My One Tuesday Treasure and Our Christmas Den.....

Ruth Ann has been spending some time at their farm so I have been doing my Tuesdays solo for the last few weeks. I started not to even get out today but decided it would be a good time to get my nails done and Goodwill was just up the street. While I normally find a good many treasures on any given Tuesday, today I found only one.

This pillow was just $0.80!

At least I didn't come home empty handed.

I think it did me good to get out.

The weather has finally cooled off and today was about 30 degrees cooler than yesterday.

I stopped at Churches Chicken on Story Road on my way and picked up two of their $5 boxes for our late lunch. 3 chicken tenders, 2 sides, a jalapeno, and a honey biscuit per box!

Louis Dean was excited!

Truth be told, the kitchen was such a huge mess even I didn't want to get in there and cook in it!

As I go through the house cleaning and decorating, I move all the boxes and clutter into the next room in line. It feels good to transform the chaos into Christmas Cheery order.

It was the den's turn today.

I started on it yesterday but didn't get it finished.

I worked on it the rest of the afternoon and by night fall it was done.

It was comfortable in the den today with the fireplace burning.

This tree is trimmed out with lots of Santa Claus ornaments.

The secretary holds more than 30 years of my handwritten journals and diaries.

We don't actually fill the stockings anymore but I continue to hang them up every year.

Some of my lights had burned out in the corner so I spruced things up before adding news ones along with some red poinsettias. I love red and use that color a lot both here and at the camper as well as in my paintings lately. I can remember a time when I seldom used red at all. Brown was my color then.

I like red better!

Between the candles and the fireplace, the room was warm and cozy.

I think I have enjoyed looking at this Santa more than any other this year.

Perhaps because of where I've put him.

It's been wonderful to see all my Christmas things again.

So many memories of so many Christmases.

At last the den was done and I moved on to the next room!

This is a tiny room but it took a good while to clean all the debris off the washer and dryer and then redo it. Everything in my house gets cleaned at least once a year  - whether it needs it or not!!

As I packed up some stuff away so I could display my Christmas things, I thought to myself that just maybe I will donate a lot of it back from whence it came - the Goodwill!

The lit candle means the room is clean!

Amber gave me some candles recently and this is one of them.

It is so fragrant that it scents the den, kitchen, living room, foyer, dining room and I can even smell it from the sewing room! Smells just exactly like a fresh cut evergreen tree is sitting in the house!!

I don't think any tree smells as sweet as the ones we had when I was a little girl.

We always got a Douglas Fir and I still think they are the most fragrant.

Every room has a Christmas Tree - even the laundry room!!

It's getting close to midnight and I am ready to go to bed.

I'm still getting up around 8:00 every morning - unheard of for me!

Guess there's something to that 'Early to bed and early to rise' thing!