The Holiday Kitchen

This was the first Christmas celebrated in our newly renovated home...

The kitchen has now become the hub of activity and center of entertaining....this past week it proved it's worth, and then some! I still have one more little gathering scheduled this Friday....

I love to host a gathering at my house...growing up our home was always open to family and friends, and my Mom could feed 4 or 20 at a moments notice...fresh pasta, sauce and other homemade specialties were at the ready...our home hummed with activity..that is what I want to happen here...

With the two islands, it has become so convenient to prep and then serve a variety of dishes...casual or more fancy....

The adjoining dining/garden room can take an overflow of guests from the kitchen...but it seems, everyone loves the kitchen best...

 

Ricotta cakes, iced with cream cheese frosting with edible gold leaf, a raspberry lemon mascarpone torte and other Christmas favourites stood waiting to be sampled....

Small reindeer moss in cups, embellished with moss stars were my gifts for the ladies this year....

 

This new take on a dining room has fulfilled all of my expectations....

......sipping my morning coffee in the wicker chairs in this room....watching the snow fall.....

 

....and some mornings, the view is magical!

Because I love Nature, and am inspired by my surroundings, I kept our decorations to a minimum, and very simple.....but mostly due to the fact that they are still stacked up somewhere in the garage :/

I added a few of my doll ornaments to the kitchen....still a child at heart!

 

I crafted them from tissue paper and bits of vintage lace and other findings....

A vintage tea cart, paired with the extra dining chairs, warms up a window nook.....and the coffee center holds all the necessities for a cappuccino on your way to the wicker chairs!!

 

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my kitchen this New Year's Day, 2014... It has been a year full of twists and turns, unexpected setbacks with the flooding this summer, and unexpected developments because of it....we installed a gas generator...our quirky, capricious climate almost dictated it....it has been an unsettling, disorganized year....but I am full of hope and promise...surrounded by our beautiful woodland, family and friends, and the newest addition, Bella.

 

....nestled in an evergreen wreath, on the front porch....what a little beauty.....!!

I wish all of my readers the very best the New Year holds, love, health and happiness, and a quiet and gentle heart to embrace all that life holds in store.....Happy, happy New Year.....N..xo