It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! A post on adding a seasonal touch to your home.

Welcome to my (Deepa's) Holiday-ready home!

All images are from my home. Sign from here

Thank you all for joining me here as I take you on a tour of the little holiday touches I've added to the main living area of our house.What better way to usher in the magical spirit of the season than decorate for the Holidays? Have you started making your home festive for the season yet?

Our tree in all it's golden glory!

There is an abundance of pin-spiration and holiday eye candy on the Internet. So, all you have to do is yield to your inner creative restlessness and go for it! It is not too late!

I used a medley of bows, ribbons and ties in a complementary color palette for the gift wrap this year but the sign tag captures the spirit and steals the show!

I started way early this year. I had my family over for thanksgiving and I wanted holiday décor that would help create beautiful memories that we could cherish forever.

Twinkly lights and a warm fire  - bring it on, winter!

 So, I sort of fast tracked to Christmas.  With my entire family pitching in (love them for their enthusiasm!), outfitting our home for Christmas was in itself a very endearing homespun experience.  

The sign is a tribute to my brother who spoils my son rotten (he is fondly referred to as dhooji by his nephew)

Everybody had a say in the décor, the color scheme, the choice of ornaments and the overall look and feel and I must say I am glad I took them all into consideration despite my initial skepticism (All gold really?? - Was my immediate reaction when my husband suggested it but I am so glad I played along!)

I think this is my absolute favorite shot from this series. The ornaments this year righfully captures who we are and what we like and allows us to look back on the year that was!

 I think our décor this year has a classy elegance and the shimmery gold echoes the cheerful spirit of the season. It seemed like a difficult palette to work with given that I have a formidable blue on the walls but I think with our little personal touches it works and I am curious to know what you all think. I was gunning for magic and excitement – did I nail it or not?

Making sure our existing mantel decor could be tied into the holiday add-ons took some creativity!

What sophisticates the gold palette is the intentional splashes of cream in the accent pieces and the gift-wrap and the whole idea was to enhance the existing features of the family room – the hand-woven carpet, the beautiful wood trim on the fireplace and the windows and the color scheme. 

Aren't they dapper? The latest additions to my growing nutcracker collection!

This year, our mantel got a little holiday TLC as well. Perhaps, nothing resonates more with winter’s bewitchery than an intense fire.  We spend many cozy evenings by the fire sipping mulled wine, warm cider, ginger chai, hot cocoa and many more seasonal beverages and so I spruced the mantel to set the scene for some cozy winter nights!

Mixing in the new with the old and adding some DIY elements was all it took to jazz it up!

 I had so much fun educating myself on the stocking tradition and history. The monogram on the stocking was a DIY Christmas craft that my li’l elf and I worked on. A spray-painted wooden letter A adorned with some pearls was an easy way to personalize the stocking! 

A lick of spray paint and a few stick on pearls and voila! - we have a custom made monogram!

I have adopted and embraced the Christmas/holiday tradition and I am now making a sincere attempt at learning the essence so I can create a true and traditional experience for my child and that for me involves reading, learning and educating myself.

Add caption

 Over the years, we have picked up a few other holiday traditions that are now ours to keep and I talked about them in my holiday post last year. The season is just beginning and I hope to indulge in our favorite seasonal traditions again this year. How about you?

Group similar objects (metallic in this case) for a quick vignette. A few spray painted pine cones and twigs from the backyard adds texture and interest.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at the festive images from our home and I wish you all a very chic and cheerful Christmas! Hope you get and give all you aspire for this Christmas!

And this is how it looks a night!

Well, that’s it folks! I am signing off the year. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for another incredible Aalayam year. I had so much fun putting together the posts this past year! A special shout out to my dear hubby who seems to have mastered stringing the lights (no really, isn't our tree below gorgeous?!) And of course for these beautiful photographs! But wait, we are not done yet! We have one more true blue Aalayam post for 2014. Supriya via her powerhouse writing will bring you some year end thoughts to ponder. Stay tuned!

Also, make sure to read our Holiday posts from the past here, here and here. 

Cheers!

~Deepa

P.S: All images are from my home. Please do not use without permission.

'TIS the season - host a holiday hot chocolate party!

And tonight we bring you the first of our holiday season posts. We are getting a head start so we can share our holiday inspirations early and in time for you dear readers!  In fact, we will toggle between our holiday season and regular programming since we have so much to share!

