'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Christmas Eve is almost as exciting to me as Christmas day.  Why you ask?  It's kick off to everything we had been planning for the past 3 months and it's when the holiday really begins!  Everyone had arrived and we were all ready to celebrate the holiday - Sister from New Orleans, Patrick from Chicago, Michael, Nutmeg & Cutty from Connecticut and Fred from Manhattan -- a lovely group for a lovely occasion.  


In the past, Charles has had to work on Christmas day so on more than one occasion, we have had our big Christmas dinner the night before on Christmas Eve.  We thought this was a lovely tradition that we wanted to continue each year even when he wasn't working the next day.   It also takes the pressure off a big cooking meal on Christmas Day.  


This year, our meal consisted of a lovely fresh roasted turkey, my cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes and spinach soufflé with fried oysters.  We topped it off with a lovely apple pie that Sister made. 

Sister & I setting the perfect Christmas Eve table

Everyone had their very own monogrammed mint julep cup at their place

A large silver punch bowl filled with tiny presents was our centerpiece

Even Cutty had his very own place setting!  

Delicious Roast Turkey, Spinach Souffle with Fried Oysters & Cornbread Dressing

The turkey was perfectly cooked and would you believe in an oven bag?!?

We take our spinach soufflé to the next level by topping it with fried oysters

My cornbread dressing was so good at Thanksgiving, we decided to make it again! 

And who doesn't love mashed potatoes?

Dinner by candlelight - always lovely

Presents under the tree... in a suitcase?

Since Cutty is coming this year for Christmas and is a walking lil' maniac who loves to get into everything, we decided to put all of our trees on top of tables!  That way we can enjoy them without having to constantly keep him out of them.   I actually am enjoying the fact that they are on tables as it gives more space to do fun things underneath them.    There are several trees all around the house (including the toy tree which we already mentioned) but the one below is a favorite.  I decided to put the tree in a vintage suitcase and then put the presents in it as well!    I think splendid, no?  

One of the table top trees in a suitcase! 

Lots of presents under the tree

I can't wait for Christmas morning! 

Up close

I'm not into Hip Hop, but I do love to "wrap"!

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is wrapping presents!  For a lot of people, they dread this task but I make it a huge event and enjoy every minute of it, down to the very last ribbon.  


Like Nanny, I always have a theme, at least when it comes to color coordination!   This year I'm all about gold, orange, tobacco and red.  I embellish each package with crazy things that I have collected over the years, such as stuffed birds, tassels, odd ornaments, etc.  You name it and I will put it on a present.   I also try to find fun gift tags and this year Nutmeg made me my very own Lowfields Farm tags!   


I collect and save any type of wrapping paper I find along the way along with weird containers that end up being perfect for gifts.   A lot of the containers are found by my great friend "The Hunter" Deborah!  

My gift tags for this year - custom Lowfields Farm tags!

Clara Belle is exhausted by the entire wrapping process

A lovely gift ready to be opened! 

The more embellishments, the better!  

I bought this tobacco paper 5 years ago at Walmart,
 I knew I would use it eventually! 

A giant gold ladybug nestles into the gorgeous orange ribbon

A partridge and a tassel on a present for Freddie Merle

In my world, you can never have enough on top of a present! 

An elf standing guard

Everyone made the cut for Santa's nice list this year!  

These ladybugs turned out to be my favorite to add on top of gifts!  

Small Details Make the Season Bright!

Throughout all of Lowfields, there is always room to add small details to spread the Christmas cheer.  Here are just some of those details that I had fun putting together !

Even adding a ribbon makes it feel like Christmas! 

Putting ornaments in bowls is always a "go to" for decorating!

Even adding a couple things changes the whole look! 

Ornaments & packages tucked away on every shelf

Christmas bells are ringing... 

A lovely package awaits it's recipent

Let's hope that Cutty doesn't get a hold of these for our own ears' sake!

Even outside it's fun to add small details

I love these ornament wreaths that I got years ago