I have a good little, very short, Christmas Story for you! (In a minute!) But first, sweet old MUSICA! I’m looking around and it seems like these days, finding and living a fairy tale of your own making gets put on the back-burner way too much. It’s hard! We hurt for the discombooberation of the world. But it’s Christmas time. Magic time, when we remember ANYTHING is possible. The perfect time of year to renew our vows! 
💝 Giving ourselves and our beloveds that happiness at home, reminding ourselves of the faith and beauty that lives in us all, and doing all we can to lift the spirts of those around us. Reminding myself how that is done . . . all the little things, delicious food and kitchen smells from childhood, anything that sparkles, cozy blankies, socks, old movies, flannel jammies toasty-warm from the dryer, singing, extra hugs, walks in nature, quiet mornings and cups of tea. Long night’s rest . . . under the Long Night’s Moon . . .
But first, speaking of Long Night’s Moon, which we 
JUST had, and signifies, yes, the end of these short dark days!👏👏👏 On the Solstice, coming SOON, December 21st, we’re having a dinner party to celebrate the sun setting on the shortest day of the year! GOODBYE! Every day after that will get a little LONGER!! More light! What a wonderful Christmas gift!💝 And so, we segue to my traditional stocking-stuffer to help you remember to dance to the light of the moon in 2026!🎶🎵🎶
It’s 
my full-moon Bookmark, Bellisma Lunisima 💞 (“a hole in the sky, a supernatural nightlight” … 🎵 Jason Mraz), with the dates and the great Native American names for each of the full moons next year. Just click on the link, print it out, have it laminated at a UPS Store (or not), and voila!
I also have a special personal gift for one lucky person🎁 . . . we’re having a drawing! Just leave a comment at the bottom and you’ll automatically be entered into a giveaway that includes all the goodies you see below: There’s a set of two holiday notepads, a box of brass-plated Angel Chimes with candles, a signed copy of my little Home For Christmas book, two designs of my Christmas Cards, and two sets of the cards I love to use for thank you cards… because they have recipes on them!♥️ There’s a Santa dishtowel, a “Home Cooking” tea-pot plate for cookies (or to hang on your wall), and some darling Santa stickers for your cards and gifts! From me to you with LOVE!💝
I’m going to announce the winning name next week! So you get this before Christmas! It’s a lot, but we have so many good things in stock right now, I couldn’t just choose one!! In ADDITION, four more of you, my girlfriends, will receive a copy of my Home For Christmas read-aloud book, and of course, I will sign it however you like! So you can keep it, OR you can give it to a friend! 💝
And one more surprise, just ONE lucky person . . .
will receive one of the very last of our wonderful SANTA CUPS!!! For a merry merry Christmas with love from me to you!♥️
Don’t forget to leave a comment! (At the bottom of this post, you’ll see a line of tiny words and right toward the end you’ll see “Comments” … they hide it for some reason!❌⭕️)
Also, another wonderful thing . . . I am SO honored to have been recently interviewed for the new Beatrix Potter Society Blog . . . where they ask artists how they 
were inspired by the art and life of Beatrix Potter … such a good question for me.💞 I loved answering it. Hope you enjoy it too, just click the link above . . . I’m always especially happy bringing people together, to perhaps help new people to get to know Beatrix better! If you haven’t joined the Society yet, you would love it. I follow them on Instagram too. Good influences, people who have done wonderful things in their lifetimes, need to be kept alive ~ and there are a LOT of good people giving their time to keep that happening ~ the legacy of Beatrix Potter is one of them!!♥️ There is so much more to learn about Beatrix, and everything is so much more accessible these days!💝
As you know, I’ve collected lots of books about Beatrix, and read them all, and am always looking, when out and about, in used bookstores or flea markets to find my out-of-print or hard-to-find favorites to share with you in my web store!
This year’s crop includes the charming Peter Rabbit Natural Foods Cookbook Illustrated by Beatrix Potter!
I have to show you my copy, a gift, inscribed to me by a very young Girlfriend, Anna Baker.
Adorable, and a pure keeper! And the perfect example of young magic-making in a new generation ~ and I have to say, Good job MOM!💝 Beatrix AND cooking.💞 A win-win for a lifetime of giving, and receiving.
Here’s the cover . . . we have just a few of these in our web store, including the one that this one replaced! Another sweet Christmas gift.♥️
And this! Have you seen this?
