Finally...Christmas Decor at the Cabin

Finally made it to the cabin this past Saturday to put up a little holiday decor just for fun...actually because I was really missing the cabin and didn't want it to be lonely during the holidays!  No matter that it has been without holiday decor for most of its 73 years...I bonded with the place during the two years I lived there...so it was up the canyon on a whirlwind, single-handed rustic holiday staging event.  I had dog walking duty at 9 a.m. and again at 6:30 p.m. and it takes about 40 minutes to drive each way.  I would have enjoyed a more leisurely approach...I felt as if I were going down a checklist and marking things off...

Thing One...Load the car, including my boon companions, P.E. and P.E...Polar Express and Panda Express...

I found them the first time I went to the Golden Community Garage Sale in Golden, Colorado, in the fall of 2010, if I recall correctly, so the cabin was their first home after they were donated and turned up at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.  They wouldn't miss a trip to the cabin!

Thing Two...After unlocking the cabin and unloading the car, check the temperature...

Thing Three...Start a fire...

...where there's smoke...took awhile to get this hunk of cast iron warmed up so it would draw...

Thing Four...Check to see how things had fared in my absence...Obviously some high winds...this picnic table bench ended up in the neighboring meadow...

...I thought if water could expand up when it froze, it wouldn't break the container...Wrong!  Riven.

Thing Five...Check for signs of wildlife...No signs of mice inside...outside the neighbors had turned over the fox dish and put it back under this bench...the foxes had left their standard "thank you" even though there was no food...

...I don't know if they do this to mark their food or really do acknowledge the hand-out, but I righted the bowl and filled it with kibble before I left...

Thing Six...Go for a walk, visit the creek and cut greens...OK.  More than one thing...I'm multi-tasking at this point...Love this footbridge and bench in the background...

 ...and these patterns that freeze in the ice...

 ...Just a bit of open water...

I went off trail, cut from the bottom and made sure there wasn't a cabin in the immediate vicinity...

...On the way back to the cabin, the wind came up and it started snowing lightly...

By the time I got back, the ice in the water in our makeshift reservoir was melting.  Most wood stoves used to have a water reservoir attached to the side away from the firebox as a ready source of hot water, but they always collected mineral deposits and eventually rusted out, so it's hard to find an antique wood stove today that has a reservoir and this pan serves the purpose...

The two bears were enjoying the view...

Thing Seven...Put on some Christmas music...

Thing Eight...Eat lunch...

I brought chicken soup, oyster crackers, some cheese and an apple.  This Nissan brand thermos I bought at Goodwill for $2.99 really kept the soup hot.  The remaining soup was still steaming when I got back to the apartment...

Thing Nine...Start decorating!  I had seen this clever Christmas tree made out of galvanized containers on Laura's blog, Finding Home lauraputnam@citlink.net via google.com...



...This woman is so clever.  You really need to visit her blog if you've never enjoyed it.  When I saw this photo I realized I had everything I needed at the cabin to make my own little "knock-off"...

...I interspersed my galvanized containers with some of the greenery boughs I had just cut, hung my upholstery webbing vertically and tucked in some Christmas ornaments.  This is in the middle of the kitchen table...It doesn't meet the criteria for a well-designed centerpiece...one low enough you can see over it or high enough you can see under it, but it sure looks cute...

Here are some of the other little holiday touches I quickly tucked here and there...Two canvas cats in a birch bark sleigh...

...the cabin gnome about which I blogged last post.  Very out of focus.  Sometimes I wonder about myself.  I had about ten shots of the cats and took only one of this guy...He is without stache.  If anyone thinks he looked better with it, I'll have to take it and the glue gun with me next time I go to the cabin.  It's currently lying on my kitchen counter here at the apartment!  I love the fact that his boots are super heavy so he sits very well balanced wherever you want to position him.

 A metal "Welcome" bear sign...

An outsized moose ornament hanging from the old canary cage hanger...

  

A throw I bought two years ago in Mount Ayr, Iowa... Looks holiday cute on the rocker...and doesn't go too badly with the colors in the pillow...Got the little stockings in Golden...

A little cardinal in a ski hat tucked among greenery in a Scotch plaid bottle carrier...A bit of North American wildlife!...

Some tea cup ornaments and an Eiffel Tower tag hung from the twiggy branches of a lamp base...

...A quick greenery and pine cone arrangement in a little sleigh that has a Scandinavian look...

Another greenery and pine cone arrangement with some faux berries in a small copper pot...

...This was supposed to be one of the surprises, the galvanized Christmas "tree" being the first, but I chickened out....

I had thought it would be really fun to put these lights on a timer and have them come on for a few hours in the evening as if someone were still living in the cabin.  I had budgeted for a single string of brand new cool LED lights and after pricing a timer at Michael's at around $9, stumbled across an identical timer at Savers and bought it, I think, for  $1.99.  I had an industrial strength extension cord at the cabin for my power tools, so thought I'd feel comfortable having these lights plugged in.  Then I found there were no instructions with the timer and I couldn't figure out how it worked.  Then I read the instructions for the lights which, of course, advised not to leave them unattended and stressed that nothing, including fabric, should be put over them.  To be safe, I thought I'd have to take the curtains down and my family has always kept the windows covered for security purposes when we're not there.  I finally decided I was literally playing with fire and unplugged the lights before I left....still a fun thought.

Whew!  Done!  It seemed as if the hours had really passed quickly...I decided I should start back about 5:30 p.m.  By the time I got everything cleaned up and the car loaded, the clocks in the cabin read 5:45 p.m.  Then I got in the car, looked at the car clock and realized I'd been operating on  "Cabin Time"!  I hadn't been back to the cabin since the autumn time change and had lost an hour the minute I stepped inside.  It was only 4:45 p.m.  

I got caught up in the traffic leaving the ski area, then we all got caught up in a stately procession led by an RTD bus, which apparently had become disabled halfway down the canyon then had been set right by a tiny tow truck.  There was the bus, followed by the tow truck, followed by two cars, then me, then everyone who had been skiing.  We snaked our way down the mountain at a steady 40 mph, but I got back in good time to get the car unloaded and take Kooky for his walk at 6:30 p.m.

What a day!  But I'm glad I did it.  I think the cabin is happy and I know I'm happy thinking about it adorned for Christmas...and if the angels from Connecticut are seeking a staging area before going on, I can vouch for this place as a safe haven....a little heaven on earth...and they're welcome.  Teddee