“And mothers, they never stop believing in the miracle of metamorphosis. Because believing in the miracle of metamorphosis is the sum total of a mother’s job. The theological term for that is faith.” (Ann Voshkamp)

My friend Ann is very wise and so very right with her above comment!  

No doubt at all that the greatest miracle of metamorphosis is faith; hands down; but the second greatest metamorphosis is seasonal decorating!

Guess what?

IT IS TIME TO GO PINK

Please don’t mistake that remark for a suggestion to have a fund -raiser!  LOL.  No way!  I will not go into my political thoughts here; but I will go into my Mother’s Day decorating scheme, and the main subject is “PINK.”

Mother’s Day is about the only season of the year that we can go totally pink and get away with it; so pull out all stops! 

Let’s get pink.

THE PINK, THE FLOWERS, THE PILLOWS, THE PHOTOS AND THE FOOD

It is all about the pink, the pillows, the flowers, the photos and the food!

Really folks?  That’s not true!

You know it is all about the LOVE and the HUGS and the SMILES; but those other things are hanging in there this week and running a close second.  

They actually get to take a bow and make their entrance right before the hugs, smiles and love arrive.

Do you have your house all pink yet?

A TRANSFORMATION (METAMORPHOSIS) IS TAKING PLACE

My home’s Mother’s Day transformation is happening even as I write this article.

Most of my inspiration this year came from pillows and flowers.  That just seems fitting for Mother’s Day; so I’m going full steam ahead with the whole theme.

CREATING A HAPPY ENTRANCE

I wanted to make a nice, warm, bright and cheerful entrance.  It started on the outside with the process of adding some pretty spring flowers on the front porch.  I added a nice colorful door greeting; and continued the flower theme as you open the door, cross the threshold and come inside the foyer too.

MAKING THE FOYER SAY “WELCOME”

The little white chair with the bicycle pillow screams of a woman’s taste and presence; doesn’t it?

Those black and white photo boxes beside the chair are a thoughtful little present to my Mom from one of my sweet daughters.

A THOUGHTFUL MOTHER’S DAY PRESENT EXISTS WITHIN THE FURNISHINGS OF THE ROOM…

Along with the pretty boxes, our daughter is also dedicating hours of her time to help Mom put together and organize all of her BOXES  and BOXES of old family photos.

Together, my mom and her sweet grand-daughther, will add notes and names to all the photos and place them in date and event order inside the pretty boxes that they will properly label for the sake of all future generations to know and remember.

My daughter will gain some valuable history lessons from this experience and My Mom will love every minute of the telling.  I just hope I get a chance to take photos of this labor of love.

YEP; IT IS SORT OF ABOUT THE PHOTOS

In the meantime; I’m keeping the boxes here until Mom comes over for her Mother’s Day Luncheon/Tea at our house after we all go to church together on Sunday morning.  Don’t they just look natural by the chair?  I may have to go buy some for MY photos when they haul them away!

YEP; IT IS ALL ABOUT THE PINK

The rabbits from Resurrection Day spring décor just wanted to hang around; so I gave them permission; but I added a touch of pink just for Mother’s Day.   Hence; the faithful old sofa table joined in with the fun and festivities.

When I first painted and refurbished this old piece of furniture I thought it would be useful for a few months then fade into the background.  However; it has become a very important focal point and a much cherished part of all of our family gatherings over the last several years.

I paid NOTHING for this old piece of furniture, but I wouldn’t take a million dollars for all the usefulness and fun this little table has brought into our home.  Refurbishing it was one of my best moves.  Many memories have centered around this simple piece of furniture; and on Sunday it will once again help us to celebrate another special day.

YEP; THE FLOWERS DO MATTER

I’m planning to put vases with pink roses in the entrance foyer, and on the dining room table.

I’m actually still shopping for those ( I want them to be very fresh on Sunday)  so the plan could change at any moment.  (I’ve considered a few ferns too.)

I would need just the right pink in the roses to pull off adding those ferns.  I may change my mind and go with tulips instead of roses; just for the sake of the right colors.

THE TABLE MUST BE THE PRETTIEST TABLE EVER

Anyway – tulips are already popping out from the placemats I put down on the dining room table, and they are the perfect accent to the colorful napkins I’ve folded into our pink tea glasses.

Do you know how impossible it is to find old-fashioned pink cloth napkins?  I finally found these on sale for nearly nothing.  I guess pink is so seasonal many people don’t ever use it – but all the more reason for our Mother’s Day décor to be unique and  original!  We set our own trends here; and we are not about following the crowd.

These beautiful plates and salad bowls were a gift from my Mom.  My Dad gave her this set of very pretty dishes years ago and she passed them on to me when they downsized and moved from the family farm.  The pink and white dishes  just fit my Mother’s Day decorating schemes.  I’m also going to use the pretty set of silverware she gave to me.  The silver has been passed down through three generations; and was originally from my grandmother on my Mom’s side.

As you can see; we are all set for having a nice cozy little luncheon for four after church with my Mom; just Mom, my brother, my husband and I.

