My MUST SEE tip in Brugge...

I have shown this shop after my last trip to Brugge in August. This is a must see shop in the city! It is just THE best shop. The shop is called 'De Binnentuin' and is a treat for the eyes before you ever enter...


As you approach the shop during the holiday season, the outside is draped in green swags and pretty white lights. As with any season of the year, you really must look at all the window displays before even going indoors. This is a real joy and the windows stretch all the way around the corner of the building.


Just look at all the beautiful things they have for the festive season.....



Don't forget to click the photos so you can enlarge them and really see the details.



You are greeted in this shop by the two owners who really have a great flair for how to put things together. They make the floral arrangements you see in the photos themselves. We arrived to hear they felt it was very chaotic in the shop as they were in the middle of putting out some of the new holiday items but we found it to be so pretty as usual. Jos laughed as he says I say that also when I am in the middle of being creative with my decorating. He says it might seem chaotic but to others it looks wonderful. I guess I can now see what he means when I do the same thing.


I must admit that I went into the shop this time with a goal in mind. I bought four very pretty frames to use for some miniature portraits and was very fixated on that goal. I now look at these photos myself and think why did I not look more closely as a number of items. *Sigh*



Everywhere you look there are 'rooms' made up through the arrangement of furniture and vignettes. I could live in this shop. I did not take photos everywhere and there is just so much more to see.



I find so much inspiration of how to use the items I even already have with sometimes buying items to go along with these things. It is truly an amazing place to shop. If you are ever in Brugge, do stop by and see all the wonderful things. In the meantime, I hope you may find some holiday inspiration from the photos!

Lets take a walk in Brugge...

Since we go to Brugge so often, we have our own room at the B&B we stay at. How fun it is to email and ask our wonderful hosts there for our room. And each morning this is the window we look out onto the street...


The B&B is decked out for the holidays...


The city cathedral has a very large advent wreath at the back of the church...


Brugge now holds Christmas markets on two of its squares and although we did not do much shopping on the market, the lights are very pretty in the evenings...


The gabled houses are lined with lights which makes an already beautiful square even more pretty in December...


There are so many wonderful historic buildings and the most simple decorations create a festive atmosphere...


Wouldn't you love to have this as your window?


A little more of the decorations in the B&B...


Remember that salmon salad in my last entry? This is the window of the restaurant decorated for the holidays...


Join me tomorrow for the amazing photos of my favorite shop in Brugge!

Chocolate heaven!

We had a wonderful few days away in Brugge, Belgium! It was nice to visit with a couple of people there who have become friends after our many years of regular visiting. I was excited to find out that one of them who owns a quilt shop is holding an open house in February and was getting ready to email me about it. I think that will be the perfect excuse to book our next visit.

You may ask what is it that keeps us going back to this city three or four times a year? Well, one reason is CHOCOLATE! I am a real chocoholic and this city is chocolate heaven. Some of the biggest and best Belgian chocolates are found in this city's wonderful little shops.


Now I must admit that I had to get this photo especially for Becky of Sweet Cottage Dreams when I saw their Christmas display this year included some dark and milk chocolate Scottie dogs. Aren't they adorable? The shops change their windows constantly to reflect the season or holiday.


This year many shops have these pretty vintage boxes filled with a small assortment of chocolate bonbons. The prices are very high now so while I love the boxes, I was not tempted to buy them.


What we do buy each time we visit is a large box of Leonidas chocolates. They are just the best chocolates! You go into the shop and tell them what size box you would like and they allow you to pick out your own selection. What could be better. We buy only the dark chocolate and have particular kinds of filling that have become our favorites over the years. Just look at these stacks of truffles!


We also had a wonderful treat in a cafe where we again had to have our fill of chocolate. We ordered coffee and a pastry. Don't they look wonderful and almost too pretty to eat?


Almost but not quite! I really loved this pastry. Just look at it inside! It was heaven and yes that is gold leaf sprinkled on the top.


Just to put your minds at rest, we did try to balance this out a little. Our last meal yesterday afternoon was vegetable soup followed by a wonderful salmon salad. Mind you, dessert was vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Well, I did warn you that I am a chocoholic!

I will share much more from Brugge on Sunday...

Some festive cheer in our house...

I have decorated our bedroom a little. Just a few items placed here and there to give us a feeling of festive cheer. Do you remember the quilt I had made for our bed? I simply turned it over to use the backside of the quilt which is a white with roses motif. I thought it looked more in keeping with the Christmas theme.


I then removed the others pillows and used only one that also worked with the colors.


My small tree with lace ornaments is sitting up on our chest of drawers this year. I decided it would be fun to have a tree in the bedroom.


I hung two small wreaths that I had used for a Christmas tea table decoration on each door of the armoire. I then draped a string of berries along the top and put a string of star lights and pinecone garland in the birdcage. It is very simple but I think it looked very pretty.


Finally I changed the quilt on the rack to a red and white Ohio Star quilt and hung our stockings beside it.

I will be taking a little blogger's break this week as we are going to Brugge, Belgium tomorrow morning. We love going and always try to go in December to see the city decorated for the holidays. Sorry I have not been able to visit all of your blogs lately. My days are filled with finishing a special gift for a dear friend and it is cutting into my computer time. I do hope to catch up with everyone very soon!

