Home At Last! with Patty Gironda

An unexpected gift of three boxes of canning jars and lids led me to create candied oranges and limes to decorate the kitchen for the Candlelight Tour of Homes. I simply sliced the oranges into even quarter-inch slices, boiled them in sugar water for ten minutes and then layered them in the jars with a generous cap of sugar and the syrup.  I continued to turn the jars for the even until the sugar melted and continued to preserve the fruit!

Our home was recently featured on the 2012 Piedmont Auxiliary Candlelight Tour of Homes and as in years past, the tour brought large crowds of happy tourists looking for inspiration for the Christmas season! It was great to catch up with fans of Home At Last!, past guests of Casa Bella Bed and Breakfast, neighbors and friends!  The weather was perfect and allowed everyone to walk the districts or enjoy a quick drive to the other areas without too much effort!  Our decorating theme, "Let It Snow" was simple but elegant. We hung large snowflakes from our 14-ft ceilings, suggesting a peaceful, snowy evening.  Through-out the main floor and stair banister the snowflake theme was repeated and even served as place mats under gilded mason jars filled with white roses.