Wellington's Post Christmas Bliss

Here is a little glimpse of how Wellington is fairing after his HUGE Christmas celebration!
This is one of my favorite parts of Wellington's Christmas decor. The daughter moved her desk chair out into the living room. It looks so cute in by the tree! I haven't decided if she can have it back yet.Here's a gift that I bought for someone, and Wellington ended up with it. It's supposed to be a cupcake stand or something. But we think it looks nice holding Wellington's fruit. He shares it with us.
This is Hugo's favorite Christmas spot, besides curled up next to one of us on the sofa with her head in our lap and her arms stretched out as far as they go. She likes to sit by the tree and just stare at the lights. Makes me think she must have loved Christmas in one of her former lives.

My dear friend, Katie, brought me this ornament. I used to collect cows, so this is a very special memento.

Here's Hugo asking me for something. I think it was her special Christmas treat of Kitty Tuna. That's what she got, anyway.

I bought this little flower pot in a shop in town that was going out of business, back in October. I hid it away in my secret storage compartment under the eaves in my bedroom cubby. As Christmas approached, I found this Amaryllis and planted him in the pot. When it came time to start giving gifts, I decided Wellington didn't want to part with this little guy. So he is sitting on my kitchen garden shelf, anxious to open up and show his stuff.

The kids were playing today with their Christmas presents. The daughter has a Kindle and the son has a new game. I can't remember what it's called, but he likes it.

The husband, the daugher and I went to the mall yesterday to return a Christmas runner to Macy's. The daughter and I saw this pillow that looked so cute, I had to snap a pic. I might have even bought it, but it was $100! What are they thinking?

Now we've just finished dinner (acorn squash, corn/bell pepper saute, risotto and chicken breasts) and the husband is cleaning the kitchen. Then we're going to relax all over the place.

Creepy Santa Collection

As I long ago promised to all of my loyal readers, here is the Creepy Santa post. This is a collection I started last year with this adorable little guy. The best part about him is that whatever he used to be holding in his left hand has long ago fallen off. So now, in addition to having an unnaturally red face and a menacing sneer, he is holding a metal spear.

This one with a guilty look on his little face appears to be perched next to a mushroom. He is holding a bunch of greenery in his right hand. Not sure what he's up to, but I assume it's nothing good.

Next one is pretty cute, but he gets to be in the Creepy Santa collection by virtue of his age and angle. I would say he's more jolly than creepy.

This one is new this year. He is plastic and hollow and he cost 95 cents. This is enough to get him into the Creepy Santa collection, but on top of it all, he's 10 inches tall. I would say he's more tacky than creepy, but at that price I couldn't pass him up.
.

This is a plastic head with no eyeballs. You shove him onto one of those fairy lights on your tree. He's supposed to give you the holiday spirit, but he reminds me of the time I took care of my friend's dead turtle. I thought he was just shy until I noticed his eyesockets were empty because he was decomposing.

This one is new for 2010. He was contributed by Marc. At first glance you might think he is "quaint" but you may not have noticed that he has a teeny face that I'm pretty sure is creepy. I'm going to get a magnifying glass and look more closely as soon as I have the time.

I just love this one. I bought him this year at the Polka Dot Attic in Danville. He is actually my most expensive Creepy Santa (many of them being virtually free). I was sufficiently creeped out when I brought him to the clerk, in his little cellophane wrapper and Christmas bow. But when she paused before ringing him up to make sure I knew that he was a "footless" Santa, I was sold.

The rest of these are on my wish list. Most of them I found on eBay while trying to price my collection (I think it might be worth about $4). But I wanted to hang onto their pictures for nostalgic purposes. I think they require no further explanation.

Except this last one. I didn't actually find him on eBay. The brother sent me this pic and I'm still having nightmares. Where he found it, I don't even want to know. That's not Christmassy at all!

Christmas at Wellington

Welcome to Wellington at Christmastime. I never thought I could love Wellington more. But I was wrong. Our house is so cute, cozy and Christmassy I'm not sure if I can stand it. But I'll try.

