Baby it’s cold inside

Hello,

I’m glad you could make it over to Hong Kong.

It’s been quite mild for the past several Christmas’s but this year we’ve had a blizzard and there are still quite a few snowdrifts inside,

Snowdrift on the entryway cabinet. (Please ignore the Chinese new year luck sign we keep it up all year)

 

Flora and fauna gallery wall is looking a little chilly

 

Frosted wreath

 

 

The pantry nook and mocha, hot choc shelf next to the coffee machine (I need to practice my chalk board writing!)

 

Snowballs. a rarity here only $50each

 

Merry Christmas

Lily

Merry Christmas , deer

I’m so glad you could make it over to Hong Kong.

Come on in from the cold,  wind and rein deer.

My bottle brush tree collection is in front of the mirror by the entry way.   Under the glass dome is a bowl of reindeer poop and scoop so you can help yourself. You can see the entry way display reflected in the mirror. I taped wrapping paper to the wall above the cabinet.

The living room is all tartan-ed up,  Mr Gingerlily requested we use the orange baubles for the tree this year and I added bits of fabric from the rag bag tied in knots. I had planned on putting on big tartan bows but didn’t have as much of the tartan ribbon as I thought I had so I tied what was left in knots too. Mr GL said he didn’t want a star or pointy topper this year  so I bought a gorgeous angel for the top ( he’s never usually bothered and is a bit bah humbug but he’s really jolly this year).

She was much too big for the tree and I couldn’t get her to balance so she’s sitting on a side table. I couldn’t find a sensibly priced smaller angel (the big one was less than US$2) for the tree so I assembled one from a doll, some feather wings and ribbon taped on for her skirt. I really like her and think she’s going to be around next Christmas too most probably in a different ribbon skirt.

This is my rein-deer cloud lamp I assembled under the cloche, it is just battery operated fairy lights in an upside down vase I covered with pillow stuffing and stood a deer on.

Deerdre on the wall above is decked in Mr GL’s flat cap and best vintage tie.

Our flora and fauna wall gallery. I just added a very fake mistletoe wreath and bits of holly on the frames. Don’t you just love the plug halfway up the wall. We live in an old house and it has many “quirks”. I think I’m going to put a frame round it.

The fantle this year is very simple.

I’m so excited I have a real “tree”, it doesn’t seem to be making me sneeze, although I did suffer when I went to buy it, the flower market was full of various Christmas trees and very fragrant. I think there are some types of Christmas tree I’m more allergic to than others. The big fake tree behind the dining chair is there all year and every Christmas I hang glittery pears and a partridge decoration.

I’ve yet to hang the stockings as I cant remember where I put them. Our doggy house guest’s  stocking is waiting on the chair.

The tartan wreath is a styrofoam wreath wrapped in a scarf and I’m so in love with my upcycled wreath I hung. I raided the rag and ribbon bags again and pinned on some vintage brooches. Draped over the mantel is Mr Gl’s cotton scarf and some ribbon. Mr Gl made the dried orange garland.

For the dining table I used an old shawl over the table cloth and Mr Gl assembled the decoration by blue-tacking some twigs into the wooden thing and hanging his favourite bird ornaments.

Oh deer, I should have ironed the table cloth before I put it on! It’s really difficult to photograph in this area as there isn’t much natural light.

This deer is so cute, she keeps getting moved all over the house. She’s currently eating the green dining area rug.

Opposite the table old and new greeting cards are taped to the wall with masking tape.

The fake garland is hung in the same way as last year. I stored it away with the dried stuff in it and added twigs and dried flowers this year and I’m still loving it.

More real greenery! This is making me a little sneezy but not much so it’s tucked out of the way on the stairs. Those are new glass ornaments in the bowl Mr GL bought this weekend at 90% off.

On the stair ledge is the red glittery disco deer partying away under the big Bollywood poster.

 Here’s our house guest. She came to stay with us at the weekend after she had a stroke as her owners apartment is up 2 flights of stairs she can’t manage any more. She’s still a bit wobbly on her legs but is improving everyday. She’s sixteen and we’ve pet sat her many times before so she’s very happy to stay with us.

