A Muddy (room) Christmas

Northern Minnesota Weather Report:

Cloudy with a slight chance of snow.

With only a couple of inches on the ground, the locals are disappointed and starting to grumble.

There’s open water on some of the lakes, Ice Fishermen can’t fish, Skiers can’t ski, Sled Dogs can’t pull their sleds.  Even some of us that aren’t outdoor sports people are missing the snow!  It’s hard to believe it’s mid-December and we don’t have at least 2 feet of snow!

However, it hasn’t stopped me from indoor activities…on to the Mudroom Decorations!

I LOVE our mudroom!  This is what you see when you walk in from outside.

This year I decided to put our wedding photo in here (picture on the right).

Can you see the little puppy tail hanger under the tree?  Phin’s jacket is hanging on the other one.  That’s where my daycare babies hang their jackets when they come.  (ps…the hangers are from IKEA and are perfect for them as their Mom and Dad are famous Dog Sled(ders?).  They own about 80 dogs and have run and won the Iditarod!)

The snowman on the piano is the first thing they turn on when they walk in the door!

I love this little corner of the counter.  The string tree on the right includes the handmade holders/strings that were once Tim’s grandpa’s.  I fished them out of Tim’s workshop drawer and painted a little piece of wood, nailed in some nails and walaa!

One of my most prized possessions is in this picture.  See the little Christmas card?  That’s the last Christmas card that I got from my Dad.  It was my sister’s doing as he had Alzheimer’s, but he signed it and I know the intent was for me.  He signed his usual ‘Love ya, Dad’.  This time of year is when I miss Mom and Dad the most.  They used to decorate the outside of their house with lights and people would stop on the highway to take pictures.  I’ve done a bit of an ‘ode to Mom and Dad’ outside our house this year – watch for that post!

Back to the decorations:

These pictures are from our wedding too.  Alex is on the top and Samantha on the bottom.  For those of you that don’t know us, we got married on Christmas Day in 1999.  Our love of Christmas music is the reason Tim’s Aunt set us up on a blind date.  Two and a half weeks later Tim proposed and I said yes – we just knew we were meant to be together.  Three months later we got married!  16 wonderful years later and I love him more today than yesterday.

The decorations above the bench actually brought a tear to my eye as I hung them.  The picture of the house was painted by my Grandpa.  It’s my Mom and Dad’s house.  Then I hung the Santa picture and the Candy Canes.  Last I hung the sign that says “All Fat Jolly Men Welcome Here”.  The tears flowed when all of a sudden I was hit with the memory of Dad.  It was tears of laughter and sadness. Tears of laughter as the ‘fat men’ sign made me think of him.  Dad had this big belly that was like he’d swallowed a basketball!  We used to take pictures belly to belly when any of us girls were pregnant…joking about our ‘shorter’ gestation periods.  🙂

These are the highlights of my mudroom.  Here are full view pictures of the room…

How do you like the lived in look in this photo?  Clothes on the bench…scarf hanging off the locker…shoes everywhere!  I made a conscious decision to just let it be and take the picture anyway.  Such is the life of all of us ‘imperfect’ women!

Now, when you turn around, this is what you see.  Here’s a fun little note about the faux garland around the door.  My friend Stacy had a whole bin of it and gave it to me.  She also found more this year and asked if I wanted that too.  Of course I said ‘Sure!’  The fun note about the garland:  it’s all from our local Hardee’s that closed down many years ago!  You may not find that fun, but I’m all about recycling/reusing, and remembering our little Hardee’s with its ball pit and carousel for the kids brings a smile to my face.

The little door to the left is an old door I found!  I strung some twine back and forth (I literally used thumb tacks in the sides).  Then added clothespins and this is where we put the Christmas cards we receive.  More fun!

Well…in the next post we’re heading outside!

I hope your holiday preparations are going well!

Patty O