Have temperatures dropped in your neck of the woods yet? We had our first real snowfall last night and this morning it was beautiful outside! Nature had painted an idyllic canvas in winter white! No, I don’t have a soft spot for winter. Not after last winter! And yet, there is so much to look forward to this time of the year – twinkly lights, sleigh bells, snowflakes and hot chocolate, it is hard not to get excited!

For those of you planning to host a holiday party – this post is essentially a Holiday how–to!  Here’s a fun idea for a winter party – a hot chocolate bar! Whether you want to include one in your holiday party this year or just set one up for a few friends on a cold wintry night – it is super fun and easy and as the host you can set it up without breaking a sweat. Of course, you can make it as elegant or as elaborate as you want or keep it low key, like I did.  With temperatures dropping, your guests will love a crackling fire and a mug of warmth and this is a great way to indulge in the spirit of the season!

Here’s what you need for your cocoa station!

1)    I wanted to use what I had and so I used my regular coffee cups (I know!) but I gave mine a holiday twist by embellishing it with holiday themed stickers (from the local craft store) and they worked perfectly. Alternately, you could just buy holiday themed mugs.

2)    Hot chocolate+ toppings + stirrers. Again, I kept it simple and stuck to the basics – milk chocolate, marshmallows, whipped cream, peppermint candy cane and dark chocolate pirouline. If you are setting up a fancier bar, you could offer your guests more choices with the mix–ins and the add –ons (sprinkles, coconut flakes, dried berries, flavored marshmallow, chocolate chips are all game!)

3)    You could even spice things up a little – no really! How about some cinnamon?

4)    Add a twist for some extra fun! A friend of mine baked some cookies and together we decided we would let all our guests wear their creative hats and decorate the cookies in holiday colors and what fun it was too!

5)   Get in to the holiday spirit– Write something fun on a chalkboard! I love festive signboards! I also used  red gingham ribbon on my mason jars and a matching runner to anchor the decorations. I also used a floral arrangement that included some red berries and pinecones for a seasonal feel. A shiny bauble in a gorgeous red and sparkly gold completed my décor!

6)   End on a sweet note! I included a heavenly chocolate butter cream marshmallow cake, which was a nice compliment to the hot cocoa.

And there you have it - a simple and easy holiday party idea! Well I hope this post makes transitioning into the colder months a little easy and inspires you to start planning your own fun holiday activities. As always, we love to hear from you and in fact if you know of any fun holiday party themes do let us know and we can share it with the Aalayam community.

And now, an announcement-We picked a winner for our TJ MAXX home goods gift card giveaway (which we had announced in our Diwali post). Initially, we were going to limit it to new members or existing members who introduced new members to the Aalayam community but since the response was limited, Supriya and I decided to include readers who commented in the last 4 posts as eligible entrants.

Congratulations, Radhika Thampuran!! You are the winner of our giveaway. Please email your contact details to aalayaminspiration@gmail.com so we can mail you the gift card.

  Cheers!

~Deepa

P.S: All images in this post are from my home and taken by my husband. Please do not use without permission.

Home for the Holidays!

It is December! My favorite month of the year. Lots of snow, twinkly lights, Holiday Jingle, baked goodies - the world feels like a magical place! So, who cares if the sun sets at 4 pm right ? How can you not love the Christmas season?

And like always, I have tried to bring the spirit of the season into our home with a little seasonal styling.

Over the years, we have picked up a few traditions too and they are now ours to keep and cherish. I am going to share some of our family Holiday traditions with all of you and would love to hear about yours.

Hosting a holiday get together is our favorite Holiday tradition.  A Christmas party with savory holiday cookies and customary gift exchanges is a great way to experience the yuletide spirit. This year we will dearly miss our Dallas friends  with whom we have celebrated many holiday soirees. We even flew back to spend last Christmas with them. So, really this is our first year celebrating the season with new friends and we are absolutely grateful for their company.  

Trimming the tree is another Christmas tradition that we all look forward to. It usually takes us  a few hours (well, this year it took us all day and you'll see why) but we love this annual ritual that our family bonds over. Tree trimming is a strictly family event that no one else is invited to. Between my husband getting upset over a  string of tangled lights and me getting impatient over mounting the baubles - it's a party alright!  We try to make this party memorable with some Christmas music and lots of laughter! And till I get a real tree one day, I will make do with my faux tree. I don't mind it at all. I think it's eco-chic and eco friendly! Every year, I buy a few new ornaments that serve as tender reminders of a chapter of our life.