It was a complete surprise when I found this large scrapbook filled with copies of Beatrix Potter’s original letters, photos, and journal entries;
showing her watercolors, her family, her books, her story, her paint box, written in her handwriting, if she had made a scrapbook, this is exactly what it would have, should have, looked like!💗 Someone did a WONDERFUL job with this.
I particularly loved how real it felt with all the three-dimensional items, her first Christmas card designs that open, a basket that you can lift the lid, an envelope containing that famous illustrated letter, for you to open, touch, unfold, and read, even a small photo book with pages to turn ~ all set in the English Countryside. It must have cost a fortune to publish this book. I would LOVE to know who DOES things like this these days!!! It’s really so beautiful.
And the secret part, the coup de grace . . . the most amazing thing, on the inside back of the cover is a hidden door that opens, easy to miss and a complete surprise. Waiting inside is a copy of her first book! So in case you find this book in a store, look closely, before you buy it, be sure to see if the little book is still there. (All my copies in our web store DO have the little books, just in cases!) It is HERE!
We also have a few copies of this totally charming old book . . .
. . . the first, most wonderful biography I read about Beatrix, that led me to so much more, when I discovered she was truly
I’ve shown you this book before ~ it has several of Beatrix’s line drawings in it, printed from the illustrated letter she wrote for the child of a friend . . .
I turned the page to this and I heard my book say, “It’s okay, you can paint in me” . . . which of course I did . . . Like a little coloring book! How fun to paint that little blue jacket!!!
All three of these books are in our web store!💝 If you love them, be your own Santa, and put one under the tree for YOU. We also have some of her wonderful figurines . . . AND our jigsaw puzzle! Back in stock just for this Christmas!
This is my stack of her little bunny books, waiting to be packed up to be brought to their new home in California, where they have been very happy on my “Heroes” shelf, where they sit imparting inspirational DNA while I do my 2027 calendars and update my Christmas Book with new art and recipes!♥️
So here is my little Christmas Fairy Tale . . .
As you know last year we moved across the country into a very old 1970s double-wide. It isn’t nearly as large as our old house, but we’d been wanting to downsize, and it was perfect for that! It had an open plan with lots of windows, and oddly, one entire WALL of mirrors, which 
normally I might not have liked, but it brought in a TON of light from the wall of windows on the other side of the room, which in turn brought in the garden, so it didn’t take long before I learned to love it a lot. Below, you can see the mirrored wall, it’s in the dining room part of the open room . . . you can see me there, reflected, and across the room behind me, you can see two lamps and tall windows in the living area, but it’s dark outside, so they are black. Sort of get it? Part of the kitchen is also reflected in the mirror. There’s a doorway to the hall on the right.↘️
I have to admit, making magic in a very old, untouched and un-updated double-wide is more of a challenge than making magic in a 150-year-old Captain’s House (on Martha’s Vineyard, which put us way ahead on the scale of magic from the get-go). Things like plaster walls, thick decorative trim around heavy wooden doors with antique brass knobs and fittings, with a shelf over the front door for pumpkins in the fall. . . these things do 
not exist in a double-wide. If you want them, you have to figure out how to get them! But if ever a challenge is worth it, this is the one. Being that this double-wide lives in the middle of an English garden that we accidentally planted here in 2004 with no expectation of ever living here ourselves! So it’s a double-wide in tree, hedge, bird-bath, hummingbird, and blue-sky heaven. So on we go, building our world, just like we did the first time. But isn’t making a home just the most wonderful thing? Most creative job in the world!👏👏💗 Never forget:
After a lifetime of dreaming, I know this to be true.♥️
So here is another shot of that mirrored wall … because really, if you don’t know it’s there, it can get a little invisible, and what I’m about to show you can be confusing! Call this the “Before” shot.
Of course we were spoiled, our old house came with an old fireplace, all full of ancient whispers, which we loved to decorate at Christmas . . .
