Christmas came and went

A tiny snowman cottage in the woods

Now is the time for a post christmas mini Christmas celebration. 

Normal Christmas has too much pressure attached to it so now it's time for tiny Christmas! With all it's tiny, cute, cheerful glory.

Tiny, unexpected packages on each plate.

The tiny happinesses of a busy life

It seems as though the busier times in my life, such as this fall has been for me, require lots of fun and happiness to keep me going. Thankfully, the busy-ness of November has simply involved a whole series of fun and happy events doing the things I love to do, spent with the people that I know and love. To be completely honest, it has felt happy the way Christmas is supposed to feel(but never does) and for that I am grateful, since we are in fact, now going into the holiday season, which I so dread. I now feel much more fortified and able to deal with the stresses and mental tiredness that Christmas brings.

November started off with the happiest of things, a visit from Parents!



This visit included a lovely tea with friends and my dear, sweet mother. It couldn't have been more perfect.






We then had a series of crazy things happen in life which required cake as a solace, so I made a happy visit to Pangea bakery and cafe, which I adore!!

I enjoyed the green tea mousse with oolong tea - this was a real treat.

And I took a few little egg custards home to share with Matthew.

The end of the month has really been lovely with celebrating Thanksgiving and simply enjoying time with friends. I've also indulged in a few little purchases: tiny pans, persimmons, funny christmas cards, etc.

The persimmon is for reference so that viewers will understand just how tiny this pan is!!



I've also been thoroughly enjoying persimmons from the Japanese market



The pan is just adorable and fits perfectly under my broiler. I always have so much trouble fitting a full sized pan under the broiler that I bought these little ones for that purpose, but also to have on hand for baking tiny squashes and other small baking jobs. Maybe I should make some itty bitty cookies on them? that might just be too cute!! =)

Well, whether I'm ready or not, Christmas is on it's merry way and I've finally started to face this fact!!

Here are a few fun cards that I thought match so perfectly my Christmas sentiments

Might be the wrong gender to be me, but the sentiment is the same =)

Hey! that's the way to make punch!! Gin Punch, that is!!

Tis the season for Gin, Gin and more Gin! =)

The Holiday display at Hillcrest Hardware - one of my all time favorite places to do my Christmas shopping!!

fancy little fellow

I've always loved the idea of peek-a-boo mugs, those mugs with funny little creatures at the bottom who suddenly become apparent as you drink down the coffee/tea/cocoa/other hot beverage. They are so charming, yet, at the same time, a little bit startling(which can be thrilling to those of us who are rather faint of heart).

So, for Christmas, my sweet friend Christy read my little heart's dearest desire and gave me a beautiful white mug with a fancy little owl fellow who sits deep inside the basin and peeks up at me as I drink my tea. He is rather hard to photograph since he is the same white at the mug, but I have been enjoying his company at tea time so very much lately that I just had to post a few photos. I love him so!

Images of a happy Christmas

Below are a few Images from my cheerful Christmas. Yes, I actually did enjoy Christmas this year! So weird, I know!


Mistletoe reflecting in a silver dish. Sadly, this bunch of mistletoe wasn't hanging in a doorway, therefore, no cheerful Christmas kiss. Maybe next year!


A basket of Christmas crackers. So much fun from such a small and silly toy.


A delicious, juicy pear crostata - My Grandmother and I baked it together. It reminded me of all the amazing things she taught me when we would make cookies, pies and cakes together when I was a child.


The Little disapproving owl - I found him on the window sill and he made my entire day better. I couldn't find him anywhere a few days later; I guess he just came for a Christmas day visit. A much more preferable visitor than Santa (in my opinion).

A Tiny Christmas Girl

This tiny, Momiji Christmas girl was given to me by a very sweet and thoughtful friend who knows how absolutely much I adore teeny little cute things. Every year, Christy manages to find the most perfect and adorable gifts for both my birthday and Christmas. Someday I should post a round-up of all the amazing and sweet gifts she has given me! It would be a really long post! That's how sweet she is =)



So, this year, this tiny Christmas girl will be my reminder that not everything about Christmas is annoying and that, in fact, I have such wonderful and kind friends who love to give me cute things. What could possibly be better!