Help yourself to reindeer poop on your way out. The red ones are made by Rudolph ( it’s really dried cranberries and raisins, ooh sorry the chocolate ones are all gone).

Thank you so much for visiting and to The Nester for hosting this fun tour.

What the Dickens! It’s the Holiday House Tour 2012

Oh hello there, I thought you were the choir come to sing A Christmas Carol. You look a little surprised to have arrived in Hong Kong.

No, no, you are not lost if you are here for the holiday house tour. I was expecting you. Do come on in.

I hope your voyage wasn’t too treacherous and the seas too rough, you are looking a little pasty.

Well, never mind we’ll soon have you full of Christmas goodwill again, you don’t want to end up like old Mr Marley do you in bauble and paper chains.

Have a mint humbug it is sure to sweeten you up.

Let me introduce you to Deerdre, dressed in her holiday best.

My apologies, did I forget to mention formal attire on the invite.

Don’t  worry I have plenty of top hats and tails to share.Take your pick.

The cat tail is taken but there is still a bunny tail, a fake furry tail or how about a lizard tail?

Splendid choice. Have a look in the mirror.

Now do come and sit by the tree.

See the little bird eating winter berries

Mind the ghost chair, you can hardly see that it’s there.

I was just writing a letter

Perhaps you’d like a cup of tea.

Good gracious is that the dinner bell already, let me escort you through to the dining room.

Yes that is a pretty bouquet. And such a lonesome lovebird.

I hope you don’t have any Great Expectations as on week nights only 4 courses are served.

Ah, there’s the figgy pudding for dessert and I’m afraid you’ll have to make do without the Christmas cake, the fruit is still soaking in sherry, there it is  on the pedestal. Goodness it’s dusty in here.

Do take a seat, but be careful, someones left their wedding slippers about.

Oh dear, the napkin rings are empty. Why can the napkins  never be found when one needs them.

Is that a mouse!!!

What leaving so soon! Come and get warm by the roaring fire before you go.

Our stockings are hung on the fantel (fake mantel) with care.

Berry and twig garland on fantel place, you know because I couldn’t find the holly.

Christmas Crackers

 The tree all aglow.

Yes, yes I understand you must go now so many other houses to visit. And such a long journey. But there is a quicker way.

Go past the wreaths.

And up the stairs.

Past the dried foliage garland made by me.

Through the gingerbread village.

And the bottle brush forest.

Oh is that Father Christmas there?

Now click here to return to The Nester’s Christmas Tour of Homes 2012

The End

Post Script: I tried so hard to not be all “themey” with the decorations this year!  I’d planned on using lime green and white as I have an over abundance of decorations in those colors and Ebeneezer dear husband has banned me from buying anymore. I didn’t feel lime greeny though, or even the slightest bit festive for that matter, thus the scrooge bah humbug display in the entryway. So I used my favorite slate grey ribbon on the tree and with some pearl garland I didn’t need to put many other decorations on there. In the dining area I knew I wanted to add dried foilage to the fake garland as I’d seen something similar in a magazine last year and it reminded me of poor Miss Haversham, so  the Dickensian theme just happened.

Next year no theme, honest.

I hope you enjoyed your visit, I can’t wait to get started visiting all the other houses on the tours and making notes for next years theme. Such fun. A big thank you to the Nester for hosting the tour.

Warmest winter wishes to you and yours, and to quote tiny Tim “God bless us, every one”

Lilyxxxx

Christmas Tour 2011

Welcome to Hong Kong. I’m so pleased you made your way over from

The Nester’s Christmas House Tour.

This year it’s unusually warm and I’m still spending lots of time outdoors  so I decided to bring the outdoors in, only I’m allergic to most flowers and real trees, even the pine Yankee candle had me in fits of sneezing when I tried one, poor me, I’d love real foliage. So if everything has to be fake  then its going to be unashamedly fake and sparkly and glittery. And it keeps growing,  and spreading – every evening Mr GL asks what have you added – and shedding glitter everywhere.