Another favorite Holiday tradition of ours is to bundle up and drive around neighborhoods that have spectacular Holiday decor and lights. We love these drive-by nightly (yes, nightly!) excursions!  

Our home on a cold wintry holiday night!

Holiday movie-nights is yet another cherished tradition!   Holiday-centric movies are sure to keep the whole family entertained. We've already watched National Lampoon's Christmas vacation this year and the trials and tribulations of the Griswold family is a reaffirmation of the fact that 'tis the season of families! In fact we watched this movie over Thanksgiving break and that's what kicked our Christmas decorating into first gear!  

And then, I  love to display all our holiday cards. It is an absolutely wonderful feeling to receive hand written notes from many of our dear friends. It truly means the world to me that people would take the time out of their busy lives to spread some holiday cheer via a sincere handwritten note.
We listen to lots of holiday music  (we have our holiday playlist) and sing too! Yes, we get the lyrics all jumbled up and even make up our own lyrics and yet, we sing all our cares away with a Holiday Jingle! And oh, what fun it is too!

I buy a red outfit and put on some red lipstick! I didn't realize this had become a holiday tradition till I looked at some old pictures the other day. Red on red,  that's my holiday trend and I am sticking with it. Red is after all the color of the season and after a year's worth of hard work we all want to add some magic to the mundane and red lipstick is great way to do it - don't you agree?

Who knows, we might even add a new tradition this year  - build a snowman or - take some pics in the snow- simple traditions that can be a lot of fun. I am thinking snow, since we got a ton of it here in the Midwest this week!  So, really the Holidays are all about making some warm fuzzy memories with family and friends and that's what defines the season. So, make the most of it and remember to have a good time while you are at it. And if you don't want to put in any work, that's fine too! Just step into your favorite store to feel the energy in the air. 

'TIS THE SEASON to give back and do some good. We have talked about this idea of service in the past as well and I am taking this opportunity one more time as a reminder for you all to chime in and take some action. There's many that need help and now is as good a time as any to give back and bring some holiday cheer to those who are less fortunate than ourselves. Here is a link to nat geo on some Holiday volunteering ideas for kids - check it out.

Dear readers,  this is my last post for the year. Supriya is up next and will help ring the new year in. So, thank you all for your unwavering encouragement, support and appreciation.  I will leave you with pictures of our beautiful trees. We have two this year actually. Welcome to our home!

My boy wanted his own and we didn't have to heart to say no. He is 10 and lives and breathes sports. Rightfully, we have a miniature tree with many sports themed baubles and this one is in his room. It was a great way to add a playful spin to out holiday decor this year.

For the family tree, we settled on a red and white and "lots of fun" theme. And it is exactly that  with lots of snowmen and plenty of Christmas candy hanging on the boughs.

 It is whimsical and magical and reminds us to appreciate the beauty of life despite the myriad complexities that it sometimes throws our way. And because my kind men (husband and son) allow me to get the last word in - I decided to wrap our gifts in polka dots! 

With a rather hectic work schedule, I have been unable to add festive touches to the rest of the home this year. So, really my breakfast nook with the tree and the gift table is our Holiday central station.
Once again,  welcome to our home and take a look at how our tree came to life this year. Stay as long as you like and if you have  any questions about tree trimming, shoot me an email or leave me a comment.

My husband works on setting up the tree and stringing the lights - 3000 of them!

Snowmen, red and white and polka dots - I could be in heaven!

We stop along the way for a picture of course!

 OUR GORGEOUS TREE BY DAY! 

AND BY NIGHT

Red and white christmas tree

Merry Christmas y'all! For more ideas on Christmas decorating check out my posts from last year - tablescape, dessert table and yet another beautiful tree. 

Cheers!
~Deepa

p.s: All pictures in this post are from my home and taken by my husband. Please ask before using.

Decorating for Christmas

Red, white and silver!

Welcome.

Tis the season! And I am loving it !!

Have you been busy with Christmas shopping and decorating?  I know I have been plugging at it for a few days now! Well the holiday season has descended upon us with full force and the countdown to Christmas is truly on! Today, I will show you around my house and all the little touches I have added to make this a memorable holiday for my family. 

