We have the entryway.

We are also now caught up since tomorrow is Epiphany and the twelfth day of Christmas!

The entry is large and impressive.  With the quarter-sawn tiger oak wainscoting, beams and pillars it feels almost church-like.  One story says the wood for the entry (and study) were brought here from England. That doesn’t seem likely to me.  I would think the huge oak trees required would have more likely been found in the United States.  The ceiling still has the original gold leaf mostly intact.  There are a few places where there was damage and the gold leaf was repaired.  One spot near the front door is actually spray painted to match the original.  I found that a little horrifying and hope to be able to replace the spray paint with gold leaf some day.

We did buy a new tree for the entryway as all of ours felt a little small.  Oldest daughter made the tulle tree skirt after seeing something similar on line.  She had a hard time leaving it on the tree at first and often picked it up and put it on.  We decided the mercury glass ornaments we have which are mostly red and silver would be great on this tree and compliment the colors in the garland on the stairs.  We started with light strings that are red and white.  Oldest son and oldest daughter did the decorating and it might be my favorite tree this year.

The piano belonged to Matt’s grandmother.  None of us play but we like having something from her in the house.  Apparently (unbeknown to us when we placed it here) both Mr. Bell and the Oblates had a piano located in this same spot.  We were told a story about the Oblates being woken up in the middle of the night once by a loud racket in the entry.  Apparently a very tipsy Mr. Bell used his key and came in to play the piano before he went to bed!  The lesson here-change the locks when moving to a new house.

The card tree now displays a collection of vintage Christmas cards that belonged to my grandmother.  I don’t know why she had kept these so long but I am glad to have them.

 Our grandmother clock has been moved a lot since we got here.  It was a wedding gift (25 years ago last week!) from my parents and my dad made it for us.  It feels a little small for the space in this house but I love it and finally think we found a spot where it looks nice.  We had trouble getting it to keep time since we moved and this space is the first place I put it that it has accurately kept time.  I guess the clock likes this spot too.