Comfort and joy permeate Mary Powell’s lovely log kitchen. From ceiling beams to floor, it’s adorned with family antiques.

Family festivities at the Powell house kick off with a traditional Christmas dinner. Grandma heads a table ringed by four generations.

 

A Log Home Yule

By Mary Powell
Athens, Pennsylvania

While every season’s special, my husband, Rich, and I cherish Christmastime. Dressing up our log home, built 15 years ago, brings out its true country spirit. We start decorating the first week in December, beginning with our main floor. As is traditional for log cabins, it’s one big room for living, dining and cooking.

I pull out all the stops trimming the heart of this free-flowing area—our cozy 12- by 12-1/2-foot kitchen.

For years, my parents ran an antique business—so naturally, I’ve inherited a love for old-fashioned accents. Tucked above our birch cabinets is my collection of milk bottles, jars and crocks. For the holidays, I mix in some Christmas tins and nostalgic Santas.

It’s especially fun adorning my favorite antique pieces—a wooden swing butter churn and another with a hand crank. When I open their lids, they still smell like butter! I fill the swing churn with pinecones and red-berried branches gathered from our rural acreage. The other churn, beside the kitchen counter, is topped with a mini evergreen.!

Up above, hanging from exposed ceiling beams, are antique baskets, brooms and long-handled pans—each bowed and ribboned for the season. That’s appropriate, since this efficient kitchen is a real gift at holiday time, when entertaining, baking and special meal preparation hit their peak.

The sturdy granite countertops give me plenty of room for old crockery to hold everything from cooking utensils to potpourri. I also set out antique dresser drawers lined with Christmas linens and filled with fruit and other goodies.

Our rustic oak kitchen table, illuminated by track lights, is a handy workspace for preparing pies and cookies. My home-baked gingerbread men stand sentry on the sill above the sink. With candles and a red-checked valance, they make a cheery frame for the kitchen window.

Winter Vista

Butter churn and rustic cabinet are well used as display and pantry space.

The dining nook, brightened by a twinkling tree, flows naturally into the airy kitchen work area topped off with track lights.

The view from our hilltop home is lovely, revealing one tidy farm after another. After I finish my shift as a pediatric nurse, it’s a wonderful spot to come home to. In summer, our kitchen looks out onto my flower gardens. This time of year, I satisfy my plant passion by filling the house with poinsettias. Their festive reds are a nice contrast to all the wood tones.

Old drawer doubles as a cookie tray.

Motorists on our country road can easily guess Rich’s hobby—antique tractors. He’s loved them since he was a boy growing up on a dairy farm.

A 1938 F-14 Farmall and 1936 John Deere B are parked in our yard. For Christmas, we outline his big red and green machines with white lights. A life-like Santa greets guests with a friendly wave from the driver’s seat.

Tradition’s on the Table

For me, a welcome sight is our family of five grown children, their spouses and our four grandkids gathered around the maple dinner table. Our traditional meal is ham with everyone’s favorite side dish, Chive Mashed Potato Casserole, made with our own homegrown spuds.

The dinner table is an ideal place to celebrate. In the corner behind it sits our Christmas tree, trimmed simply with lights, pinecones and ribbons. As we eat and visit, we can watch the fire in the woodstove crackling away in the opposite corner.

The staircase to the loft, jollied up with holiday stockings, also showcases a treasured conversation piece—Rich’s father’s first telephone.

A Merry “Little” Christmas

The cabinet behind the dinner table is particularly precious to me. My father refinished it so I could use it as a pantry. It’s also a fine display space for my collection of miniature cast-iron stoves. Years ago, traveling salesmen used them to show customers what models of cookstoves were available.

I’m into miniatures in a big way! For example, I refurbished the century-old Victorian dollhouse in the dining area, inside and out.

If you peek through its windows, you’ll see I’ve decorated its tiny rooms in holiday style.

From the Powell family to yours, have a Christmas filled with peace and joy!

 

 

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