The cutest holiday season of all

Even during the worst Holiday of the year, cuteness rears it's tiny, sweet head. Despite the fact that I spend most of December stomping around scowling at every bit of cheer that comes my way, I did manage to find a bit of cuteness and fun during the holiday madness. As is fairly typical of me and my version of cuteness, all of these cute things happen to be deliciously edible.


My new silver serving spoon - serving up a sweet, juicy, little tangerine.


My extra easy, extra darling appetizers - wantons filled with nummy things. They look so petite and classy.


I bought the chocolate bar for the wrapper, thank goodness I know Theo Chocolate is a good company but honestly, I would have bought it even if it was from Hershey. I just can't resist a picture of a little blond German girl collecting cocoa nibs in Peru with llamas. So cute and fun!


Well, since I was getting one bar I had to get the other bar, besides it has kitties on it.


Well, Since I was getting two bars I had to get a third bar, despite the very strange picture on the third bar. Actually, I liked it once I realized that the picture was of personified Hazelnuts. Now every time I eat a Hazelnut, I'll think "oh no! the poor little things."


My favorite picture of the holiday season is this little Marzipan Snowman sitting atop a salted caramel tart, surrounded by hand-rolled peppermint truffles. I never ever eat Marzipan because it is disgusting but I adore all the cute little creatures that people make out of it. The tart and truffles are not particularly picturesque but they really were stunningly good, probably the best thing I ate the entire Christmas week.

My new little hoot

My very last Christmas present of the season finally arrived about a week ago. She was delayed several times on her bumpy journey from Fong's Studio in Malaysia but determinedly she flew on until she made her way to her new home, my home. This sweet and darling little Hoot pillow was a Christmas gift from good friends, Matt and Christy. I just can't squeeze the dear thing tight enough. I love it and think that it really brightens up my chair, adds a bit of color. I assure you, five pillow on my little chair just aren't enough. I won't be satisfied until I'm only able to sit on the very tippity edge of the chair because the rest of the seat is covered with adorable pillows.



I will admit, I'm rather tempted to purchase another one of these baby Hoot pillows so that my little hoot doesn't get lonely. Of course, she has so very many owls to keep her company that perhaps it would be a bit redundant to add another to the flock. I'll just be satisfied with my one little pink owl pillow.

A little fresh snow

As Matthew and I were preparing to drive to Sacramento, this is what we looked out of the window and saw, beautiful, new snow. I couldn't help but snap a few photos before we took off down the freeway in this lovely little blizzard.


Pretty little creatures

merryish christmas

Hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas.

Not a total grinch!

Despite Matthew's insistence, I'm not entirely a little green grinch. Admittedly, I spend most of November and December growling and harumphing as Christmas approaches, but that's just because it always feels terribly unsuccessful.

This year, I didn't leave my Halloween decorations up until Valentine's day. In fact I took them down before the end of November(unheard of in our household) and replaced them with Christmas decorations.



As proof of my ungrinchlyness, here's a couple photos of my wee pink tree. I never put the baby tree up last year and I've regretted it for the past 11 months. It certainly helped spur me to set up the tree when my dear friend May sent me some darling Hello Kitty Ornaments in the mail.



I even made tiny presents to go under the tree.

More Christmas pictures

So, this holiday trip home felt like one of the best holidays we've had in a long time. We just had more opportunities to hang out with our families and do the sorts of things we all did when we were younger and remember so fondly.


For some reason, this ornament made me laugh more this year than it usually does.


Our familes enjoyed these British Christmas Crackers after dinner. They made this Christmas dinner the most fun in my recent memory.


The first Christmas decorations I've put up in years. And actually, I bought them but made Matthew put them up. The point is, I actually wanted to decorate for Christmas, which is highly unlike me.


Toby: The cutest Christmas elf!


A wintery bench.

The snow was a real treat and made Christmas feel one hundred percent like Christmas, for the first time in years.



Pictured above and below is one of the contestants of the Snowman competition which spontaneously erupted at our Day after Christmas bonfire. Notice the orange glow of the bonfire on his face.





This lavender-in-snow pincushion really made me chuckle. It looks very silly.


And, apparently the Hawthorne tree fascinated me because I took far more photos of it than necessary. But the pictures came out so pretty. I couldn't resist.