Christmas Collections

As I was decorating the tree last weekend, I was struck by the size of my ice skate ornament collection. I thought it would be fun to share it with you. They are largely from my Aunt Chery. I love all of them! As many of you know, I've had a bit of an obsession with figure skating over the years, although I never did get very good at it. I love having these ornaments on my tree because not only do they make me think of the beauty of that sport, and remind of my aunt, but they make me think of my mom and my Gram as well. Gram used to call on the weekends and tell us to hurry up and turn the channel because there was skating on. I grew to look forward to those phone calls, and the time spent with my mom after them, enjoying the magic on ice. Anyway, making this little collage of skate photos took far less time than cataloguing the 60 or so video tapes of skating performances I recorded in high school and college, that still exist somewhere in my mom's basement. (I wish I was kidding. I'm not.) 

Another collection on my tree that I love are my Scarlett O'Hara's. Yes, I suppose this is subject that is somewhat unrelated to Christmas. But, these also make me think of my family, and our shared love of the book and the movie. And, I am a bit of a girly girl. I think I would have made a fantastic southern belle.

We Have a Fireplace!

Could you even tell? We can’t use it yet, due to some repair work that is needed in the chimney, which will take care of itself once we finally convert from oil to gas. But it sure is nice to look at, right?

Greg was able to put the TV up on the wall today, now that the wall has been painted. And you can be sure, that it’s not going anywhere. 

First, the bracket was bolted to the wall. It’s off center to be sure it’s in the studs. We’re not taking any chances with our TV! 

Here, you can see the way the bracket folds off the wall. This allows it to swivel in either direction. 

Jeff was kind enough to stop by to help life the TV up on to the bracket. I was grateful, because this had to be done several times to get the proper alignment. Because the bracket is not centered on the way, the TV was placed to one side of the bracket to compensate. This caused some deflection, which required some adjustment to avoid having a tilted, yet centered, TV.  

It’s a pretty cool bracket with lots of adjustability. We’ll be able to see the TV from the dining room table...if we wanted to. 

PS - in some of the photo, you can see the old brass fireplace screen. We decided to stash it away for now, since I’m not really a fan of brass. The fireplace is a little sooty, but I think it looks much cleaner and simpler without all the accessories. Someday, when we’re actually using it, we’ll find some black wrought iron ones instead. 

Comments transferred from previous Blog:

GINA

looking good

Saturday, February 5, 2011 - 08:37 PM

VP

Looks amazing. I love the swivel bracket. You are so lucky to be married to an engineer with such an accommodating brother. I am lucky, too. XOXXOXOXOXOXOXOO

Sunday, February 6, 2011 - 07:46 AM

Snowblower

I. Love. This. Snowblower. 

We JUST got it on Friday afternoon, with many thanks to Gina, who was able to order and pay for it for us before it was even en-route to the Lowes where she works, and some Christmas cash from family. Today’s snowstorm is of colossal proportions. And all I had to shovel was the front steps. 

Snowblowers rock.

And my superhero put it to good use. 


Comments transferred from previous Blog:

VP

It's a beautiful machine, deserving of living in your garage.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 07:17 PM

AUNT GRETA

that is an awesome machine, i am so glad you got it xoxo (not spoiled at all)

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 07:38 PM

ANONYMOUS

so glad to be of help

gina

Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 08:28 PM

Last Day of Christmas

Today is our last official day of Christmas, and what a wonderful first Christmas it has been at Kingston Road. We kicked it off a few weeks ago with our housewarming party. The real Christmas marathon began on Christmas Eve, with the delivery of Grampa Louis’s brand new exercise bike, followed by chinese food with friends. Christmas morning was spent at home where we made a big breakfast, and opened our gifts to each other, including this lovely ornament Greg got me. We then headed off to George and Nancy’s for dinner. Boxing Day brought us to NY, just in front of the blizzard, for more festivities with my Mom, Will, Robin & Clara. We were back in Boston in time for New Year’s Eve with Robin’s family in Medford, and a quick night cap before midnight with our friends. New Year’s Day was spent at the traditional brunch, this time hosted by Jeff and Andrea. And then, one more afternoon with Clara at our house, where she got to meet her cousins, Chrissy, Paul, Henry & Liam. And after all of the fun and chaos, we have finally arrived at Second Christmas, the traditional French Family celebration. We’ll be heading to Ginny & Elmer’s this afternoon for one last day of Christmas. 

After today, we’ll finish taking down the decor, and get back to business with getting this place into shape. Stay tuned for more projects to come! Happy New Year!

Comments transferred from previous Blog:

ANONYMOUS

What wonderful memories!!!  Another year in the memory books!  And what a great year it was for your family!!!

Sunday, January 2, 2011 - 09:25 AM

AUNT GRETA

Happy 2011 Jen and Greg. thanks for sharing your projects with us. We are looking forward to enjoying the next round. love you.

Sunday, January 2, 2011 - 10:05 AM

MICHELLE BENNETT

Sorry to leave my above comment as "anonymous".  Next time I will be more careful.  Happy new Year!!

Sunday, January 2, 2011 - 10:05 AM

Couch Cargo

Today, we headed back to Boston after a lovely Thanksgiving with my mom. She’s giving us her old couches for our basement family room. We decided to transport them in the back of Greg’s truck instead of dealing with the hassle of a rental trailer. We lucked out with beautiful weather for the trip. 

As always, Greg did an amazing job packing the truck. As we speak, he and Jeff have just finished moving the couches successfully into the basement (pictures soon), door back on the hinges and all! Whew!

Comments transferred from previous Blog:

VP

Amazing packing job!

Sunday, November 28, 2010 - 06:06 PM

Happy Birthday Louis

It’s amazing how time flies. I guess that’s what happens when a cold gets me down and I have a deadline at work. In any case, there has still been a lot of progress around here in the last few weeks. In addition to progress, there was a very big celebration. Greg’s grandfather turned 90 in the middle of the month, and we had a little party to celebrate. 

I baked a cake which we served on the crystal cake platter we received as a wedding gift from my Aunt Chery. 

Greg’s brother, Jeff, mom Gina, and Louis’s girlfriend Betty, completed the party. 

Comments transferred from previous Blog:

VP

Beautifully decorated cake. Handsome men! ......Can't believe he's 90!

Sunday, November 28, 2010 - 06:14 PM

Temptrol

Our extremely productive weekend continued on Sunday with a little help from Uncle George. George and Greg managed to install shut-off valves in the laundry room. This means that for future plumbing projects upstairs, we will still have use of the toilet in the laundry room. A key luxury. 

After the shut-off was installed, they moved on to the shower project, installing a brand new temptrol control, and saving us hundreds of dollars by doing it themselves. I am enjoying the new control very much. Next, we have to learn how to retile the wall!

The Task Master

My mom came to town for the weekend to help jump start the settling in process, which has been slow starting after completing my exam...mostly due to my annual fall adventure into the fashion show. But, with my mom on the task, we were able to make a TON of progress around the house. The main floor, while not decorated yet, now feels like a place people live, instead of a place where people stash boxes of stuff! Don’t get me wrong, there is still a lot of work to be done, but now we feel like we’re enjoying the house while we work on other rooms. 

Here’s a peak at what these spaces actually looked like while the task master was working her magic...

Comments transferred from previous Blog:

CHRISITNE

It's Mom P! :-) I can only imagine how productive you two were together!!! (Can't wait to see it in person!)

Friday, October 29, 2010 - 07:19 PM