Since my very first Christmas in this country, 13 years ago(time sure flies!), I have always looked forward to the holidays with much enthusiasm. I embraced the infectious cheeriness of the North American holiday culture with open arms and brought it home and haven’t looked back since.  However, this year is special! We are in a new home in a new state.  After 12 years in Texas, we moved to Ohio at the end of last year. Much of 2012 found us navigating through the inconveniences of a big cross-country move and enduring the heartache of leaving beloved friends and our dear old home behind. Slowly but surely we made it through the year. New beginnings and new bonds kept us going and we moved to a home last month – yes, just in time for the holidays too! So, it’s our first Christmas in our new residence and we feel blessed. Memories of Christmas’ past, the laughter and the good times shared with old friends and the holiday nostalgia of our Texas years lingers. However, it is time to make new memories and so, I look forward to decking the halls again! 

It’s only been 3 weeks since the move. The décor and design is still largely a work in progress. However, I wouldn’t let that or anything else stop me from decorating for the holidays. Of course, I had to scale back and give up on a few ideas. I completely ignored the outside of the house this year. I know! A lot of our stuff is still in boxes and in the interest of time and effort I chose to decorate inside the house.

So dear readers, join me on a tour...

Let’s start with my holiday tablescape. 

Get creative- use materials that you already have!

For the centerpiece, I picked a few dry twigs and branches from my yard (inspired by Supriya’s ideaof bringing the outdoors in) and hung mini-red ornaments on it. I then placed them in my antique silver vase and paired it with a couple of snowflake tea light holders and a table-top mini tree. 

Notice how I added  drama and color with a red bead string at the base of the mini tree. I then layered the whole arrangement on a holiday platter to complete the look! I stuck to traditional red for my table linen but strayed away from regular holiday prints and instead added a twist with “desi” ikat pattern which is all the rage currently. The end result - a tablescape with a global appeal!

The holiday touch. Image credits :Uj

So, the table is set for two and I am looking forward to a quiet dinner at home. After all, it is the end of the year and a great time to unwind!

Next stop  - my kitchen!

Group 'em together!

 Burlap is IN and I knew I had to have it in my décor this year. I picked this mini tree with a burlap base and paired it with a miniature wreath, a bowl of red and green ornaments and voila! I have a pretty Christmas vignette that now sits merrily on my kitchen island. My green sleepy Santa is the perfect little addition to this vignette! The kitchen is truly the heart of our home and as we gather around the island, this vignette fills our heart with the holiday spirit.

When it comes to Holiday decor- More is less!

Ornaments!

Each year, I buy a few new ornaments to mark the year. As we look back, these ornaments serve as fond reminders of vacations, hobbies, places, people, cherished moments and more! This year, I found this adorable little village ornament shop a few blocks from home and sourced our annual ornaments from there. We look forward to this yearly ritual of picking our custom ornaments eagerly. Do you have a holiday ritual of your own?

My li'l one's craze for FCBarcelona captured in an ornament!

  Now for that extra dose of color and fun this holiday season – here’s a few options. 

A holly-jolly wreath hangs in our entryway!

Add a wreath! Nothing spells holiday quite like wreaths do. Mine is made out of jingle bells in brilliant hues and hangs over my foyer table. The wreath and a few other Christmas décor items in matching colors greet visitors at the entryway.

Santa enjoys a little break ahead of the busy holiday season!

Give your existing furniture a holiday makeover! A bright red wool Santa rests lazily on my teal chair and at the foot sits a lantern filled with sparkly silver ornaments. A warm fire and twinkly lights on the tree makes it picture perfect! An easy way to transform a quiet corner into a happening holiday zone!

Color is key!

 And lastly, my fabulous find for this season – this ornate chalkboard! You can imagine my sheer joy as I unearthed this beautiful chalkboard somewhere in the back aisles of World Market. I could've very well won the powerball :)  My little one and I have already been fighting over who gets to draw and leave signs on it. What fun! Add an element of fun and whimsy to your décor with a chalkboard. 

Have a little fun!

  A friend commented on this picture and here is what she said...

"That picture evokes a picture of a cozy winter evening by the fire, watching the snowflakes fall, excitement of presents to be opened, aroma of chocolate filling the room, the lingering warmth of the trickle down my throat, laughing at something silly...."

I love how well she articulated the Christmas spirit!
  
So there! Hope you had fun touring my holiday home? I sure had fun taking you around. How are you decorating this holiday season? Write to us. Supriya and I would love to hear from you.

And oh, be sure to join me again for yet another holiday post featuring my Christmas tree. Since the rest of my decor was so heavy on color I decided to balance it with white ornaments for the tree. You'll see - I am calling my tree - a wintry white dream! hint : Pottery barn meets West Elm!

Cheers!

Deepa

Image credits: My patient husband!