. . . we NEEDED a fireplace back there, for our cold and snowy New England winters. But we realized, that due to the mild weather in California, 
we didn’t need or even want a fireplace ~ it would require space! What I actually REALLY wanted, was a mantle! This came to light last Christmas, when I looked around and said, “I have no mantle to decorate! What we need is a FAKE fireplace ~ and we could put it on that mirrored wall in our “dining room! It would reflect candlelight!🕯️ It would be so cozy!” And I gently mentioned it to my darling husband, saying simply, I need a fake fireplace on yonder mirrored wall kind sir, and him replying, something to the effect of, “your wish is my command.” Anyway that’s how I remember it.💞
And so it was. He found a mantle, he found some appropriate pieces to go with it, he made other appropriate pieces, we looked at pictures of other mantles and surrounds, we looked at our old one…
Joe began cutting, glueing, and drilling . . . I never knew his drill has a flashlight in it! How handy! And just like Michelangelo cutting his masterpieces from the marble, just like THAT, our mantle started taking shape.♥️
We just guessed what height to make it ~ the side boards for the surround, are leaning against the mirror to give us some idea of what it would be like… I really loved the fireplace I saw in one of the rooms of Jane Austen’s house in Chawton in the UK . . . narrow, tallish, simple, plain. All it needs is boughs of holly!
This is it, it’s in a tiny room.
But maybe ours would have more substantial mantle, with a sort of back splash like the one on the Vineyard. But tall and narrow… Joe put it on the floor so we could see what it looked like. I laid the sides a wee bit crooked, he straightened them and started putting it together. Pretty soon he leaned the sides against the mirror and balanced the mantle on top. I decorated it, lit the candles, went mad with delight, then undecorated it so he could he take it down. He added an apron, put it back up, balanced it again, I decorated it again, went mad, he took it down, added a tiny shelf at bottom of the apron … etc, three times . . . until we had it all! He glued and screwed it together, and stapled a piece of black velvet on the back. And once again, I decorated it!
And voila! here it is! It’s screwed to the wall ~ now permanent, staying forever ~ here Joe is doing the 
last bits, adding a hook for the other stocking, wearing appropriate head gear. “This is ridiculous,” I exclaimed, laughing out loud every time I looked at it.
I continued laughing while taking a thousand photos, so adorable. I could barely believe the transformation!
I had a mantle! I couldn’t wait to show it to you!!
It takes up no space, is 56″ tall to the top of the back splash; the mantle is 48″ wide and 9″ deep ~ and it changed everything. It even created a sort of natural space on the left where we could tuck in a tree. I’d already purchased a small one because I thought it might have to go on the table (it’s up on a plant stand now), but next year, it’s clear there’s space to have a full-height (but skinny) Christmas tree in the corner!! This fireplace is rocking my world! I love it so much.💫💫💫
Voila, the “after” picture! And now I have this little corner I can decorate for the seasons ~ there’s a place for pumpkins, candles, bunnies and chicks for Easter, for photos, flowers, books, banners, a lamp, or even a birthday cake! We get to have dinner parties in front of the fireplace!♥️ See that little card on the apron of the fireplace? Joe added a tiny narrow shelf (like we had on Martha’s Vineyard). I can PUT things there! And I now have a place where, if I want, I could have fireside chats on Instagram! Or read a story! That is why I would have to call this a Fairy Tale. Because like my mother told me, you can have anything you want, as long as you make it yourself can get your husband to make it for you! Proof positive:
PS, an addendum. After Joe finished his brilliant masterpiece, I went looking on line to see if perhaps others had had this same idea, a fireplace with no fire… a faux fireplace to add extra coziness and charm to a small room. In case my Girlfriends were thinking how fun this would be but have no Joe, I wondered if maybe it would be possible to BUY one that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. Because you know, if you dream it you can make it so! I was surprised, shocked maybe, there are so many choices! Little ones, big ones, simple and fancy, whatever your heart desires!♥️ Mas MUSICA? Oui!
Look at this one, clean, elegant, free-standing, and only $150, voila! If I only knew! Ha! well, there you go! I’m so used to asking Joe, I forget that there are other ways to go about this! I love his best of course!♥️ This mantle is even a half-inch deeper than mine… there are photos of it in a living room scene when you go to their site. . . but if this isn’t your cup of tea, there of tons of other ones to choose from ~ some of them are electric and even include the fire!🔥 This world!💝
Speaking of this enchanted world, this wonderful magical outrageously beautiful world that we, the human race, positively do not deserve but are unendingly grateful for, I thought you would like to see what a California Christmas looks like!
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Yup, no snow. And I do miss that thrilling first snow of the season! But the only white you see here are the drifts of sweet alyssum that springs up everywhere in the cool weather.
