The Christmas House 2013 Edition

My friend Andrea is a brilliant designer – she owns and creates the wonderful Bosom Buddy Bags that I adore – and she’s a generous spirit! She is always thinking about what she can design, decorate, create and craft (in the good sense of the word) and I’ve adored her for more than 3/4 of my life!

So when she said she wanted to have a Christmas Open House to show everyone her amazing Christmas Tree collection, and suggested that she might want it to be a benefit, I piped up that I am on the Development Board of the Maryland SPCA. Since she and I both have rescue dogs, that was a perfect fit.

The party was perfect and lots of friends and neighbours came to celebrate the season. I arrived early so I could get some photos before the crowd arrived. From about a block away, I could see the red hat of the snowman in her yard. If you know this area, the fact that he’s there at all is pretty funny!

I was greeted with one of Andrea’s gorgeous wreaths (top image) and as I entered the house, I just gasped in amazement!There were wonderful decorations everywhere, and while there’s a lot, it is so beautifully done, that it’s fun! We assigned a child the task of counting Christmas trees, and he finally stopped at 211, although Andrea thinks that there are more.

The dining room was just beautiful, with a huge tree as the centerpiece.

One of the fun things Andrea did was to have a candy bar for the children who were coming.

This is my young friend Jansen when he saw the huge bowl of Gummy Bears!

Andrea, who also does floral design, had made a number of bouquets that were scattered around the house. This one’s red carnations and some red balls.

This is hot pink and dark red carnations with pink matte and shiny balls.

This stunner is roses, carnations, dried flowers and hypericum berries.

And this is peppermint stick carnations!

There are dozens and dozens of flowers in each arrangement!

And then there were the trees – from large to small – each conveyed the spirit of the season.

There is colour everywhere, and so much to see!

At the end of the evening, Andrea’s two rescued dogs, Scholtz and Buddy had to check out the goodies everyone had brought to donate to the SPCA.

Actually, Buddy doesn’t seem too interested.

Thanks to Andrea for opening her house, sharing her creativity and being so generous! She’s the BEST!