Disney Gingerbread House

Before Christmas, we went over to Disney World to spend the day with our granddaughter and her parents. We didn't go to the parks, but did go to the Grand Floridian Hotel to see the real gingerbread house!

This is the 13th year Disney has featured the gingerbread house, the first one was in 1999.
You could smell it as soon as you entered the large hotel!

Here we are with Elisabeth:

Employees are inside the gingerbread house and they sell gingerbread people, gingerbread "shingles," and a lot of other very expensive goodies. The gingerbread cookie was $4.25, about the cheapest item, except for a chocolate chip cookie for $3.00.
I must say, the gingerbread cookie was delicious, just a hint of ginger!
It takes the Grand Floridian cast more than two months and 840 hours of labor to produce, cut and bake the 5,089 "shingles" used to decorate the Gingerbread House.

You are never too old to enjoy seeing a real gingerbread house! Joe and I enjoyed the cookies too!


The beautiful Christmas tree at Grand Floridian Hotel!

You can't tell how huge these ornaments are

The swans are at least two-feet in diameter!

The grand staircase:

Outside Grand Floridian:

Have you ever seen one of the gingerbread houses? I wonder if they change the style from year to year?

Do you like gingerbread? I made some a few weeks ago (with a Betty Crocker mix!) I used to make it when my children were small. I always serve it with warm lemon sauce! Too bad I forgot to take pictures when I made it!

I'm linking to The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sunday, click on her name for more!

Happy New Year!

Oh, Deer!

Thanks to Alison at The Polohouse for hosting Favorites on the First! Click on her name for lots more collections! I tend to collect a lot of things, not just Nativities. I didn't realize I collected deer until I did this post recently. I also collect yellow depression glass, yellow rose tea cups, tea pots, anything with yellow roses, angels, roosters, and clocks! I keep a lot of these things packed away and only display them on certain occasions. I'm posting two of these collections since they are handy!
Oh, deer, Santa's reindeer must be exhausted from their long flight! I just love the stately reindeer and have accumulated enough to qualify for a "collection!"

I think I bought the gold deer above at Steinmart.

The one above is made from metal. I bought it several years ago from Home Interiors. We were at Pier 1 today, and they had a metal one similar to this, but more expensive!

I think this pretty white beaded deer below came from TJ Maxx:

I've had this pretty stately looking gold deer below for many years:

This large metal deer is atop our china cabinet in the dining room:
I couldn't get a true color of the wine colored wall, this one above is too purple looking.

The one below is too red!

This deer is carved from wood:

Another metal deer:

Now to some fun whimsical deer!

I think these two below are handmade, may have bought them at a craft show.

Their bodies are bells!

How funny is this big soft, fat, deer!!

These little deer are small soft toys, the grands enjoyed playing with them!

Small plush deer on wheels, and bigger one on rockers!

Don't they just make you smile?

How cool is this reindeer with leg warmers!! LOL!

The tall deer below is made of a straw-like material:

Do you have a favorite of my collection of deer?

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and looking forward to a good New Year!

I'm linking to Marty's Table Top Tuesday, and Kim's Wow Us Wednesday and Alison's Favorites on the First. Click on their names for lots more fun!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Some folk art Nativites in my collection:

Handpainted Baby angel with Baby Jesus

Flower Pot nativity:

I framed a favorite Christmas card:

One of my favorite Nativities:

This says it all:

Thank you, Jesus, for coming!

Merry Christmas everyone!

New Christmas China

I have some new Christmas china! Last year my daughter gave me a few pieces of this pretty pale yellow Fiesta china, mainly because it matches the Fiesta china we use for our everyday china. I also have it on my wish list this year, so may receive more!
This is a real tablescape that real people will be eating at, not imaginary people! LOL! I quickly put this together today using what I had on hand. I chose to use this burgundy tablecloth instead of a green one, I like the contrast with the pale yellow.
I used tiny toys for the centerpiece, some things that may be under the tree, along with a mini tree and a Santa:

The yellow flatware also coordinated better than any other:

Close-up of the Christmas tree on the salad plate:

It doesn't have a name on the back, just the Fiesta logo, I think it is just called Christmas Fiesta.

After taking these pictures and posting them on my blog tonight I realized I had forgotten to use the Christmas mugs in the pictures! Tonight I tried to take more pictures, but the lighting is so bad, the colors are off, and the flash didn't work either. I'll show them anyway, sorry about the poor quality.

Christmas mug:

Okay, back to the daytime photos, the true colors:

I hope you like my plain and simple tablescape! Nothing fancy! I even chose not to use chargers.


This is where we'll have our Christmas dinner of eye round roast, potatoes, carrots, peas, etc!

Won't you join us!

It will be a very small affair, my husband, his son, and me. You are welcome!

One more shot with the mug:

I hope you enjoyed seeing my new Christmas china!

I'm joining Susan's Tablescape Thursday, click on her name for lots more inspiration.

Merry Christmas!