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The breeze you’re hearing comes down our valley from the Pacific ocean, alyssum fragrance floats in the air, the sun comes out almost every day, shining golden light and long shadows on my daily walk, and the silk trees flower in pink! A total blessing for light deprived person, I put my face up to drink in the sunshine.
But we absolutely DO have winter, it’s freezing at night (40s!!!), sweater weather, for sure ~ even fingerless gloves sometimes ~ and flannel jammies of course, it’s even cold enough for me to put my grandma’s nap blanket on the bed! Extremely cozy! It just probably won’t snow.🤭
Instead, check this out!
It’s a jasmine vine that found this chair on our front deck and is making a home there! I know I’m going to be sorry I let it go! It’ll probably take hours to get it all out! But it’s actually so pretty, and . . . think . . .
. . . what it’s going to feel like to sit in this chair loaded with light pink jasmine, and just rock and smell the flowers!🌸🌸🌸 So, for a possible future moment’s pure delight, here I am waiting for it to bloom, as each day the vine gets more deeply entrenched. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Jack is sending you all his kitty LOVE!😻 So, off we go, onward and upward.Company coming today! Going to Farmer’s Market tomorrow. Need some local honey🍯, and definitely want to see what the farmers are doing for Christmas!🪴 Merry, Merry darling people. Get out into nature if you can, take lots of deep breaths, and stay hydrated!♥️
Don’t forget to leave a comment for the drawing! You can sit in front of your fireplace and read everyone a story of Christmas long ago! “Home for Christmas!”
Dear Susan – You are such an inspiration! Thank you for the reminders of making our dreams come true and how we can make our lives lovely amidst all the chaos in the world. I live in PA outside of Philadelphia and we just had our first big snowfall of the season, It’s Sunday morning as I’m writing this, cozied up by the fireplace! Feeling like a Susan Branch moment. 🩷 I wish you and your family the merriest Christmas and much happiness in the New Year! 🎄🎊
Great mantle!! Happy new year!
We just moved to a new home 🏡 too, Susan!Letting go of Christmas treasures that no longer fit was a joy to do knowing someone else at Goodwill would be finding them to use! I had to chuckle at your fireplace mantle…I asked my husband to make me one too! He is super busy so maybe next year? Joes creation gave me hope! It’s beautiful, and with those mirrors it just sparkles! Thank you both for sharing that process. Gods richest blessings to you both this wonderful Christmas season! Big Hugs 🤗🎄❤️🧵❄️☃️~Suzanne
I always love reading the Willard that gives me a glimpse into your house & yard with all its coziness! Thanks so much for sharing your life with us~
What a lovely little Christmas gift to find your Willard in my inbox. At a time of year that seems to be spent making plans and thinking of others, it was a delight to make a cup of tea and grab a blanket for my shoulders (it’s -3F this morning!) and settle in to delight in your news and recall cherished memories (I almost went to grab my Lanz of Salzburg flannel jammies to put them in the dryer and put them on to get cozy…but realized as I was dressed for the day that might not be the most productive use of time!). Thank you, dear Susan, for a little glimmer of joy in my day! As well, thank you, as always, for the wonderful bookmark. Merry Christmas to you!
HA HA! Jammies! 👏👏👏😂
Three cheers for Joe creating your mantel! So lucky.
Trying again as yesterday it said my message was a duplicate! Your Willard is always like a special gift from you to me (to all of us!) in my inbox! I love your mantle (good job Joe!!) and all your decorations in your new California home. You bring joy and love and peace wherever you are. May you be blessed this Christmas!
Made it! Even if it is a duplicate, the number generator in this blog knows to skip over those and just choose one address… so don’t worry, and THANK YO!!
I Wish You …
M- Merry Every
A- Always
G- Goodness Abounds
I- In Everyone’s Heart
C- Come Together and Share Love
Blessings To All!
Thank you dear Ginny!!🥰
MERRY CHRISTMAS, DARLING,
Oh, I needed/wanted to hear from your cheerful heart today, and Voila! Here you are — and I feel so much better now x x x x O x x x x x
Funny, because I feel like we are related, but you don’t even know me! haha—shows how long you have been in my life. I’m 71, so that’s at least 32 years of loving your inspiration and support.
THANK YOU from my Heart to Yours!
MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING TERI!🤣 LOL, I loved that! I feel like I’m related to all of you. Even writing the first book I felt like I was writing my own sisters. The personal connection we’ve developed over the years makes each book-signing a joy and a revelation as I get to put names with faces!!! 🎶 71, a mere baby! Keep on keeping on! ❌⭕️❌⭕️
What a lovely post to read as we have our first snow here in Rhode Island! Thank you for sharing the magic! Merry Christmas to you and Joe!
Thank you Susan for inspiring us all year with your “Willard.” I so look forward to it arriving in my Inbox especially after being “snowed in” with Lake Effect snow in Cleveland over the week-end. The Holidays are a bit melancholy for me because I lost my Mom during the Holidays a few years ago. So, thank you for lifting all of our spirits with your Blog.
Your house is decorated exquisitely, and the outdoor landscaping and gardens are just fabulous. Joe did a FANTASTIC job on the mantel – it really brings the house together –especially for the Holidays.
Thanks also for always including Jack and keeping us up to date on his antics. Glad he is adjusting to life in sunny California.
Wishing you, Joe, Jack, and family the merriest Christmas ever!
Love to All,
Laura
Dear Susan,
I have owned a first addition copy of the Christmas book for decades. It has created so much Christmas magic for me and has inspired me to make Christmas magic for others. Thank you for the life that you live and your willingness to share with all of us! Wishing you peace, love, and joy for Christmas and many blessings in the new year!
BE ❤️
Thank you for the fun Willard this December. I have been following you since the 80’s when I found you “Heart of the Home”. I have all of your books and love your writing and style. Thank you for sharing the inside of your home and all the fun adventures you have!
Hi Susan,
Love your fireplace – perfect for California. It was just two years ago that I stumbled across your book Martha’s Vineyard – Isle of Dreams. It was such a cozy and inspiring read. I think it may be time to read it again! Merry Christmas to you and Joe!
Love the mantle, better than what you would buy as you had the fun that went with making it! Have a Merry Christmas! Thank you so much for your blog and all of your wonderful artwork and words, you are very inspiring…I am both a lover of Cape Cod and England and love visiting both. Beatrix Potter is a favorite!
Merry Christmas, Susan! The mantle is perfect!
Merry Christmas, Susan! The mantle is perfect! I hope you have a wonderful new year!
Love the fireplace, it is just perfect for the space.
Merry Christmas!
Is anyone else having problems with the Musica! link? The last few newsletters the link takes me to some strange post on YouTube. It looks like some sort of spam redirecting is happening. I’m not sure if it’s a problem on my end or within the newsletter link. I really used to enjoy the music Susan picked out for the newsletter and am sad I can’t listen anymore. Thanks in advance to those who can confirm whether the problem is happening to all others. … Now back to read in the post! 🙂
This probably sounds like you heard it before, but try refreshing the page. I’m not sure what’s happening, but that often helps! I think you can’t get it at all if you’re on an iPad … because, at least in the past, it couldn’t have two sites open at once! But try again and see what happens! And let me know! xoxoxo
I love how you’ve worked to make your house such a beautiful home! I really enjoyed the Beatrix Potter interview. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Susan, It is a very cold and snowy December here in Michigan but we are staying warm and cozy. It was so nice watching your videos of the mild weather there in California. Love the mantle Joe made-such a great idea.
Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year too!
LOVE what you’ve done with your California home! There’s no better place to live than the Central Coast (if you can’t be in Martha’s Vineyard). Wishing you the BEST Christmas with your loved ones.
This is TRUE Gail!💞
Susan you always go above and beyond…the Christmas spirit is alive and vibrant because of you! You tap into our souls and offer us so much inspiration. The Santa cup brings back many memories of the Santa of days gone by.
Thank you so much for sharing with us!
Lucy
My pleasure, than YOU for being here! ❌⭕️
I’m not crying, my eyes are leaking melted snowflakes!!
I had just finished your newsletter when my dearest Brad happened into our family room so I immediately launched into an excited retelling of your faux fireplace adventure. By the sound of glee in my voice he knew I had it found a kindred spirit story that boosted my dream of a “fireplace fix!” We’re celebrating our first Christmas in a our home we moved into last January. We love the house and property but it completely lacks a fireplace. 🫤 We came across the original blueprints from the previous owner and we discovered they had planned to have one but never put it in. The location is a perfect candidate for your faux fireplace/mantle project…and Brad was receptive to the idea once he saw Joe working his magic. ☺️ Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing the event and photos 🎄 Merry everything to you, Joe, Jack and all your other babies!
