth and Laura.
Thank you Eloise for your gracious hospitality. . . it was so much fun and certainly appreciated. There's nothing better than taking the time to spend with great friends. . . especially at Christmas!
As we headed out the door from Eloise's lovely home, she had gifts for us. We each received a sweet Christmas hand towel and a great bottle of holiday scented hand soap.
I have to say, THE STONE RABBIT was really fond of that soap. . . I have never seen him so eager to wash his paws!
DANA
Wow, Dana. This post is filled to the brim with Christmas wonder. Please thank Eloise for sharing her home with all of us.
Her home is decorated beautifully, and she has so many gorgeous things. I am especially drooling over the hammered aluminum.
And, you girls all look fantastic.
Posted by: Beverly | February 04, 2010 at 04:13 AM
Good morning Dana, I am so happy I had lots of time to really enjoy your wonderful post this morning. My company,except Bob is gone and all is quiet around here. Ahhhh, peaceful quiet. Not much of that in this busy house. Since Bob is in the cabin, he is not always inside our house.
Anyway, I loved seeing so many wonderful Christmas collections. Eloise is a dear, I can tell. Her brunch looks wonderful and so festive. I expected it to look lovely after seeing the many beautiful things in her home. Her trees are original and interesting. All I can say is what a lot of work putting all those treasures out. Her hand painted china is gorgeous. She is so talented in many ways. How lucky you are to have her as a dear friend. Loved the photo of the girls.
Thank you for sharing these lovely Christmas memories. You put a huge amount of time in this sweet post.
Have a wonderful day. Are you getting more snow? We are and it is sleet and snow. Ugh!!! Today I pre-posted for Pink Saturday. I'm not taking any chances with the net this time.
Love ya, Jeanne
Posted by: Jeanne | February 04, 2010 at 04:32 AM
OMG! That's what I call Xmas spirit; I love it! =)
OK Dana, so now how do I get on Eloise's guest list? LOL!
Posted by: Brenda | February 04, 2010 at 09:05 AM
wow! what a fun day.
Eloise looks very sweet.
She sure does have a lot of fun decorations. And so talented too!
Posted by: heather | February 04, 2010 at 10:10 AM
WOW! That is quite a collection!
Posted by: Fifi Flowers | February 04, 2010 at 12:35 PM
HOW FUN. I really enjoyed this post. What a great collection of things. I can tell she loves them!
Posted by: Terri Steffes | February 04, 2010 at 03:29 PM
Oh, how fun to be able to continue to have the "spirit" of Christmas!
Posted by: Joy | February 04, 2010 at 05:11 PM
Thanks for taking the time to post this, Dana! I thoroughly enjoyed it-- what a lovely lady. And beautiful home! I, like you, am guilty of leaving decorations in the containers some years--but Eloise is an inspiration to pull it out:)
Great post!
Linda
Posted by: Linda C | February 04, 2010 at 06:12 PM
I'm glad you showed us this, Dana. Good heavens - how does she decorate AND prepare all that food??? I just can't do both. Great picture of all of you - looks like a really fun day. Hasta Manana amiga...N
PS Love the pic of your village haha. I'll have to remember that for next year!
Posted by: Nancy | February 04, 2010 at 08:05 PM
Eloise has beautiful decorations. I wish I had her energy to decorate like that. We barely got our tree decorated this year. We have a huge collection of nutcrackers, and they all stayed in the boxes this year. Thank you for sharing Eloise with us.
Posted by: Chris | February 05, 2010 at 09:59 PM
I really enjoyed this post Dana! Eloise has a beautiful home and a beautiful heart. Her decorations are all so wonderfully displayed. I am encouraged to see this as I love to collect Christmas items and I was beginning to think I ahd too many..now I know I don't have as many as I'd like as I'd love to have more than one tree someday.
Hugs, Pat
Posted by: Pat | February 06, 2010 at 04:27 PM
Also just saw this one! Nice way to catalog an Eloise Christmas. :-)
Posted by: Carrie | March 20, 2010 at 09:32 AM