A perfect day for Christmas tree lights...

It is a very gloomy week here in Holland. It is grey and we have a cold rain that chills you to the bone. In December, you never seem to mind these days as you simply put on the Christmas tree lights and enjoy the glow. Even Dagi enjoys it as you can see! He loves to cuddle everyday but especially on chilly days.


Here is my Christmas tree. I started putting it up on Sunday evening and only just finished it this morning. I work in layers and love this full Victorian looking tree. I decided this year to add one more layer of wide organza ribbon to the outside running vertically. My tree has three layers of ribbon and a pearl garland. I think all this really makes it full and pretty. My tree at Cranberry cottage is the exact opposite with its pure simplicity.

Be sure to enlarge the photos for detail.


I have spent many years collecting just the right ornaments for this tree.



I add red and white poinsettias, berries and red tulips to the branches.


The bobbin lace schwibbogen is standing on the hutch this year. I normally have it against a wall to see the lace better but decided it would be nice to have the lights reflected in the hutch as I did not use lights on top of the hutch this year.


I am off to read the 6th Day of "The Christmas Mystery" by Jostein Gaarder. I just love this book and have had the tradition for a good number of Christmasses now to read a chapter a day. Each chapter is the description of a little Norwegian boy opening a new window on his magic advent calendar. To me this book has become my own advent calendar which I never tire of reading. Do you have any advent traditions?

SinterKlaas and a story of evolving

It is December 5th and here in Holland that means it is 'pakjesavond' or the evening that The Sint brings all the boys and girls presents. Tomorrow is his birthday (Saint Nicolaas Day) and he celebrates it by giving gifts to others. This day is rooted back to the very early church. Many people in my adopted country of Holland are sensitive about the idea of Christmas and Santa Claus but they actually are in many ways responsible for the celebration of Christmas as we know it today.


The very early Dutch immigrants brought the tradition of SinterKlaas with them to the New World. Over time, the name SinterKlaas became Santa Claus in America. The early Santa looked more like his counterpart The Sint in those days.


In the children's poem by Clement Clarke Moore called "A Visit from St. Nicholas" or commonly now known as "Twas the Night Before Christmas", there is one of the first references of Santa as the jolly fat St. Nick we know and love today:

"He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;"

This was further helped along to change the physical image of Santa when Thomas Nash did a series of caricatures for 'Harper's Weekly' and then later in the late 1920s when Coca Cola created the popular image for an advertising campaign.


There are some wonderful similarities between these two figures which show how fun an evolution it has been. SinterKlaas rides on a white horse which lands on the rooftops to deliver the gifts.


Santa Claus rides in a sleigh filled to the brim with gifts pulled by his team of flying reindeer.


Dutch children lay out a shoe each Saturday evening to be filled with little gifts and candy from the time that SinterKlaas arrives in Holland until 'pakjesavond'.


American children hang a stocking by the fire on Christmas eve to be filled by Santa with little gifts and candy.


Dutch children place items such as carrots, water and straw for The Sint's white horse with their shoes.


Perhaps this is the sweetest of the chain of evolution as now children place cookies and milk out for Santa Claus before going to bed on Christmas Eve.

Regardless of where you live or your beliefs, the reasons behind the story of SinterKlaas or Santa Claus are of love, sharing, belief and giving. That is the special thread that ties our countries together. So whether you celebrate one or the other or both.....have a wonderful December 5th wherever you are today!

My kingdom of nutcrackers.....

As you enter my home, you will enter a nutcracker kingdom. Our laundry room is also our cloakroom so all our guests go there to hang their coats. I have my washer, dryer and freezer here with a counter top over them so during the holiday season, I transform this space to a place for my nutcracker collection.


Just about all of them come from Seiffen which is a small mountain village in the Erzgebirge of former East Germany. This is a magical village where Christmas is a year round celebration. Even the street lamps are Christmas lanterns. It is here that these little wooden soldiers are created. We used to go here regularly.

Click the photos to enlarge and see the various nutcrackers.


As a young girl, I watched the Nutcracker ballet and fell in love with the story. I had always thought I would never be able to purchase a real nutcracker but living close to this village made it possible. We could buy them directly from the nutcracker factory and various workshops.



It all started from a book by E.T.A. Hoffman in 1816. It was not a book intended for children and seeded with deep meanings behind the characters. It has now become a beloved family event to attend this ballet. I have various versions on video that I enjoy watching during the holiday season.


I also hang a quilt in my laundry room which I change with each season or holiday. This Christmas quilt used to be an online free pattern from a wonderful Norwegian designer. Our quilt group made it one year doing a section of the quilt each month throughout the autumn. I changed a bit of the design as I wanted to include an old world Santa on mine.


Detail of the quilt...


And then what could say Christmas more in Holland than some red tulips combined with berries?

A few responses:
Thanks to everyone for the comments about my Three Wise Men. I feel more confident to use them with the crown and candle as everyone seemed to like that idea.

Nan ~ My mother is referring to the bad traffic we have here in this country. It is normal for a trip to take twice the time or even more during extended hours of the day. Rush hour here is very long and very tiresome!