Brown Sparrow Studio

it's Christmas week!

here in minneapolis we have snow but not a lot.

some is better than a brown Christmas though right and the weatherman

is predicting a fresh inch before the weekend!

: )

i'm still waiting for one package to arrive on our doorstep but

other than that my shopping and wrapping are done.

i did the majority of my buying online- did you too?

man it makes it easy, and i saw an idea on instagram that i thought

was so nice. someone put a box full of snacks (water, granola bars etc.) on their front step with a

little note their child had written that said:

ups, fed x, mailman,

we know how long your days are.

we appreciate you~

help yourself to a little snack as a

thank you from us!

by the time i saw this, my packages were pretty much all here

so i didn't do this too, but next year if i do a lot of online shopping

i'm going to try my hardest to remember to do put out my own box.

*because my hubbie worked for ups for 26 years and helped

deliver a lot of Christmas's, i think the drivers would really appreciate it.

i snapped some photos of our house decorated for Christmas.

like always when i show you my house, these are close photos that shows

you a snippet of the rooms without all the messes that

surround them.

hello piles of papers, vacuum cleaner, clothes that need to be put away and

piles of shoes.

i plunked this birch star in the kitchen window box. lars installed new windows in the

bay this summer and there used to be 2 windows in this middle section. now there's just one big one instead and i love the bigger view out the front. isn't our neighbors house pretty?

if you have a kitchen pig, why not light him up?

every year i am more drawn to scandinavian style decor. tomtes or nisse are a form of mythological creature from Nordic folklore that are associated with the winter solstice and the Christmas season. i have a few of them that i like to decorate with.

this reindeer was a $4 target find. he had a white nose and hooves when i bought him and i thought he'd look better with them brown so i just painted them.

bottle brush trees are another big favorite of mine when decorating for the holidays.

i took all these pictures at night so they are pretty grainy, but this is my favorite Christmas card of all time. i found this vintage baby shoe to display next to Colton, our precious

new grandbaby.

i like having fresh greenery in the house this time of

year too. (although it does get messy). i use the boughs that

lars trims off the bottom of our Christmas tree here and there.

the family room fireplace got a splash of Christmas added to what was already there. (the pallet MN that cole made, antlers and the plaid thermos and bag). i can't find the larson's Christmas stockings for the life of me but did put up these simple ones i'd bought for our new family members.

our youngest, cole was born on Christmas day 29 years ago.
you've heard me say it before but hey this is my blog so i get to say whatever i want
and i
always have to say it.
he was the best Christmas present EvEr!

(i delivered him in a clean hospital, not a stable- can you even imagine?)

i got this glittered peace sign at pottery barn after Christmas last year and left it

hanging up all year in our dining room.

i put a tall spruce top in a pot of dirt on the deck and worked hard to get it to stand up straight. wouldn't you know it listed to the side one windy night and froze in that way? haha. i haven't been able to get it to stand up straight since so it stands proudly leaning to the side, looking in through the doors and makes me happy anyhoo.