How fun!!! Where there’s a will there’s a way Girlfriend!! And Yay for Brad!!! ❌⭕️
Merry Christmas to you and Joe! Your new home is beautiful! I loved growing up in San Diego! Joe did a wonderful job on the mantel. Kudos to him. Lovely gifts. I actually have them so feel free to pass them onto another girlfriend. Love and hugs to you both!!
Sending Merry Christmas wishes…your blog always lifts me up. This year, my holiday spirit is waning to a dangerously low level. Glad to wrap yours around me.
Don’t let that happen. Be your own chaperone! Feed yourself from the well of sweetness. Go out, take your book to a restaurant, sit, eat, people watch, and read. Whatever makes you feel connected. Or take a bubble bath. Blessings on you Melissa, I totally understand. Sometimes it’s just plain hard. ❌⭕️
Dearest Susan,
I absolutely love the mantle idea! I’m so glad you mentioned that, I hope to have my man do a similar project, it is just what our little abode has been missing. Have a wonderful and healthy Christmas!!
We just got our thrilling first snow of the season! We haven’t had much good snow in New Jersey for the past few years so this really is thrilling. And to get 4″-6″ inches BEFORE Christmas is highly unusual on the Jersey Shore. We’re making pumpkin bread & chicken soup, curling up with our two kitties and staying cozy today.
Merry Christmas! I left a comment on Friday but it’s not shown up in the comment section yet. My internet went out just after I commented so I don’t know if that messed it up or not. Wanted to make sure I was enter for your giveaway. I always come away from your blog refreshed. After reading your blog it makes me want to do something. Make my home cozier. So inspirational! Thank you!
Here is this one! Sorry, I will get there, but so many came in at once I’m working toward getting them all up! You are entered!!❌⭕️
Good Morning from Sunny Southern California. I agree a fireplae and mantles are essentials for holiday decorating.
Merry Christmas to you and Joe.
Welcome Home.
Alison Hamel
My sister added a old used mantle to her little cottage home years ago so there would be a place for Christmas stockings and decorations. I thought it was genius. Please add my name to your drawing. Miss you on Instagram.
Don’t miss me, I’m there almost every day!❌⭕️
Geeze, my comment of Dec 11 is gone! Guess I didn’t pass the moderation. Oh well, Merry Christmas & I hope I have a more acceptable post next time!
It’s here, we just got a lot of comments at one time! I’m gettin g there! xoxo
I just love the fireplace. And the decorations.
How to say thank you for all the years of inspiration and joy you’ve shared of your life’s journey. Your intention of speaking to our hearts is exactly what happens. You truly are a special girlfriend I’ve never met. Someday!?
I pull out your books with each associated season and keep it handy for catching back up with you, revisiting ideas, stories, recipes and sweet memories.
Thank you is the best I can do! XO
Dearest Susan! Reading your newest Willard in bed on a frosty Oklahoma morning. Coffee, kitty, birds flitting in a bare but still beautiful garden. What more could I want? A fireplace to make snuggling in bed even more cozy! Thanks for such a wonderful idea! I don’t have a Joe but my husband can search the internet for a free-standing electric fireplace with a mantle. Merriest of Christmases!
They have them, and why NOT??👏👏👏❌⭕️
There are no words Susan Branch!! 🎁🎄🤶🏻
Except that you are always the inspiration that I need! Thank you!💙
With love , from a creative person who gets even more creative when I read your words.
❌⭕️❌. BE MERRY AND BRIGHT! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Debbie McPherson 💝
What a beautiful home and your decorations bring back so many memories for me. Happy Holidays to a special gal!
Love the mantle! My husband has built several wooden things I’ve requested: a bookcase, a small bench, a clock, and wooden game boards. I requested a mantle but have yet to talk him into it – what’s your secret?
Just mention it every so often. Like in March, June, August, whenever it pops into your mind… “Wouldn’t a Fake fireplace look WONDERFUL there, think how I could decorate it for the season. It would take no space, but how COZY it would be. Gee, I wish I had a fireplace.” By Christmas you should have it. xoxoxo