Christmas in the Smokies

Our Smoky Mountain Christmas Tree

We love Tennessee and Pigeon Forge area especially.  We frequently travel to Pigeon Forge and stay at the Dolly Parton's DreamMore Resort.  Our many visits to this area over the years inspired me to create this beautiful tree.  I purchased a lot of the ornaments from Pigeon Forge area including many from The Incredible Christmas Place store there.  I have new ribbon for this tree this year, I decided to use two ribbons, one is red with black bears and the other is a flannel red and black plaid.  I just love how these ribbons tied together the feeling of being in the Smokies during the winter.  

 The tree hits the ceiling.  Not sure if I will do a tree topper...  

 The wooden sled was a gift from my husband to Lauren and I.  

He also made another for Karina.  They are beautiful and we love them!

 I love the bears which are from Dollywood mostly.  The lantern

adds more of the mountain touch that we all love.  Did you

know there are a lot of moose in Tennessee?  So, our Mr. Moose

is part of our Tennessee display each year.  This tree is sitting

by the red plaid love seat in the Tennessee room!  

 The black bear family from Tennessee!

 The plaid wrapped gift is from last year.  My husband John never opened it-ha!  

Guess who is having a re-gifted present this year?

 Love this blown glass truck with tree and also the car with a tree on top and especially the bear lantern! They were from Target.

 Tin ornaments are this year's addition and are from Lancaster, PA...Primitive's by Kathy.

 Another one of the many moose we have collected

and another tin ornament.

 This sign is also from Lancaster, PA. at the Flower and Home Marketplace and the fisherman is a reminder of my Daddy who loved to fish.  I bought it at Cracker Barrel.  I also bought one of each of these for my grandchildren who were fortunate to grow up being with my Daddy every day.  We miss him and my Mama, especially at this time of year, so very much.  Love you Daddy and Mama!

We hope you are enjoying our tree display this year.  At the end of our decorating sessions I will put all of these photos in one post to make it easy for you to pass on to friends or refer to for your own decorating!  Have a wonderful time today shopping Small Business Saturday!  

The Chef Is In The House.

The Chef is in the house!  

And she is noticing all the changes for the Christmas Holiday!  Our chef is Isabella and she is most talented for a chef of age 13.  But like most chefs, she does not like her kitchen messed with!  Of course I wait until I have the rest of the kitchen decorated before I attempt to get her permission to put a little Christmas in her baking area...which you can see here...

This is Isabella's baking area with her two Kitchenaid mixers with new glass bowls.  She bought them from Macy's.  She gets her basics out so it is ready when she gets home from school.  Her new kitchen towel is from Primitives By Kathy, the spatulas are from The Old Mill store in Tennessee and her pan is Rae Dunn from Marshall's.

The cookbook is her own recipes with some passed down from her Mama, Nana, Auntie and Gram.  It is an album from Michaels Craft Store with the recipes slid into plastic protectors.  Nana made it for her birthday this year.  

These are treats for her after school today.  She collects spatulas with cute designs on them.  I found the Spangler candy canes that are a favorite as they were made by my mother's family, the Spanglers.  We bought them today at Aldi's-where we also bought the cutest Advent Calendars!  Love that store!  Notice that she is prepared to bake her favorite brownies, Isabella's S'More Brownies.  The chocolate jar in the back is filled with her Hershey's cocoa.  Everything she cooks is nut free as she is allergic to all nuts.  That is the reason she started baking and cooking.  She knows her ingredients and the dishes she makes are totally safe for her to eat.  

More decorations in the kitchen after the Chef is in the house again!