christmas adams style (4/12)

I don't know why I haven't involved others in the blog long before today... I was SO excited when Joanna Adams' (friend from high school) email arrived telling me all about her Christmas decorations. It is so fun to see how other people celebrate Christmas and to see the items they have treasured for years.
Thank you, Joanna, for sharing with us your apartment... :) Here is Christmas Adams Style in Joanna's own words:

This comes from the small apartment of a single social worker with a small budget!   I have many items that I've acquired over the years, items purchased at second hand stores and discount stores, and items received as gifts.  Some day, I hope to have a house with more space to decorate!    And I also hope to have a nice camera too :)   

I love woodland creatures and a natural looking Christmas tree (although I have plenty of unnatural objects on there as well!). But I love the idea of berries, icicles, and woodland animals together. I bought the owl at Bronner's Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

My favorite little nutcracker from Tuesday Morning. It is a true German nutcracker at a reasonable price! I love his little dachshund! And since he's a hunting nutcracker, I love keeping him out for fall and Christmas :)

My little Hallmark bicycle from 2007. My aunt and I biked the Dalmac bike tour from Lansing to Mackinaw City, Michigan. It took 4 days. It was awesome and I'll never do it again!

An Early American Christmas by Tomie DePaola. I have this book displayed on one of the nightstands in my bedroom next to my old fashioned candle light. I love this book. I found it accidentally at a used book store and bought it for $2. It's a children's book about a German family that moved to a little New England village and taught them about all of their Christmas traditions, including making candles and ornaments and decorating a tree.

This is a reflection of my living room and Christmas tree through my Ikea mirror hung above an old family heirloom buffet in my dining room. When you have a small space, you have to make the most of it, especially to get more light everywhere. Mirrors are my favorite trick. It reflects the slider door/window in my living room and makes it look like there's a window in there. I put cheap gold ball ornaments in a bowl on my dining room table for a nice, inexpensive center piece. Jen's note: how is it that Joanna has wrapped gifts under her tree and I haven't even BOUGHT my wrapping paper? Overachiever.

This is a little camel I bought from an antique store for a few dollars. I was hoping to eventually create my own little nativity scene with odds and ends, but haven't found everything yet. I have him displayed with Christmas lights and garland on the top of my secretary desk in my bedroom, which I bought at the same antique store. Jen's note: loving this vintage camel... :)

I have no idea who made this for me, but this is an ornament from one of my first Christmases. I think it's so sweet!

Another view of my secretary display. This photo is definitely low quality. But it shows the rest of my display. I love that the camel is made out of different types of stone on each side.

A Christmas staple: my grandmother's Dutch almond cookies. This is the 2nd year I've made them entirely on my own without her help, and they didn't come out so bad :) Note: I asked Joanna for the recipe and I was shot down because it's TOP SECRET. :)

My great-grandma Bessie made me this little gingerbread house ornament when I was little. It still has the tag attached addressing it to me. I don't know what you call that crafting style, but she made ornaments like that a lot. She even made a bird house using an old communion cup! She was such a cute little lady.

And finally, a picture of my Christmas tree! It's only 6.5 feet tall, but I think it's perfect. It's a fraser fir. Note: The photo of Joanna's whole tree didn't upload for some reason... but it was so perfect and twinkling. :)

Drew is sitting on my lap as I type this... he's playing on the iPad and eating it so I better scoot... but a BIG THANK YOU TO JOANNA! :)