finding inspiration: kitchen

Aubrey and I walked to Starbucks today for a lovely coffee date, and on the walk there casually talked about boxing day sales, and perhaps we should look online to see if we should consider any sales. Our focus for the past six months has been to find a new fridge as our current one makes gun shot noises that we've grown to ignore. A few hours after that conversation we were in Lowes and, an hour later, had purchased not only our fridge, but new oven, dishwasher, and above oven microwave. Wow. That was easy. We're no where near being able to afford the rest of the kitchen, but with the appliances all checked off, we're kind of pumped. Which brings me to my latest inspiration for our kitchen. I spotted it on Barbara's latest "So Canadian, eh?" features.

This is the kitchen of Ashli Malinek from Mini Manor in Vancouver. What made me bookmark this was the spot for cook books at the top - the relief of cabinetry to allow for some colour is perfection. So this is totally going into my inspiration folder for our kitchen reno. Which may be that much closer now with all of the appliances. :)

my special christmas greetings to you

The holidays are here, our house is full.

The family is complete (Ghetto has come home too! YAY!)  

There's a turkey in the oven, a Christmas pudding 

ready to steam, crackers to be pulled, 

fires to be lit, games to be played, stockings 

to delve into, gifts to unwrap.   

Soft music in the background, 
champagne is poured, 

perfume dabbed behind ears,

and pretty dresses slipped on.

I won't be blogging for a couple of days; this is a time to

enjoy precious family, but I would like to thank you all.

Thank you for reading me during this year;

thank you for leaving me comments and sending me emails;

thank you for inspiring me to write;

thank you to all those who came to 
visit us here in Normandy, 

it has been a pleasure and a privilege getting to know you.

Gibson and Ghetto join me and the whole family in wishing 

you all a very joyeux noël, 

and may the new year be kind to us all.



(PS.  the dogs hope you like their very kitsch card - you can't imagine what 
it took to get this shot - I should have done a 'making of!!)

Down Time

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays.  I am taking some time off this week to enjoy the family, I hope you are getting to relax as well.  

And for those of you wondering, Harry (dog) will make the card again next year.  This year it just wasn't possible.

Merry Christmas

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:8-14

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful holiday and a very Happy New Year!

Thank you for making blogging such a joyful and fulfilling experience for me.  I appreciate each and every one of you that stop by The Cottage Home.  There are so many things to be thankful for this year.  

We have truly been blessed and my heart is filled with joy.

Love to you all,

Lindsay

our French christmas

Christmas in France, as in many cultures,  is a time for catching up with family, or failing that reuniting with old friends.    This year our respective extended families won't be with us, but we will have friends staying and others invited for dinner and lunch.


We like to exchange gifts on Christmas Day and we also have stockings to open on Christmas morning.  These have always been my favourite bit of Christmas.  When the children were little, the stockings filled by Santa, were left in front of the fireplace on Christmas Eve and discovered at the end of their beds on Christmas morning.  Come dawn I had  little voices whispering in my ear  "Mummy, can we start opening our presents yet,  look what Father Christmas  brought me!"

 In France the Christmas Eve dinner is almost more important than lunch on Christmas Day.  For this meal we favour a series of small courses, enjoying food that we don't eat all year round.  My favourite on the menu are the home made blini that accompany smoked salmon, cream, dill and black pepper. 

Many French families go to evening Mass early on Christmas Eve then return home to share gifts before sitting down for a long dinner.  The next day they may join up with the same family members or other cousins, grandparents ... to enjoy Christmas lunch.  The most popular Christmas afternoon activity is often a long walk together - good idea after all that food!!

We more or less stick to that here, although I have somehow added an extra dinner this evening, inviting friends we won't be seeing over the holidays.

All these meals, with guests in the house, mean that I do as much preparation as possible ahead of time.  I already showed you the chestnut creams that are ready in the freezer; and my proper Christmas pudding was made weeks ago.

But I have also made mince pies, biscuits and mini sausage rolls for those iffy moments at the end of the day when nobody is really hungry for another meal but if I put out a selection of cheese, fruit, and nibbles it always seems to be appreciated with a glass of wine in front of the fire.

So I'll finish writing this blog post early in the morning, wrap a few final gifts.  Prepare some individual tiramisus for dinner this evening and probably decorate the fireplace like I did last year.

An enjoyable day, the children around catching up with their friends, listening to music,
an air of quiet excitement.  Hope you're having fun too.

Tomorrow I have some special Christmas greetings for you, then I'll sign off for a few days.

'twas the friday before Christmas....

A year ago I pondered on our blog, how Santa gets in on Christmas Eve should you not have a chimney. He's got a lot of tricks in that big red bag of his, so I know he always finds a way. But a lovely neighbour/friend of mine saw that post awhile back, and it made for a lovely conversation on how Santa gets into their house. Apparently, he has a special key.

One chilly morning this week I woke up and popped outside to see if the mail had come. Although there was no mail, I found something wrapped ever so nicely in our mailbox. A small little package that had a lot of weight, and a tag read "With Love From Santa". Curious, I opened the parcel.

A key. A beautiful old skeleton key. My heart skipped a beat. I suppose that my lovely neighbour passed along to Santa that we needed a key for our house. Honestly, I love our neighbourhood + neighbours.

Our special key by our tree

Ps., It's my half birthday! Yay! :)