After my husband and I got married five years ago at the ripe old ages of 46, he just sort of moved his toothbrush and sock drawer into the house where I’d lived for a decade as a single mom raising two daughters. As a couple, he and I never have created a household together from scratch and I’m constantly trying to figure out what his “style” is before we do that. We’re probably distinct opposites — on everything. For instance, he’s a newspaper sports editor who watches “CSI,” listens to Rush Limbaugh and says his favorite movie is “Roadhouse.” I’m a freelance writer who watches “Survivor,” listens to NPR and adores the original “Sabrina,” although we both like “Good Eats,” REM and “Raising Arizona.” Hmmm. You see my dilemma. I can’t figure out how all that translates to one unifying home decor. But I keep trying. On a recent meander through a furniture store, I asked him which — if either — of these two candle fixtures he liked better. Naturally, it wasn’t the one I liked. However, there is hope because we both said the one we didn’t pick wasn’t all that bad. Maybe after five years of marriage, we’re becoming more alike than different. Crazy!!! But in a good way.
This is our house. Okay, not really. But it’s a house my husband 
found and wanted me to look at it and think about, which is a big deal for us because we don’t have an “our” house. The house we live in now is the one my ex- husband and I bought when we first moved to Alabama almost 15 years ago. He and I got divorced shortly after, so for most of those 15 years my two daughters and I have lived there in single-parent female-centric bliss. Now my husband and I have been married for 4 1/2 years, the girls are pretty much out on their own (one married with her own home and the other a college senior) and it’s time for our own place. I mean, he’s a great sport and hasn’t minded that the house is full of girly stuff and remnants of my ex-husband and doesn’t really reflect his style at all. So when he said, “Hey, I found a house I like. Let me show you,” I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I love this house! I love all the little nooks and crannies. I love that it looks different and comfortable all at the same time. Of course, I’d change 
— Tuesday — but now that our tree is (finally) down and all the wreaths and garlands and Santas are packed up and I’ve broken almost every one of my resolutions already, I’m sort of over the holidays and ready to move on … to another holiday, that is. Does your space feel empty without all those Christmas festive touches? I’m always glad to get my house back after turning it over to Christmas for a month, but I miss the whimsy of holiday decor — plus, it covers up the cat hair 
and distracts from the dust. So I keep the wintery things (snow people, mainly) out and gradually add red heart-y Valentine’s Day things, such as those cute heart “trees” and heart candles I put on the mantle after taking off the Christmas stars and angels. On the table by our front door — my absolute favorite piece of furniture in our whole house 
because so far in almost five years of marriage it’s the only one my husband and I have bought together — I’ve got a couple red and wintery serving pieces plus red and green candles I keep out until spring just because I like to. I added a touch of 
Valentine’s Day: A wonderful mini folding photo album out of handmade paper that my younger daughter found at Sojourns, a Fair Trade shop in Birmingham, Ala., and put in my Christmas stocking. Adorable! In our kitchen, I dismantled the bowl of shiny Christmas ornaments that sat on the table and replaced it with three red heart candles. I love the clean look of red on white. Every year around this time I’m so grateful for my grandmother’s advice to always buy red. “You can use it for three out of four seasons,” she said, “and you can always find red things on sale.” So true. Thanks, Grandma. See? I was listening.
Welcome to the fourth day in Cathy’s New Year Countdown. It’s the Monday after Christmas. The stockings are down, the presents are done and the tree looks sort of lonely sitting there all by itself. Post-Christmas blues, anyone? Here’s a trick to pick yourself up out of your holiday funk. Gather together all the January magazine issues you didn’t have time to read before Christmas, brew some good coffee or pour your favorite wine and enjoy some good old-fashioned escapism. You deserve it, and I promise you’ll have a whole new attitude when you’re done. For instance, right now Vogue wants to show me how to dress cheap and chic and Instyle has tips on making the most of what I have (but how do they know what I have?) and dressing slim. Lucky offers 564 ways to step up my style. Southern Living has the coziest comfort food and easy ideas to relax my rooms. And I can “feel calmer now” with Real Simple’s 20 essential organizing lists (although the thought of 20 lists is not calming at all, seems to me) and learn must-try recipes from Hawaii’s star chef with Coastal Living. See, don’t you feel better already? Now, if somebody would just actually do all those things for me, 2009 would be practically perfect. Anyway, check back tomorrow for the fifth day of Cathy’s New Year Countdown.
