Holiday Memories: My Holiday Party at the Farm, Part Two

December 27, 2024

Holiday Memories: My Holiday Party at the Farm, Part Two

This blog was originally posted on December 20, 2017. Enjoy!

I love how my home looks when it is filled with holiday decorations.

I opened three buildings for my recent holiday gathering here at my Bedford, New York farm. My Summer House, which I use as a library for my vast collection of books, was dedicated to "Caroling & Champagne". My longtime housekeeper, Laura, filled nearly every room with gold and silver - trees in every corner and on every table, with gleaming ornaments and garlands I've collected through the years. It looked simply magical.

Enjoy these photos.

: My Summer House was the original house on the property. It was first built in 1770. It has been rebuilt and restored, but it remains on its original footprint.

: Many of you have seen the back of the Summer House, where I created this tranquil sunken garden, now covered in burlap for the winter.

: For my party, the Summer House was dedicated to singing joyful Christmas carols and sipping delicious champagne. It was also where guests could enjoy my eggnog, plum pudding, and fruit cake, and sit and share holiday stories and plans.

: Guests entered the home to see the grand center stairway and handrail bedecked with a long garland of silver balls.

: I love how it wraps around the dark wood railing.

: Behind the front door is a wreath. I also have a wreath on the front of this door.

: This room is filled with gold and silver trees and ornaments – I love how everything glistens.

: We also used white and cream-colored ornaments, and ornaments in shades of copper and brass – all these metallic colors blend together beautifully.

: I love this tabletop tree, flanked by candles in front of this bookcase. It’s decorated with gold balls and ornaments shaped like pinecones.

: Atop the mantel, cardboard trees lined up in a row.

: The room looks elegant yet festive, with lots of seating for my guests.

: In the center, another tabletop tree with more shining gold ornaments. This one is set inside an urn, painted in gold. Trees don’t always have to be propped up in traditional stands – look for interesting vessels that can be used instead.

: Laura hung these pinecone ornaments on the fireplace screen – such a pretty touch.

: In another corner is this tall sterling tinsel silver champagne artificial tree – it’s from my Christmas collection at The Home Depot. goo.gl/judpnB

: More pinecone ornaments and traditional balls cover the branches. When hanging ornaments, I like to use wire that is close in color to the tree.

: Metallic wreaths are hung in every window.

: This tree sits on one end of the center hallway. It is a skinnier tree, but I love how it is dressed – overflowing with ornaments. If you look closely, we used tinsel at the bottom of the tree to surround the wicker tree skirt.

: This mantel is decorated with silver balls in a variety of sizes – so simple, yet so elegant.

: Here is another silver tinsel tree with silver pinecones and a silver tinsel garland draped on its branches.

: For the stand, we spray painted a section of a log in silver. These tree stands were made from felled trees and cut right here at the farm. I always try to repurpose whenever I can.

: And in this room, we decorated the long counters with pink and green trees.

: Glass globes sit in simple Jadeite bowls. These trees are in natural wood tree stands, also cut right here at the farm.

: And each tree is decorated with only a single ornament at the bottom – this one is a green pinecone.

: And this one is a natural colored pinecone with a pink ribbon to match the tree.

: Here is a view from one end of the room – it is simply gorgeous.

: Champagne glasses sat in a silver tray nearby.

: I love this view of the napkins folded and positioned in a circular pattern on top of a Jadeite cake stand.

: Window seats are decorated with little houses and more trees.

: Here are a snow-covered house and church sitting on another table.

: I love this photo of the wreath, chair and the beautiful tree outside – everything is so pretty. Tomorrow, I will share photos from my Winter House, where Chef Pierre Schaedelin prepared and served all our glorious savory foods. What do you think about the decorations in my Summer House? I am interested and eager to read your comments.