As you enter you’ll notice the huge bow I fashioned out of parcel paper and the paper chain and string of baubles I assembled around the mirror. The baubles are knotted onto garden twine.

The Alter Table (also known as my Fantel)

I often adorn the alter table as though it is a  mantel. This year I just tied a bow around some sparkly twigs and dangley glittery thing – I’m not sure what it is – I’d intended it for the tree.

On top of the altar table

Tiny gifts for friends sit on a pedestal on the alter table. The paper butterfly’s trimming the gift boxes have flown away from the open sack and are now resting on lizard poo stains I discovered when I took down the  picture that normally hangs here.

Big floppy bow

Real flowers can’t escape the glitter

Carnations are the only flower I can bring into the house as they don’t make me sneeze. I sprayed them with hairspray and sprinkled with glitter when they started to wilt.

I love the way it drapes over the edge of the alter table

At the far end of the alter table is my partridge in a pear tree, only it isn’t really a partridge as I’ve looked everywhere and can’t find one. This tree is a year round fixture but only adorned in December and I usually move it upstairs so as not to distract from the Christmas tree.

A few details, the pear tree, gifts – topped with glitter bugs for the boy’s and butterfly’s for the girls.

Crackers on the table

This is our dining table set for dinner last night.  For the main event I’ll add linens and a centerpiece (still to be decided) but for everyday we don’t bother. I hung green sequined fabric on the plain white wall behind the table and tied a big gold net bow then pinned it to the fabric. You can just see one of the paper glitter butterfly’s I made on the bow. We are having fun changing up the location of these butterfly and glitter-bugs.

Assorted glittery wreaths

Opposite the dining area is my wreath wall. They cover up some hooks I use to hang 4 pictures here the rest of the year. I made the tinsel one by wrapping tinsel around a Styrofoam wreath. Very creative of me!

The drinks area and banister strung with tinsel and ribbon.

The vintage pineapple ice bucket was a christmas gift last year. I remember my parents having one of these and I looked for one for a long time. It’s taking center stage in this area, There are paper pineapples hanging from the  bannister too.

On a ledge going up the stairway I have a forest of trees displayed

Bottle brush trees

In the middle of the forest is this little tree gnome ornament, new last month at 90% off. Here he is after selecting his christmas tree ( also a tree ornament).

Mr Gnome

This year we used only baubles of various sizes, in greens, orange and brown to trim our tree. I would have liked a fairy topper but had this green sparkly star already.  The tree is too big and wide for this current house but it’s in good condition and it has a new spot this year where it doesn’t look so large! It’s somewhat of a tradition of ours to have sparse uneven fairy lights.

The tree

Cozy by the tree

Time for a cuppa before you go? There is an empty chair by the tree and a mug of hot liquid chocolate ( melted 70% dark chocolate and milk ) with a chocolate penguin, but watch out the penguin is chili flavored and hot hot hot.

 

If you had come by last night this spot was already taken by our house guest

Someone is a little too early for Santa

 I hope you enjoyed your visit. Here we are back in the entryway adorned with more glittery flowers and bugs. Care for an orange or some nuts?

Glittery details

Please mind the packages and parcels on your way out, we’ve already had one casualty!

My new shoes, too glittery and gorgeous to be kept in the box

Thank you for your visit.

Lily xx

Gilt

Ooh you’re here, thanks so much for popping all the way over to Hong Kong for a quick nosy.  The tree is up and the mantle decorated so come and take a look.

 

 

 

The papier  mache bauble to the left was inspiration for this years theme – teal, chocolate and guilt er gilt. I bought it on vacation in summer. Teal was one of my wedding colors, so you know I had an excuse. But then it  looked a bit lonesome on the tree so well you know….  

 

Ha ha, yes I know I there is a feather duster on the top of my tree.