I wasn’t going to reveal this to everybody but my husband said I had to since 
the blogosphere is all about honesty and sincerity and thruthiness — right? — so the plain simple fact is I only put our tree up yesterday. Yesterday. As in four days before Christmas. I know, I know. Friends were shocked and appalled. Family members kept checking in anxiously on my (non) progress. How did this happen? I’m not quite sure. It’s not that I’m anti-tree. I put my mom’s up for her. I oohed and ahhed over everybody else’s trees. I just never got around to doing my own. I didn’t do it the weekend after Thanksgiving because I was gone and I was gone the next weekend, too, and then I had the Sinus Infection From Hell and then suddenly it seemed too close to time 
to take it down to put it up. And I was sort of approaching it as an experiment: How would I feel if I didn’t put a tree up? As Dec. 25 got closer, I got my answer: Not good. So up it went on Monday and everybody has been properly impressed. I have had the stockings up since Dec. 1, though, so there you are. And here’s the thing: Our Christmas tree is not one of those beautifully color-coordinated and themed trees. I think those are pretty, but I don’t do it myself. Nope. Our tree is like a family scrapbook — one with green stickery things that the cats climb up. We’ve got 20-year-old kindergarten wreaths and baby Jesuses sharing branch time with vacation souvenirs and mementos of favorite things and good times. Now, that’s a Christmas tree.
It’s Day No. 3 in Cathy’s 12 Days Before Christmas Countdown. If your home looks a little bare and you’ve got company coming soon, try this quick and festive decorating trick using things I promise you’ve got around your house. First, find a pretty clear bowl — how about that one you got as a wedding present and have never ever used? Second, unearth those boxes of solid-colored glass Christmas balls you bought on sale two years ago because you thought maybe someday you might want to hand-letter names and dates on them for personalized gifts but then later realized that really you never will and what are you going to do with boxes of solid-colored glass Christmas balls? Third, pile (carefully) the glass balls in the bowl, put your creation where 
everybody can see it and receive compliments for being an innovative and talented decorator. I know this sounds way too simple, but believe me: Its effectiveness far outweighs the effort you’ll put into it. And you get twice the decorating power since this looks cheerful and colorful in daylight and glows quite elegantly at night. If you’re so inclined, you can get all fancy and use glass balls of different sizes or coordinate different containers (bowls, vases, margarita glasses) of various colors for a pretty impressive display. Check back tomorrow for Day No. 2 in Cathy’s Christmas Countdown for a new take on hanging Christmas stockings.
Our friends Ginna and Charlie in Tupelo, Mississippi, have the loveliest house 
and it practically glows at Christmastime. Their festive holiday mantle makes me happy just looking at it, although Ginna disavows any credit and says a decorating friend of hers put it together. But Ginna’s the one who bought the raw ingredients, so I think she deserves all kudos. We stopped by to see Ginna and Charlie this past Sunday afternoon in our search for dry martinis and good company. Ginna was finishing one last bunch of holiday goodies and congratulating herself on having the tree up, the presents bought, the presents wrapped and even the stocking stuffers successfully hidden away — unusual for her, she said. Of course, Charlie had done his part by spending all afternoon raking and bagging leaves. Let’s see, they had been busy and productive and had their Christmas to-do list all checked off, while my husband and had been driving around talking about all the things we had to do and bumming drinks off of people. Hmm …
Welcome to Day No. 5 of Cathy’s 12 Days Before Christmas 
Countdown. You know, decorating your front door is like tying a festive ribbon around a carefully wrapped Christmas gift — it sets the tone and makes a promise for good things inside. I love this door in my daughter and son-in-law’s apartment complex in Huntsville, Alabama. A young couple with babies just moved in here, and I imagine that both time and money are tight. So they wrapped cardboard pieces in holiday paper and jaunty bows to create a quick, simple, inexpensive and fun entry — especially easy and environmentally
friendly when using leftover scraps. I love this idea! It reminds me of one year when I was young and my mom wrapped our front door in thick red paper and a huge white bow — creating, I thought, the world’s largest Christmas present. Moms are good like that. Check back tomorrow for Day No. 4 in Cathy’s Christmas Countdown — the easiest food gift ever perfect for co-workers, neighbors and everybody else.
on dreary winter mornings or cozy up at night? Or anytime. I love pulling out holiday mugs and cups every December. When piled up on a tray in the kitchen, they double as the best kind of decor: cheap and functional! From morning cappuccinos to post-lunch macchiatos to afternoon tea to evening hot cocoa, I’ve got every drink situation covered. Not that I drink coffee and espresso and tea and hot cocoa all day — well, actually, I do. But of course some holiday drinks are not rich and hot and creamy and served in a sturdy mug — such as these cool ruby-red margaritas my friend Evelyn served us at our Christmas book-club gathering. Delicious and refreshing.
And for another delicious and refreshing treat, how about the No. 2 pick on my list of favorite Christmas movies? It’s 
There’s just something special about holiday hospitality. When my
friend Evelyn recently hosted the December meeting of our four-woman book club, the other three of us practically refused to get up from her elegant red and gold dinner table when we were finished eating. She made us feel so pampered that only the promise of opening presents in front of the fire — and, oh, yeah, discussing our book of the month — made us leave. I love the way she used simple solid red napkins and plates to create such a festive and sophisticated look, proving once again my grandmother’s timeless advice to always buy red things — they’re good for three out of four seasons, which is a record you cannot beat.
Kaye and its older sibling, the 1942 “Holi
Coffee with Cathy 