12 Days of Christmas tour

I'm so excited to be joining a wonderful group of bloggers for a 12 Days of Christmas tour!

My mother loved Christmastime, and "The Twelve of Days of Christmas" was one of her favorite Christmas songs. I have many wonderful Christmas memories of my mom. She died at Thanksgiving 15 years ago, so I was especially glad to get to participate in this tour celebrating something she loved.

I was thrilled to find a set of 12 Days of Christmas ornaments made by Kurt Adler. Aren't they fun?

I thought about hanging them on a special tabletop tree, but I changed my mind when I realized that there are 12 rows of window panes in my dining room windows. My dining room is full of things that belonged to my mom, so this seemed the perfect place to display the ornaments.

"11 pipers piping" was my assignment, so I loved listening to James Galway as I worked. Anyone else like his Christmas music? I simply tied wide gold ribbon to each ornament--

and hung them all in a row.

Man, it's hard to get a good photograph of windows!

This primitive sideboard in front of the windows belonged to my mom. It's one of my favorite pieces.

These blown glass ornaments were treasured by my mother. I love displaying them at Christmastime.

My dining table and buffet were my mom's, too.

The deacon's bench at the dining table is another of my favorite pieces. It's from my grandmother's church--the church in which my mom grew up. I have fond memories of visiting that church often during my childhood.

The buffet is actually the bottom of a china cabinet. I grew tired of having the huge cabinet in the room, so I removed the hutch and use the bottom as a buffet.