Then we will be serving Blueberry Lemon cake and ice cream to anyone who wants to join us at our home  for tea-time later in the afternoon.  The door is always open and the welcome mat is serious!  If you don’t like tea; we will have coffee and lemonade too.  EVERYONE likes my Lemon-Blueberry Cake!

A SURPRISE BASKET

I’ve made a cute little “tea-basket” for my Mom in honor of the occasion.  What lady doesn’t enjoy having a basket full of fine tea and all the accessories to go with them?

She can share her tea with “the girls” from her Sunday School class and the Senior Center.  You know; there really isn’t a lot of “senior’’ about those ladies……they are busier than bees and are having the most fun absolutely all the time.  I can’t keep up with them!  I’m very glad they all get to enjoy each other’s company; and that my Mom is a happy member of such fine people groups.

THE FOOD IS A SUBJECT FOR ANOTHER DAY – BUT IT MATTERS TOO

I’ll post the menu and recipes for the lunch and tea-time treats soon.  You may find a few things you can add to your own ever-growing collection of fine recipes.

THE FAMILY TREE

Speaking of photos of Mom’s;  you might have guessed I would be using our family’s  kitchen tree for Mother’s Day!

I’ve used this tree in so many ways with my home decorating and celebrating.

For Mother’s Day this year I’ve covered the branches with little pink flags and I’m going to paste photos of all the Mom’s from our family in action on the pink flags.  I have quite a cute photo collection, and I can’t wait to see how this turns out.   I’ll pin them on the tree with the tiny little pink clothespins.

Sure sounds like I had better get busy being crafty!  I wonder if I should glue lace around those photos?  Hmmmm…..

Here is a pic of the start of the project; the “before” shot.

Be sure to check out my later blogs for the finish and the “after” shot.   I’ll try to post this with the luncheon/tea menus and recipes.

THE KITCHEN TREE HAS BECOME A CHERISHED FOCAL POINT

The family kitchen tree has become a cherished part of my kitchen.  The Family Tree is how the grands hear a lot of the old family stories; according to the occasions we are remembering for the season.  There seems to be no reason to ever take it down anymore; there is always a new way that we can use it in the process of decorating our home and remembering our memories together.

Each fall I do a family tree with a leaf for each family member.  At Christmas I create a Jesse Tree and decorate it to tell the Christmas story. On Valentines Day we decorate it with hearts.  Some spring-times it fills up with eggs; and now we are putting photos of our Mom’s on the tree for Mother’s Day.  I’ll bet you can guess what comes next…..I’ll never tell!

I couldn’t be happier with how this little tree speaks of all the “special” in our family. 

The little ones love helping me decorate it for each changing season.

EVEN MORE FLOWERS

What would a Mother’s Day house be without flowers? 

I’ve tried to scatter them everywhere, both fresh, potted and in vases.  Pink is the main theme; but we have allowed a lot of green and purple, yellow and white too.

So; yes, it has been a lot about the pink, the flowers, the photos and the food.

AND SOME MEMORIES FORM A METAMORPHOSIS FROM THE PAST

One photo item I included in the main living area of the house was my latest collection of family photo books which I had a lot of fun putting together with Shutterfly.  

I TRY to do a book a month; but the key word is TRY.   Most times I put three or four months together and call them a season.  By the end of the year we have a collection of nice little photo books though, and I tie them together with different colored ribbons for different years.

The family member’s love browsing through these memory books; and I’ve also laid out a book that was written about My Grandfather and Grandmother from my Mom’s side of the family.  It is the larger book on the bottom of the stack of all the little books.  (There seems to be a message in that statement.)

Many, many years ago, these two grandparents helped to  establish and manage the retirement community that has now evolved into The Village At Cook Springs, as well as the old Baptist Camp called Windsong.    A book was published several years back with the history of how that community of Cook Springs evolved.  

We went to the guest signing; where my Mom was an honored guest in her Father’s place,  and I bought the book to pass on one day to our children.  I had the author (Betty Smith) autograph it for them.  

It is a cherished and adored book in our home.    

This book has been resting safely on my bookshelves for some time now; and I thought Mother’s Day might be a good occasion to bring it back out and flip through some of the family history.

ONE MORE THING PERTAINING TO FLOWERS

Another thing I did during the preparations for this season was to clean up and plant a few new plants on the back deck.  If the weather is pretty we will have our hot tea and cake outside and enjoy the afternoon listening to the birds sing while we view Oak Mountain in the distance.

I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER

I truly think a plan for a great day is shaping up here!

I can’t wait to have so much fun with all of those that I love on Mother’s Day!

Getting ready for this little family gathering has been almost as much fun as the event itself.

Be sure to watch for my next post where I’ll give you my Mother’s Day menu and recipes, and hopefully some pretty photos of that delicious Lemon-Blueberry Cake with Cream Cheese Icing, as well as the finished photos for the Mother’s Day Family Tree.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL OF YOU!

MAY YOUR HOME BE FILLED WITH ABUNDANT BLESSINGS  AND A WONDERFUL METAMORPHOSIS OF OVERFLOWING LOVE FROM YOUR FAMILY ON YOUR VERY SPECIAL DAY.