Mr Gingerlily kindly plucked and artfully arranged it on top with some loose brown feathers. I didn’t want to buy more new stuff so I used the duster because it was there and almost matched. Apparently it’s supposed to be all wonky. 

This year we decorated the tree – it is always a joint effort –  with clusters of baubles because there were thrice as many chocolate/gold ones than teals.  Mr Gingerlily thought that was a great idea to stretch out the teal so I didn’t mention it wasn’t mine but one I’d “borrowed” from a fancy shopping mall who invites a famous event planner from the States to decorate their trees every year.

 

The mantle (it’s not really a mantle as we don’t have a fireplace but I like to pretend) was decorated with whatever I could find in the house that went with the color scheme – a brown feather boa, gold net material and clip on glitter roses. And some brown glittery plastic twigs I’ve never had a use for before now. The urn is filled with a chocolate brown bead garland and pieces of my costume jewellery. And of course we have the christmas crackers bought in the after Christmas sales last year.

 

The wreaths are hung by the stairway in place of 4 pictures that are usually hanging there. They are positioned to  cover up the 4 picture hooks so they are  supposed to be wonky.  I trim them with whatever I can find to coordinate so this year I’ve balanced some angel wings in one and some bauble picks in the other. 

I think wonky is a recurring theme this year, I don’t know what’s happened with the bottle brush on the side table.

This is Roselle, she is a christmas card that you can make into a mask. I thought she was so cute I stuck her on the wall instead.

I do hope you enjoyed your visit, I know you have many more houses to tour at The Nester’s Christmas Tour of homes. Ooh look there’s just one more chocolate left on the pedestal by the door. Go on help yourself.

Seng Dan Fai Lok –  Merry Christmas in Cantonese.

Lily
xxxx

 

 

Christmas Tour of Homes 2009

Merry Christmas & welcome to Hong Kong.

As I’ve enjoyed visiting all your beautifully decorated homes the past few years I figured it was time to return the invitation.

This is our first year to host overseas visitors for the holidays so we decided to go with an oriental theme for the decorations. Yes I have a different theme each year -much to the hubby’s annoyance- because I don’t have enough decorations that could be called sentimental. One day though I’m sure our tree will be full of memories but until then I’m having fun with the themes.

Below, a couple of pictures of either end of the mantel. It’s actually an alter table but I hang the fake garland on it and put candles on a mirror underneath as our “fireplace”. It gets quite cold here in winter and its surprising how much warmer and cosier it is when the candles are lit. Those are plastic “gold nuggets” on the pedestal in front of the  mantel candles and inside each one is a chocolate. Help yourself to as many as you like.

I hang our stockings from the stairs. There is only one up at the moment, bought on sale years ago from the Shanghai Tang store here in Hong Kong. It’s a gorgeous silk with a traditional Chinese pattern.  It was meant to be a gift for someone but I couldn’t part with it. Now I wish I’d bought more. Never mind though because I’m going to make another 3 using this one as a pattern, even though I’ve never sewn anything before. I’ll post a picture if I ever get them finished. (Thankfully MIL is visiting so she can help or hopefully just make them for me:))

Thank you so much for visiting and to The Nester for hosting the tour.

Merry Christmas

Lilyxxx

Let it Snow – Holiday Decorations 2008

Hello, come on in. Did you have a pleasant flight?
Leave your wings at the door and help yourself to Santa’s mince pies and cocoa. 

What do you mean there is none left? Well you are a year late.

Never mind, come sit down near the make shift mantel and “fireplace” whilst I get some more.
Check under the tree perhaps there’s still some presents le





The dog ornament below is one of my favorites. I’m not at all crafty but I like to make things each year for the tree. This year it was the plastic bead icicles on some fishing string and the twig things sprayed silver.

These are the stockings hung on the stairs with care, because we don’t have a fireplace apart from the pretend one and that stocking there on the right, yes that ginormous one which is mine is too long to hang from the pretend mantle. I’m afraid it may be a fire hazard.

Well thanks for stopping by, would you like a tipple before you go? Don’t mind the dust its supposed to be fake snow.

 

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