It’s Pink Saturday again at Cottage Dreamer! Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet The Sound for once more hosting this fun day of sharing all things Pink!

It was a very nice Christmas for my son and me. Bootsy was all excited with the wonderful scents drifting out of the kitchen. We had a Prime Rib and it was great.

For Christmas my son bought me something I’d told him I would like – an iPod Touch. It’s like his iPhone, but without the phone feature. I already have a cell phone – one without any features just for emergencies.

The photo below shows the wallpaper I selected for the iPod Touch – a pink lotus. Now I get to explore “apps” for the Touch.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.


Also, my son just sent me a huge file of images from last night. I’ll probably work on the later in the day and make another post with them. It really was a great night of Christmas magic.

Merry Christmas to all! I hope you’re having a wonderful Christmas. Last night my son and I took our traditional ride through Naperville looking at the decorations. This year we found two houses that had the lights coordinated with music where you tune into an FM station and can listen to the music in your car while watching the light show. I’ve seen this in videos on YouTube, but it’s so much better to see them in real life. I told Dave, next year we’re bringing his video camera.

For the first time that we can remember it rained for almost the entire four hours we were out. Course we were a bit slowed by the fact that Dave stopped at about every three houses to take pictures. lol

Last year Bootsy was good for almost the whole “tour” but this year he was fidgety from the start – so about an hour into the excursion we decided to take him back to Dave’s place. I guess he was a lot happier there since Dave was trying to handle the maps he’d printed out and his camera and couldn’t let Bootsy ride on his lap. Dave said when he got home Bootsy was snuggled into the big bed watching the Discovery channel. lol I keep the Cartoon Network on in the living room when he’s spending the day here. Yes, the dog is spoiled.

Below is a photo of my two “boys.” Dave sent this out as his Christmas greeting. Poor Bootsy, he just doesn’t look real happy. I think Dave took so many pictures of him when he was a puppy that he got sick of the camera. That’s why Dave is holding him while I took the picture.

Once again, Merry Christmas and I hope you have a Blessed New Year!

This is the third Saturday that we have a theme for our Pink Saturday thanks to Bev at How Sweet The Sound. This week we are recalling a Holiday or Christmas tradition.

Each year for about the last fifteen years my son and I have gone out on Christmas Eve to see the decorations around town. We used to go out and guess at where to go. Now our local paper provides a list of homes that have great decorations and breaks it up into north and south sides of town. This makes things a lot easier. Plus, my son is a techno-geek so likes programming all the addresses into his GPS. We tune the car radio to one of the Chicago FM stations that plays Christmas songs and take off on our adventure – with Bootsy (Dave’s Chihuahua) cuddled in a blanket on my lap.

Here’s some pictures that show off our town:

Naperville’s downtown lights create a beautiful canopy.







We haven’t found another house that is decorated as extravagantly as any other in town. There are always a dozen or so cars parked around this giant display. We always get a laugh at the house next door. Their one decoration is a large arrow made up of white lights pointing toward this festival of lights.







This is one of several Trolley’s that give tours of Naperville. At Christmas they take folks around at night for an hour tour of the best decorated homes in town. Several times we’ve run across the Trolley on Christmas Eve and have found a few houses to add to our own tour.










Another wonderful house with a fantastic light displays. It’s always one of our “must sees.”


Now, in keeping with the Pink Saturday idea, I thought I’d show off a new tradition for my home – 4 foot trees. Rather than one big tree that I never seem to get set up – mostly because I don’t like bugging my son to do it and he does work hard. So, now that I’ve got one tree set up in my bedroom, I realized how much I like these smaller trees – even got three more this year at JoAnn’s for fantastic savings. But they will have to wait for next year to be put up – but oh what fun I’ll have through the year search for “treasures” for next years theme trees.







A pretty pink tutu graces my Pink Themed Tree.







My pretty pink ballerina dancing on my White Christmas Tree







My ballerina and beautiful painted rose ornament.







I’ve had this ornament for a long time. She’s a Joan Walsh Anglund angel.





Handpainted rose ornament by Debi Coules.







The entire four foot white tree that sits in the corner of my bedroom. My bedroom has such a wonderful glow to it.







And lastly, there’s my ceramic nativity that I made about thirty years ago. Just one of my five nativity sets.


Thank you for sharing an old and a new tradition with me this year. Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to everyone!

I thought I’d come up with a great idea – only to discover that others were there before me. Taking online house tours and such I found that many people were doing the same thing. What is it? Giving up the big tree in exchange for the a bunch of smaller trees that had a specific theme.

It took me awhile to come to this realization. Last year I went out and purchased a great six foot tree – but didn’t get my son to put it up until the 30 return policy was over. Sure enough, the center part of the tree didn’t light up. We did put some other lights on that section, but it was such a hassle to put up the big tree and then take it down. The year before this I was living with my son while my condo was remodeled and he got a real tree. It was beautiful, but he didn’t get to enjoy it very much since he was in California on business most of the month. I was in bed most of the month recovering from a serious fall I’d taken just after moving in. The year before I was quite sick and didn’t get a tree up. I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever see a tree in my hom again.

This year I got a very nice 4′ white tree at JoAnn’s and it’s in my bedroom and is decorated with some pink ornaments that I will add to each year. I’ll be posting pictures of it this Saturday.

The other night we were sorting through decorations – going over the ones we wanted to keep, some we felt would be good to donate, some for Dave, and some for my special pink tree. We were discussing putting up the big tree and I just wasn’t up to it. It takes up so much room in my living room. I said I’d like to put up a small one, like my tree in the bedroom – which lead to the decision to donate the big tree and replace it with a smaller tree. To be honest, part of the reason for this is then I can do them by myself and don’t have to bug my son to put up the big tree. lol Plus, with the smaller trees I can take a day or two, get it set up and then move on to the next.

The tree in the living room will be the “traditions” tree – with the ornaments we’ve accumulated over the last 30 or so years. This will be a green tree. In front of the small entry way landing I’m going to put a white tree and just might make that a “tree of the year” with new ornaments – or preferably with ones I make myself. Then in the corner of the kitchen I’ll have one that will be decorated with tea chps and silverware (thanks to Debi at My Romantic Home for that idea.) In my studio I’m going to have a tree with ornaments that are based on the things I do in there – doll making, embroidery, and sewing. And I’m even thinking of putting a tree in the bathtub in the front bathroom. lol

All of these trees will be something I can do on my own and will give me something to work on throughout the year.

As I said, I thought I’d had an original idea – but even my Chiropractor who I saw yesterday said that they had given up their big tree and had small trees spread out through their home.

Oh, and now I’ll have a place to put each of my nativities – and an excuse to buy one or two more. lol

Hmm, do you think it would be going overboard to put a small tree in the laundry room?