How To Make Bow Napkins

For New Year's Eve, I set a table for two with my Vietri dishes that Joe gifted me over the years. I thought it would be fun to add a bow napkin to the place setting. 

How to make a bow napkin on YouTube

They are fun to make for different occasions. 

Birthday

Valentine's Day

Garden Party

Winter Dinner parties in the future

I don't like fussing with napkins, but these are easy peasy. 

My parents' engraved silver napkin rings for their wedding. I need to polish them :-)

Happy New Year Everyone.

Deb

Peace... Light...Love

Here's to a healthy and happy 2021 for you and yours.  

This holiday season brought much joy including gifting the grandchildren with things that are of interest to me as well.  I bought mini rolling pins and mini cookie cutters this year. This nana can't wait to make empanadas with my granddaughter Claire, and cut out cookies with the boys. 

One of the best gifts of 2020, was the gift of love. Thank you for your visit.

xx 

Deb

The 12 Days of Christmas

Wishing everyone a peaceful holiday season. I have never hosted Christmas dinner as we always went to mom's church for Christmas Eve, then to dear friends' home for a buffet dinner, and then to mom's house for Christmas Day. I host Thanksgiving and Easter for my family, and I have a couple sets of fun Christmas dishes that I use for Christmas morning breakfast, or when I host friends for a holiday gathering. Not this year, but I decided to have some fun with the plates anyways. Next year, each guest will bring a small gift to exchange with the 12 days of Christmas as the theme. I struggled with Lords a Leaping, and if I lived in NYC, I would have purchased a Lord and Taylor gift card :-) Joe came to my rescue. Read on.....

With all the quarantines

and distancing orders . . .

we can still set pretty tables, and drive through

neighborhoods and enjoy the bright

and happy cheer of Christmas. This was my favorite tree on our drive last evening. My sister would like to do something similar next year, and I told her we can start in October :-)

You Light Up My Life

First of all, a very happy Christmas and, dare I say it, pretty good riddance to 2020. What a year it has been. While there has been darkness, I feel we have also managed to find some light - a greater appreciation for nature comes to mind, and getting to slow down a little. Not easy I know. Wishing you and your loved ones as wonderful a Christmas as you can possibly have. I feel good about a brighter year ahead. I hope I'm right! 

Have you made lunch bag snowflakes and stars? They are huge, and we hang ours from a tall ceiling.

Bringing joy to others does not go unnoticed. My sister Diane decided to decorate all the trees on her property this year for all to enjoy. She bought a ton of new lights and it took her several days to decorate. One evening she came home to a mailbox filled with cards and letters. Here are just a couple notes she received from neighbors she did not know since she lives on a very busy country road.. The positives of 2020. She brought joy to her neighbors and they brought it to her with their thoughtful letter and cards. A feel good story for sure. 

This photo was shared with me, and was taken at Macy's Herald Square in New York City. We are very much looking forward to visiting Joe's family in NYC once it is safe. Hopefully we can look back on the progress we made some day soon. 

xx

Deb

Tales of the Traveling Tote #25

If you are here for the first time, welcome to Mountain Breaths. Today I am joining a group of talented bloggers to bring you our quarterly Tales of the Traveling Tote. 

I'm sure you remember the song "You Light Up My Life" :-) I'm going to take you on a short drive to Beekman 1802 in Sharon Springs, NY. To get to Sharon Springs, we enjoy the drive through the "country". It's been no secret I'm a big fan of everything involving Beekman 1802 - including the Beekman Farm and especially the Beekman Boys - Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Dr. Brent Ridge.  I had a chance to meet them several times a while back and they are the sweetest, kindest and most humble men you'd ever meet.  Their fame and their well-deserved success has not affected them.  They are just down-to-earth, everyday people!  

We have now arrived in Sharon Springs, and of course we can't wait to go inside Beekman 1802 Mercantile to see how they have decorated the shop. 

The theme this year is TwinkleTwinkle. It prompted me to add my disco ball to our fireplace mantel this year. 

When I saw this map on the wall, it reminded me of where our totes have taken us. 

My next door neighbor was so excited when Beekman 1802 had a gathering on their farm property to allow artists to paint and photograph the farm. This is Julie's beautiful watercolor of the farm. 

In keeping with the TwinkleTwinkle theme, they are offering these elegant masks. 

Miss Aurora accompanied me when I picked up an antique butter churn from our friends at the lake. They bought it 50 years ago when they lived in Illinois and were offering it on our "buy and sell" page for the lake association. It read: During the pandemic people are spending time doing a variety of things they never had time for such as making bread. Consider making your own butter! Here's the opportunity to go back in time and combine a quality work out to produce a dairy delight. Or use it as a decoration. Nice rustic touch for home or camp. This is a 4 gallon crock (16" high)." 

So I grabbed it for $30, my 2020 souvenir as I started baking sourdough bread during the pandemic. I am using it for decoration, and Joe cut some branches from our property. I added lights and some rustic touches, and this is located in the room our grandchildren love to play in. They are at that age where they love nature and especially owls. I will be adding some rustic owl ornaments to the branches.  

Visit Sarah @ Hyacinths for the Soul, and leave a comment to have a chance to win these favorite paper products. Good luck! 

I know the other "travelers" would love a visit. 

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths (you are here)

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader