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!”
Happy Christmas to you and Joe!! I just love following the journey you have made from Martha’s Vineyard to Central California. I appreciate your joy and contentment expressed. And as others have already said, we love your mantel. Quite ingenious to add it to your home. You’ve inspired me for amending my Christmas decor next year!!
FYI Susan~On Drew Barrymore’s Thursday show she had a fireplace like yours and on the mantle she had a styrofoam cone decorated with clove stuffed small oranges with cranberries and rosemary sprigs filling in blanket spaces. Thank you for all the inspiration you give me…Merry Christmas to you and yours🎄
Love your calendars and mugs. Love your appreciation for things old and
beautiful!!
Susan~
Thank you once again for another wonderful Willard! An oasis of warmth, cosy comfort, and magical musings in a world where these things are found less often than we wish. Always a joy to see your message in my email and to return to it often to rekindle the good feelings it brings. Have a joyful Christmas season!
Best wishes~
Linda N
Love the mantel idea and how you decorated it!
The star garland has always been a favorite.
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a homemade mantle for our fake fireplace /on the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me kitties and Cups of Tea /on the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me lots of readers of my Willard newsletter /on the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me an English Garden all around our double wide / on the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a trip to Trader Joe’s/on the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me musica!/ on the 7th of Christmas my true love to me bookmarkers for my girlfriends/ on the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me sooo many reasons to be happy/ on the 9th day of Christmas My true gave to me parties to plan/ on the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me everything my heart could desire/ on the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me memorize to last a lifetime/ on the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree🎄
🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🥰
What a lovely Willard! And chock full of happy things and…no, I cannot even think of trying to list them all because I would leave one out and feel badly for that one. It’s better to reflect on all the happiness in our lives and hold those precious thoughts and kind souls in our hearts. With Christmas rushing to cheer us, I would like to wish everyone their best Christmas ever and the happiest of all new years!
Your mantle is beautiful, just like you. A beautiful person with an amazing outlook on life. Thank you for sharing with all of us. We appreciate you.
Sitting in Frankfurt, Germany waiting for a flight back to the States via Dublin. Our Christmas Market cruise was cut short by the unexpected death of my BIL, a wonderful family man. Feeling very blue but your Willard came at the perfect time. Losing myself for a bit in your charm.
Your cosy emails help a lot in this dark world
Happy Christmas
Jacki
Dear Susan, wonderfull to have your Willard in my inbox this morning.
I have a selfmade mantle without a fireplace in our house, too and love to decorate it.
You are right, if you can dream it…
A merry Christmas to all
Thank you soooooo much Susan for your wonderful blog “Willard”!
We really enjoy it!
Sitting down with a cup of coffee/tea and your Willard always transports me to feeling like I’m in my grandparents home: the musica, the warm feelings, the love that surrounds you like a warm shawl. I treasure the wit and wisdom of your words, the beauty of your art and your love of improving your life and home. Thank you for sharing your talents, courage, determination and joy of living, with all of us. You are an inspiration, just like Beatrix Potter.
❌⭕️❌⭕️❌⭕️♥️
SO very fun creating and loviing the end result. Fantasy dreams buffer the nastiness and bring out the gleeful, grateful and magic we can make. LOVE to the visual architect and the tall, blue color worker who does your bidding. Wonder if I found an old Sears catalog and looked for the perfect man, he would be for sale. Of course, his name would be Joe and the fine print would tell me that he came with a lifetime guarantee! You two really are a perfect couple…fine-tuned like a philharmonic instrument. Bless your partnership for forever and ever and ever!! 💞💕💕
Thank you Susan for your generosity and all the beauty you have created for this world. I love the Christmas season! And of course must watch The Bishops Wife on Christmas Eve. Met you many years ago with a handful of Girlfriend books to be signed at Edna’s Vineyard. The fireplace mantle is perfect! Good work Joe! 💞💞💞
Oh, and Merry Christmas and a creative, loving and magical New Year! Thanks for your sprinkles of joy throughout the years
Your Christmas books have been part of our traditions for quite a while now! My 14yr old was making the butter cookies from your books only last week. Bless you & Joe and may you both have a very Merry Christmas!
Joe did an amazing job making you your mantle ! It looks amazing in the room and the way you decorated it was perfect ! The tree looks lovely beside it also. Winter has come to New England and it is cold and windy. The boats didn’t run to Nantucket last night and mostly likely not today. Cancellations also for the Vineyard …gusting 50 and deciding trip by trip at the discretion of the Captain. Don’t you miss this ? 🥴 Merry Christmas wishes from out house to yours 🎄
mmmmmmm, no. I don’t miss that part!😂 Stay warm Mona!💞
I love your California fireplace. What a great idea and so well done. What I was most excited about is the Moon Calendar Bookmark showing right front and center. I always love having it and some years it has been difficult to find. Wishing you and Joe and the Kitties sll of th joy and delight of the holidays.
Today, December 11, I am celebrating my arrival from Alexandria, VA driving to San Diego, in 1988. It was the best decision I ever made.
<3 Rachel
Dear Susan, I just received my 2027 Susan Branch Calendar that my sweet husband bought for me by surprise! Not that it is something new for me, I discovered you in a Shopping Mall in NC, back in 2000, on those big calendar displays inside Book-A-Million, and yours call my name, we just had moved from Argentina to the US. So in 2001 I got my first SB Calendar and from then on, every year I have one hanging from my wall wherever I lived, and I moved so many times! But this time is special, because we are now in Spain, and here I have my beautiful 2026 calendar and the sweet hanger that traveled across the ocean with us tucked in my carry on, to this new country we call home, and the 2027 one just arrived and is waiting patiently. I have been following you since I found you, have all your books and while we are steps away from the Mediterranean Sea I also told my husband, I need a fireplace! Thanks Joe for the inspiration, I need to make my new house a home and a fake fireplace is now on top of the list! xoxo Sandra from Miramar, Valencia, Spain.
So far away, how wonderful to hear from you Sandra…♥️
How is Jack? He was not mentioned.
Love the sweet mantle and all that it stands for!
Regards,
B
I enjoy your newsletter so much! I love the mantle! I also would love to be part of the drawing! Merry Christmas to you and your Joe!
Susan,
You always make my heart and soul so happy. I savor my Willard’s and wait until all is calm to read them. Merry Christmas!
Peace
Danielle
Thank you for once again sharing your wonderful creativity and inspiration. I appreciate the new bookmark, so happy for your being interviewed for the new Beatirx Potter Society Blog and love your new mantel and fireplace… awesome!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Thank you for continually radiating love and light and sharing your stories:) I love your connection with Beatrix Potter! I’m really looking forward to reading more about her. I was similarly inspired many years ago by a documentary about Tasha Tudor (Take Joy) and have since collected her children’s books from used book stores💗 I wish you and Joe a very Merry Christmas and joy-filled New Year!
I love the Willards! They are so fun to read with a cup of tea. My favorite thing in this newsletter is the full moon bookmark. I love knowing the names of each full moon and now I have a list. And I love the idea of celebrating the Winter Solstice. We used to live in Alaska and I especially looked forward to this day every year! (and on the flip side, June 21 was such a sad day for me).
Have a Merry Christmas!
Thank you for reminding me to decorate for Christmas. I haven’t done that for several years-since my children have grown and started families of their own. There didn’t seem much sense as it has been easier for us to go to their homes when there are babies & young children involved. I have missed the joy a decorated tree and my vintage Christmas finds brings me.
The fireplace adds so much to your home! I always love your creativity! Merry Christmas!
Hello Susan ! I was thinking of you and wondering if all was well 🙂 So glad to see a Willard ! Thank you for the opportunity to win such fabulous gifts! I love listening to your Musica while reading Willard. Merry Christmas ! irissavedbygrace
Thank you for bringing me year round and Christmas joy for all these years.
Celeste XO
What an absolutely stunning Willard! I will have to finish it at my desk this morning as I don’t want to miss a word. I hope you live your new home and have a merry Christmas!
Oh Susan, I had to have a mantle on a blank wall in my bedroom, so I found an old thin bookcase my Grandfather had made years ago, added a fake fireplace, and it’s perfect! I totally get the yearning for something to decorate for the seasons. Merry Christmas to you and Joe!
Bonnie
Love your Christmas mantel. Happy Christmas
Love the mantle, you are lucky to have such a talented man to go along with your talented self.
I love your fairy tale!! So happy you have a beautiful fireplace mantel! Merry Christmas dear Susan!
Hello! Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and thank you for your beautiful books and calendars that I get to use daily! ❤️❤️❤️
Still a great fan of yours after all these years <3
Hello Susan, I’m wondering if you are missing the cold and the snow? It will be a very different Christmas for you this year. Has your old house sold? Love the new mantle, and that Joe is definitely a keeper! Merry Christmas to all!
Not really! It’s chilly here, so I do love to wear my sweaters, but it’s lovely to do what we are doing today, a long walk in a very special area along the coast … Our house hasn’t sold . . . but it will!💞
Dear Susan
Thank you SO Much for sending this Beyond Wonderful Christmas Blog! I couldn’t Love it more. I am SO Happy for you having your Gorgeous fireplace! I Love my fireplace SO Much and I’ve always thought that if I ever have to move I’m going to try to get someone to build me a fake replica of it. Every time I go on a trip my fireplace is the last thing I look at and admire. Congratulations on making such a Lovely home there! SO Happy for you!!!!! I had 2 tests last week and both had good results so I am thrilled. My husband didn’t want to go the Christmas tree lot so of course I came home with a huge tree. Ooops. Yikes. Heavy! Well its finally going up today with the help of a friend. I can’t wait to see it up. It was the Best tree in the lot and it was on sale because the owner of the tree farm said it had a hole in it. I didn’t see the hole and it goes near a corner anyway. No problem!!! Take care Dear Susan. Have a Wonderful Holiday Season!!! Thank you for giving us Magic all year long.
Much Love
Lillian
Love the fireplace! A new hearth for all your holiday magic!
Absolutely love your fireplace, so cheery! Happiest of holidays to your family in your lovely home💕
Live your mantel! Joe is a wonderful guy. Hope you have wonderful holiday season!
I enjoyed reading your Willard! Your Joe did an amazing job on that faux fireplace and mantle. When you decorated it, you transformed it to Christmas magic!
That’s the thing I love most about you. You always keep me dreaming. Merry Christmas to you and Joe and the Kitties. Ho ho ho!
I look so forward to your Willard posts. Love your new mantle! So lovely. I would like to be entered into your drawing. Thank you for all your goodness you spread to others all year long. Happy Holidays.
Living in Vermont, the feeling of holiday magic is everywhere you go…however, even here we feel the weight of the world, so thank you for the reminder that we need to make our own magic. Recently I spray painted an old wicker door basket, hung it on an otherwise bland exit door to the garage, then tucked several brightly colored sets of mittens, a wool headband, rabbit earmuffs, and a handmade red scarf. Instant “cozy feeling” magic. Also a convenient invitation to grab one on the way out the door.
Love your fireplace, and will look forward to your seasonal magic as the days grow longer… Season Greetings, don’t forget the luck of the Irish ☘️ and Heart’s day 💗
Seasons Greetings, peace on Earth to all🎄
Always look forward to reading your stories, they just bring an innocent smile every time !
Please continue all the love you bring to others. We all love you too !
Sheer delight… thank you for your inspiration, your spirit & your playfulness. What joy!! Always puts a smile on my face & warms my heart. Merry Christmas 🙂
I love your fireplace! I had one that was part of a store’s display. I added bricks for the bottom and a lot of candles!
Love the mantel. Good job, Joe!! Our house is old and didn’t have a fireplace (there must be something buried in the wall somewhere!!) so I told my husband I wanted an electric fireplace. It’s amazing how realistic the flames look. Well worth the money and it cozies up the room wonderfully. Merry Christmas!!
What a happy surprise to find a Willard in my inbox this morning! Your mantel is beautiful. Hurray, Joe!
Your new mantel is beautiful – what a creative solution! As a Beatrix Potter fan myself, I loved seeing your collection of her books and learning about the Beatrix Potter Society interview. Merry Christmas!
Wishing you a very merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all at Susan Branch studios! I love your mantel. Great job, Joe! I look so forward to my Willards each month. This one definitely brought much Christmas joy.
You have been my inspiration for years. I am an art teacher in Maine and have stacks of your books all over my house. You are the reason for the season. I love getting your Christmas books out; they pile up on my coffee table all season long. Merry Christmas
Keep spreading that art-teacher magic Katie! Thank you for what you do!❌⭕️
Merry Christmas! Bet you don’t miss this cold weather. Here on the Cape it’s 7° with the wind chill. Expecting snow on Sunday
Joe has certainly raised the bar for men folk everywhere. And I love that he seems to truly get into it, you can tell by his reflection in the mirror. Well done! I was so enamored by that mantle. I immediately hopped up and grabbed my measuring tape to see if I had room next to my reading chair to add one. It would be tall and narrow, but I think it would be adorable. Thank you for the inspiration, this time and so many times over the years. Merry Christmas Susan and Joe and may God‘s blessings cover you this most joyous of seasons!! ♥️
Ha Ha Ha! I will tell Joe what you said!❌⭕️
Getting a Willard to read (instead of the news) is the BEST way to start the day! Looking at subzero temperatures here in MN this weekend, so enjoy your warm CA home :-). Love the new fireplace and who knew you are playing Santa this year!
I so love your mantel!! I have a 1905 “modern” Queen Ann that doesn’t have a fireplace and I’ve always wanted to do what you and Joe have done. When you grow up with a fireplace as I did, your first thought is WHERE DO THE CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS GO??” In our case they are placed with care on the windowsill on the staircase to the 2nd floor which is charming as you go upstairs and bonus of old house is a big 2nd floor landing we can put a small tree. Took us almost 20 years before we thought of that. But magic is where you make it. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!!!
How beautiful!!! hope you enjoy your new mantel!
Wishing you and Joe all the best for the blessed and joyful season!! Merry Christmas from sunny Greece!
I was so happy to see the Willard in my mail. Makes me joyful ❤️ Merry Christmas
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Build your own happiness! You r a true inspiration! If I hadn’t followed your moving adventure, ide probably still be reading this in an unsuitable house w many stairs! Downsizing and moving takes courage!
your posts make me so happy for so many years. I thank you for it
You truly are creating magic. Not only magic in your beautiful home, but for all of us that read your Willard. It warms my heart every time I read one and puts a “oh goodie” in my mind when I see one in my in box. Thank you, Susan and Merry Christmas to you and Joe.
Merry Christmas to you and Joe, Susan! The mantle is just beautiful!
Happy Holidays Susan!
Thank you from here in chilly, icy Maine.
So happy for you with the new mantle! Merry Christmas! You are an inspiration how make a house a cozy home!
So glad you and Joe are settled in your new home, and I love the mantel. I love mine, although the flue in my fireplace is stuck shut so I haven’t been able to have a fire for a year or so. Does Joe have a twin? I could use him!
Susan…the mantle is adorable, and all the better that your Joe made it for you. I have a large “real” stone fireplace in my living room, but there is no mantle on it. We could have someone come and install one into the stone, but it’s something only I have dreamed about, and although I get my way on almost all things, this one has eluded me.
I accidentally set my favorite cup of all time too close to the edge of the table and I actually teared up. It was your beautiful cup with the bluebird on it, and I know it’s no longer available.
I read your Christmas book (I own so many of your wonderful books!) and it reminded me so much of my Christmases growing up in Los Angeles. The book is now part of my annual Christmas decor. Have a wonderful Christmas.
Oh noooooo. It’s my true favorite too. I only have one. Joe doesn’t know it, but I never put his tea in it. If it gets broken, I want it to be my fault! I wish I had one to send to you! ♥️
Merry Christmas! You are an inspiration how make a house a cozy home!
Happy Christmas to you and Joe! It’s always inspiring to read what projects you’re working on. That mantel rocks!
I too have a faux fireplace that after many moves is now resides in our bedroom. It came from a charming candle shop in the Northwoods of Wisconsin that was going out of business. It was only a display piece so I needed to return at the end of the season to pick it up. The man I was dating drove nearly 400 miles to bring it home, returning just ahead of a major snowstorm that we later learned had many people stranded. That guy is now my husband (you can see why he’s a keeper!). As with many of the cherished items we acquire, I especially love the ones with a good story behind them!
Loved this post! We too have moved from the Vineyard and it’s our first Christmas in our old, new home! I thank you for introducing me to the world of Beatrix Potter via all your posts and your blog…I have begun collecting her little books and figurines I find in old book stores and thrift shoppes I visit! Happy Christmas to you and Joe in your charming place…you make a beautiful magical life and home wherever you are! ♥️
Susan, Thanks for your Willards, I look forward to them! The decorating ideas are a great motivation. Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday season.
It’s always so heartening to visit you here. Lovely music, cozy photos, and a bit of magic. I use your bookmarks all the time. So happy you are in the world!
Dear Susan, thank you for sharing your Beatrix Potter inspiration. She is also a heroine of mine and what a joy to read about her in your Willards.! With your inspiration and guidance, I was able to visit her home in England. A pilgrimage! And I have named my own home Hill Top Farm, just for fun! XO Karla
Thank you Susan for sharing your beautiful and comforting lifestyle through your books and blog. 🙏 You inspire me!
Dear Susan,
Thank you for your generosity!
My wonderful husband, George, is very similar to your wonderful Joe! He has transformed our 1960’s ranch into a lovely home. Every room has his magic touch as he works to please me. I understand how much fun it is to decorate and play in your house. So much love! ❤️
Merry Christmas to you and Joe and Jack and family!
Merry Christmas to all, this year has sped by, and the years go faster the more I age. I miss having a fireplace but do have a bay window with a large shelf. This year I put a small tree in there decorated only with lights as I love having only small twinkling lights on these long cold winter nights, my dog and I have had to give up our nightly walks as its just too cold out right now. It’s amazing how quick she is to get her business done and back into the house! I don’t even get a chance to really look at the stars. Looking forward to those longer days and quiet nightly walks when it’s not quite so cold out. Happy New Year to all
Dear Susan,
Thank you for your generosity!
My wonderful husband, George, is very similar to your wonderful Joe! He has transformed our 1960’s ranch into a lovely home. Every room has his magic touch as he works to please me. I understand how much fun it is to decorate and play in your house. So much love! ❤️
Merry Christmas to you and Joe and Jack and family!
It was so clever to realize you could add a mantle even though you didn’t want a fireplace! And the fact that your beloved created it makes it all the more special.
What a wonderful interview you gave the The Beatrix Potter Society. I’m now following them on Instagram.
I especially love the mantle Joe made you. It adds so much to your room and looks so festive with your Christmas items. Have a wonderful holiday, I’ll look forward to your January Williard.
Karen B.
P.S. Have you sold your lovely home on the other coastline?
Merry Christmas Girlfriend Susan! Your lovely home knew you would be back – – when you planted that English garden so many years ago!! Enjoy all the sweet moments!!
Merry Magical Christmas to you and your master carpenter Joe💕
Your magical world of homemade beauty came into my life in 1987 when I discovered your beautiful book Heart of the home 💕 Your passions of reading, cooking, fur babies in kitty suits, a cozy warm home to welcome and comfort others, and devouring quotes have always been my passions as well! I started collecting vintage items when I was 11 years old and even ended up opening my own shop called Cottage Rose Interiors .. I spent 6 months in NW England when I was 19 and that began my love affair with everything you revere and represent!!!! THANK YOU FOR sharing your passion and world with us all these years 💕
I am currently on page 197 of Isle of Dreams (my 4th time reading this inspiring story book)
God bless you 🎄
Kindred spirits Judy, no doubt about it!♥️
It is always a good day when I wake up to a Willard in my email! Thank you!!
Hello, Susan!
We live in an 1840’s farmhouse which sadly had no fireplaces when we bought it 55+ years ago. Now we have two electric fireplaces, complete with mantels! My favorite is the corner fireplace in the kitchen. If I could figure out how to attach a photo of it, I would!
What a fun Willard! Merry Christmas to you and Joe!
Merry Christmas, Susan & Joe, You certainly brighten my days whenever I read or see your work. THANK YOU so much.
Beatrix Potter…what a delight. Peter Rabbit my favorite children’s book. Along with wonderful Emily Dickinson, it doesn’t get better than that. Solace in a sometimes unkind world, just like your Willard’s. Thank you for them and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Susan! Love the new mantle. I have Christmas from the Heart of the Home signed by you that says “To Nancy-Merry Christmas! Susan Branch 1991” from when you did a book signing on Cape Cod. I would love to add your Home for Christmas to my collection.
Susan,
I just love your fireplace mantel, very creative. Your home is so cozy and Christmasy.
The mantle is a lovely solution for the wall. Now it makes sense and is useful as well. No one will be walking through that mirror! Merry Christmas.
I so needed this cheerful reminder to pull myself out of the gloomy news and make my own little world brighter. I can’t solve all the problems we are facing (maybe none of them!) but I can resist with a smile on my face. Thank you, as always, for bringing the joy. 🙂
Susan thank you so much for the full moon bookmark. I print it each and every year. My husband and I always enjoyed the full moons together, but he passed away this years. The moons are no longer the same for me. 🌙
Having someone to share it with does make it more special… but it does of a way of bringing joy on its own. Blessings Marge. xoxoxo
What a wonderful Christmas present. I was feeling a little down today so your blog post cheered me right up; what perfect timing. Thank you! And thank dear Joe for making that wonderful fire place mantle. He is quite the gift too. Happy Christmas to you and yours and blessings in the New Year.
I did something similar when I moved to a retirement community. I had a farmhouse with a fireplace so I needed one here. I bought an electric one with mantle and a flame. Love it.. socosy. Love Willard and also Beatrix Potter. We are on the same wave length. Love England and been there four times. Merry Christmas. Keep up the magic.
What a creative idea… I also don’t have a mantle currently, but I now have inspiration to make it happen. Thank you so much! ☺️ Happy Holidays to everyone! 🎄🎅🤶
Hello Susan from Perth, Western Australia! Wishing you and Joe a wonderful blessed Christmas. Thank you for brightening our lives the world over; so happy everytime I see a new Willard appear. 🌎 💖🎄
Blessings on you and yours Judy, and lovely Australia! xoxoxo
Yes!🔥🎄The room looks so much better with the lil’fireplace! Isn’t the imaginationa wonderful thing when we use it and trust it! Merry Christmas!
First of all, I was surprised to see “The name of the place is I like it like that” as I had inexplicably thought of that old song just a couple of days ago!! How weird is that? Haven’t thought of it in years. We have a gas log fireplace in our new house and while we have always had a wood burning fireplace, we have gotten pretty used to this one with it’s remote control. As we are 70 and 68 now, it is so much easier to turn it on for a bit to enjoy in the early mornings and evenings and then just turn it off. We did put a fire pit in the back yard to enjoy the smell of wood smoke and the crackle of a wood burning fire. It’s a good option. Thank you for reminding me how special this time of year is. I struggle to enjoy it as I did in the past, due to losses of some important family members. I am baking cookies to help with the happy feeling and I have lots of candle to chese away the dark nights. Merry Christmas to all.