When we first moved here, my sister-in-law, asked me where we would put the Christmas tree. That was in June. (she loves Christmas.) She suggested we put it in the front room so you could see the twinkling lights through the front door. She was right!
There's a little store downtown called Romancing the Home, which absolutely had to be scouted out for new Christmas decorations. This little tree is from that store, along with the three pink and white Christmas trees that Mini Wellington is using for his Christmas scene.

That's Mini Wellington on the right.

Also, this little castle cage to the left in this pic was from there. It usually has ivy plants in it, but they're taking a little break outside. Now it has sprigs from the Christmas tree, along with lights and a couple of ornaments, including a new cow ornament from Auntie Katie. There's one of the new creepy Santas (blog post to follow) to the right of the Christmas Castle.

Some kitties love, love, love Christmas. They have to sort of lick their paws so they can keep nice and clean in Wellington at Christmastime. We don't like little muddy kitty prints on the floor. The daughter took this pic of Hugo on her bed. Don't tell Pop.

Speaking of Pop. Here's the husband and son bringing the tree into Wellington. The tree was so big we had to bring it around to the front door. This was before we decorated it.

One last Wellington at Christmastime photo, and then I have to go relax and knit and have a cup of tea. More posts to follow, if I have time. I have a party to plan!

Well, Well, Wellington

Look at Wellington! Is he so cute? YES! He doesn't really look that different from this angle, but look:



Here's his little front porch. His coleus has grown so much! And there's the Japanese Maple, one of the only original plants still in the front yard.

Here are some of the plants we put in. In the back is one of the Lady Banks roses. It's going to grow up over the fence and be full of blossoms! Then there's coreopsis, penstemeon, fox glove, campanula, euonymous and a teeny pine tree. All of the spelling is right out of my head and I'm too lazy to see if it's right. But that's okay, because Wellington is so easy going, he doesn't even care!

This area of Wellington is very interesting. It's the neighbor's garage which is built on the lot line. The paint is pealing and some might consider it an eye sore. I think it's quaint. Admittedly it could use a little "blockage", so we started growing vines up there. The husband put bird houses on top of the vine stakes. I think it's cute! And the good part is it can only get cuter.

Wellington is very proud of this little sunflower he grew with only a little help from me.

And here's one of his morning glories. It was grown from a seed and it blossomed!

Here's a view from up top. That's the blossom on the right. That vine is going to grow up that railing. There's another one on the other railing, but it's not blooming yet.

This little guy is a creeping fig which will eventually obscure the quaintness of that garage wall.

Here's what the sitting area is looking like. We'll probably put in a fire pit for the colder months and a water feature for the warm months.

Even the piglets got spruced up!

That's it for now. Next time I'll update more of Wellington's frontal features.

New Trees!

Here is a little glimpse of what's happening at Wellington. On Saturday, September 4, 2010, the guys planted two new trees. The left one is a Forest Pansy Redbud. The right one is a Southern Live Oak. Is Wellington positively smiling? YES!

Since this photo was taken, Wellington has acquired sixteen new shrubs and two other trees. 11 dwarf pittosporum right across the front in line with the trees, three dwarf bottlebrush that are the cutest things, and two Fringe Flowers on the far right. The other two trees are dwarf crepe myrtle trees right in the front by the road.

He's happy!

MOVE IN!

This is Wellington. He's finally ours. It was a long gruelling process, but worth it in the end because LOOK!

This is what Benicia looks like when you're on the pier.












Here's the view from my bedroom.











Pantry.

Nook in bedroom,

The daughter's sink in the downstairs bedroom/bath.

And her doorway.

Kitchen.

and

here

is

the.

.

Front door.

Master bath with rain shower and soaking tub.

View to balcony from master.

Baking cupboard

.

and

here

is

the

Backyard and alley.

I just about love that Wellington.

(You may notice what appears to be superfluous verbiage in this post. It is added as a means to keep the captions with the correct photo because Blogger often does not recognize hard carriage returns and I'm tired of it! But that kind of griping doesn't belong in the blog.) (So please ignore.) (Unless you were wondering about the superfluous verbiage.)