Get your Kitchen Ready (now) for the coming Holidays!

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Christmas Decorating Trends – 2012

Modern Christmas decorating and color trends for this year reflect a focus on the environment and economy, dreams and hopes, current events and optimistic view for the future. Putting food on the table and saving money, recycling and relaxing become more important than buying impressive or expensive Christmas gifts.

Practical and meaningful Christmas decorating trends can help you select the best winter holiday for your home to inspire fresh ideas, saving money and creating beautiful festive rooms and dinner tables for this winter holiday season.  Here are some ideas:

– Eco friendly Christmas tree decorations – Edible decorations, gifts and Christmas tree ornaments, recycled and natural materials, used for simple handmade Christmas decorations in natural, neutral and earthy Christmas colors are modern decor ideas and color trends for this winter holiday season.

– Inexpensive and simple Christmas decorating – Saving money, using some of the last year Christmas decorations, following the previous years trends are echoed by adventurous and symbolic, simple and inexpensive Christmas decorating ideas and traditional Christmas colors, that create relaxing atmosphere and stress free winter holiday style, enhanced with seducing Christmas aroma of natural trees and tasty food, fun, smiles and festive holiday mood.

– Minimalist style Christmas decoration – combined vibrant color shades, radiate energy and create beautiful Christmas home decoration with graphic patterns, contemporary wall prints and LED lights used in moderation.

– Creative Christmas decoration ideas – Intense and bright Christmas colors create a festive atmosphere and add optimism to modern Christmas decor and holiday festivities this winter. Unusual Christmas decorating ideas, impressive highlights, surprizing combinations, individual interpretations and personal details reflect future oriented, positive and optimistic view of the world.

– Soft and feminine winter holiday decorations – Light Christmas decorating ideas with transparent Christmas decorations, pale colors, combined with charming Christmas tree ornaments, made of wool, eco friendly felt, crocheted lace and ribbons in white, cream, gray and brown colors, add a soft feminine touch to holiday home decor that creates a comfortable and warm environment.  Smaller sizes of Christmas tree decorations, soft light and glowing candles increase the effect.

– Handmade Christmas decorations – Traditional bold Christmas colors, like deep red and green, golden and bronze, add a sense of warm and inviting home to Christmas decorating. Combined with natural materials, handmade Christmas decorations and traditional designs, inspired by the folk art and natural world, they create romantic holiday atmosphere, evoking positive emotions, pleasant memories and sentimental feelings that make everyone smile.

– Retro modern Christmas decorating in 1970s style – Disco style of 1970s adds a bold glamorous accents to winter holiday and Christmas decoration, bringing bright neon color tones, shiny textures, spectacular Christmas tree decorations and lights designs into modern homes, making people forget about any issues and enjoy the one of most impressive and bright Christmas decorating trends this holiday season.

– Exotic designs of Christmas tree ornaments – Modern ethnic designs and Christmas tree ornaments, inspired by Asian, Latin American and African patterns, unique candle holders and lanterns look charming. Colorful and unusual birds, frogs and butterflies, rainforest’s flowers and plants decorations add exotic flavor to modern winter holiday and Christmas decorating.

Outdoor Christmas Idea

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Independence Day – 4th of July Fun Facts

On July the 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress. Thereafter, the 13 colonies embarked on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation. This is the most American of holidays and celebrated with parades, fireworks and backyard barbecues across the country.

• The major objection to being ruled by Britain was taxation without representation. The colonists had no say in the decisions of English Parliament.
• In May, 1776, after nearly a year of trying to resolve their differences with England, the colonies sent delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Finally, in June, admitting that their efforts were hopeless; a committee was formed to compose the formal Declaration of Independence. Headed by Thomas Jefferson, the committee also included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Philip Livingston and Roger Sherman. On June 28, 1776, Thomas Jefferson presented the first draft of the declaration to Congress.
• Betsy Ross, according to legend, sewed the first American flag in May or June 1776, as commissioned by the Congressional Committee.
• Independence Day was first celebrated in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776.
• The Liberty Bell sounded from the tower of Independence Hall on July 8, 1776, summoning citizens to gather for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon.
• June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress, looking to promote national pride and unity, adopted the national flag. “Resolved: that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
• The word ‘patriotism’ comes from the Latin patria, which means ‘homeland’ or ‘fatherland.’
• The first public Fourth of July event at the White House occurred in 1804.
• The first Independence Day celebration west of the Mississippi occurred at Independence Creek and was celebrated by Lewis and Clark in 1805.
• On June 24, 1826, Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to Roger C. Weightman, declining an invitation to come to Washington, D.C., to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was the last letter that Jefferson, who was gravely ill, ever wrote.
• Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on Independence Day, July 4, 1826 (same day).
• The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence did not sign at the same time, nor did they sign on July 4, 1776. The official event occurred on August 2, 1776, when 50 men signed it.
• The names of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were withheld from the public for more than six months to protect the signers. If independence had not been achieved, the treasonable act of the signers would have, by law, resulted in their deaths.
• Thomas McKean was the last to sign in January, 1777.
• The origin of Uncle Sam probably began in 1812, when Samuel Wilson was a meat packer who provided meat to the US Army. The meat shipments were stamped with the initials, U.S. Someone joked that the initials stood for “Uncle Sam”. This joke eventually led to the idea of Uncle Sam symbolizing the United States government.
• In 1941, Congress declared the 4th of July a federal legal holiday and is one of the few federal holidays that have not been moved to the nearest Friday or Monday.

Happy 4th of July!!!!