The Colours of Christmas

I'm a bit indecisive - and when it comes to decorating that translates into liking a lot of different colours and styles.  My same eclectic tastes come into play when it comes to decorating at Christmas.  Every time I see another colour combination or style I'm smitten.  Now the truth is we have so many lovely Christmas decorations accumulated over the years and they have such personal meaning that I really have no choice but to use the near and dear decorations we already own. 

That, however, doesn't stop me from fantasizing about all the great colours and styles that could be used at Christmas time.  Let's have a look at the ones I found. 

Classic Red and Green:

This colour combo is near and dear to my heart and, in fact, is what most of our decorations are.  It is classic, pretty, and evokes a Christmas feel without even trying.

BHG

Martha Stewart

Red and white:
I guess you could say this is a subcategory of red and green, but the addition of a lot of white and not as much green makes a difference in my mind.   This colour combination reminds me of Scandinavian decorating, candy canes, and Santa himself.  When used in Christmas decorating, it produces a fresh bright look.

 Martha Stewart

  Martha Stewart

  Martha Stewart

  Martha Stewart

  Martha Stewart

 BHG

 

 Country Living

Style at Home

Green and White:
Again this is a variation on the classic red and green Christmas colours.  Focussing on only the green, though, gives this a calmer more natural look.  It is interesting that it was much more difficult to find photos using this colour combo than any of the others, especially red and white.

County Living

County Living

 Source

Frosty white and blue:
This colour combination evokes a sparkly winter wonderland - icicles, glittery snowflakes, snowmen, and dustings of frost.  Being a blue lover this is a colour combination that I would love to try one year.  These photos really make my heart go pitter patter.

Martha Stewart

Canadian House and Home

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart

BHG

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart

All that glitters:
Hits of gold and silver along with lots of white give you a glam, sparkly Christmas look.  In some ways this is a subcategory of the previous frosty white and blue look, but here the focus is more on the glitter and sparkle and less on the snowflakes and pure whiteness.

Style at Home

Style at Home

Style at Home

Style at Home

BHG

 Crate and Barrel

 Coastal Living

Country Living

Country Living

The natural look:

This is another look that is near and dear to my heart - a woodsy outdoor style.  When I think of natural Christmas decor, I think of birch logs, burlap, twine, berries, birds, deer, and of course evergreen boughs and pinecones.  Depending on where you live, though, this can take on a rustic cabin look, a beachy theme, or even a tropical or prairie look.   Although this style is usually fairly traditional it can take on a modern flavour as well.

Style at Home

Pottery Barn

Coastal Living

Country Living

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart

BHG

BHG

BHG

Style at Home

 Coastal Living

Country Living

Non-traditional colour combinations:

Some people love to do things a little differently, even at Christmas.  This is one of those styles that I love to look at, but don't think I would ever do.  Well I take that back, I would use turquoise (like in the first two photos - love them).  Sometimes the colours are just slightly non-traditional, though, say through the use of apple green instead of forest green or yellow instead of gold, but sometimes they are full out unique with pinks and purples and oranges or even a rainbow effect.  Hubby often gives me British decorating magazines in my stocking at Christmas and, in my opinion, using non-traditional colours at Christmas seems to be quite popular across the pond.  The British magazines were the first place I saw the use of turquoise and purple and orange in Christmas decorating. 

Martha Stewart

BHG

BHG

Coastal Living

BHG

Martha Stewart

Style at Home

Country Living

Style at Home

What about you?  What's your favourite Christmas colour combination?  As for me, I'm sticking with our traditional hodge podge of red and green this year, but it is to dream ...

Bits and Bobs and Dogs

A random assortment of happenings -

1)  We started the advent calendars yesterday.  I sent ones to the kids living away from home (which you can read about here), but frankly I was tired of cutting envelopes and punching holes and tying ribbon so for William, who is still at home, I used the felt snowman advent calendar that we used when they the kids were young.  In case you were wondering what a 16 year old boy wants to find in his advent calendar, have a look at the photo below.  It looks like I stuck a bunch of treats to the wall.  He's happy though.

2)  I've been rather lucky recently in finding treasures at the thrift store and antique store.  I found this Villeroy and Boch pitcher with a sweet little winter scene on it (the lid is missing, but I can live with that),

 this old blue canning jar ( now I have two - yeah!),

 some vintage (or possibly just vintage-looking) Christmas ornaments,

and these lovely old gingerbread trim pieces.

I was thinking of putting them above the sliding door as I have always thought it looked a bit bare up there.  What do you think?  Should they be resting on the trim or hung a few inches above the trim???

3)  And finally, you just never know what you will find at Eddie Bauer these days.

 

Train Travel Across the Great White North

Kate arrived home yesterday from Winnipeg - by train!  She has been wanting to make the trip by train for awhile now and this seemed like a good time.   She took some photos along the way, although she said it was difficult to get ones that weren't blurry because of the jiggling of the train.

The Via rail train started out in Winnipeg at 11:30 Sunday evening and arrived in Toronto at just past 9:00 on Tuesday morning  - that's 36 hours on the train and she loved it!

We looked up the route and the train goes quite far north and through very remote areas of Ontario.   You can see the red line on the map below where she travelled.  Kate told me that at one point a group of people arrived at the train station on snowmobiles and got on the train to go to the next station.  A lot of aboriginal people live in the area the train travels through and many of their communities are too remote to have road access so they travel by train, airplane, snowmobiles in the winter, and boats in the summer depending on where they live.

Kate said it was a winter wonderland all the way from Winnipeg across Ontario until she got near Toronto and then there was rain - yuck!  Look at how gorgeous the scenery is -

There were beautiful views along the train of snowy forests,

 animal tracks on frozen lakes (she even saw a red fox walking across a lake at one point),

  cabins on an island,

  and watery winter sunshine.

It's so late in the year that the sun is low in the sky throughout the day, and the days are very short.

The train itself was an adventure too.  Kate loved the panoramic views out of the dome car's curved windows and spent a lot of time there soaking up the scenery.

The dining car had beautiful etched glass dividers with different Canadian birds on them, pretty tablecloths and of course great views.

 

All the meals were great, but Kate's favourite was breakfast with porridge, toast,  yogurt,  juice, and coffee - oh, and cute little pots of jam!

  

One last action shot.

What an adventure!  It certainly was an epic way to get home.