The Reddest Ruby Christmas Gift

A Colorful Christmas story filled with friendships, family and treasures

The Reddest Ruby for Christmas

The reddest ruby for Christmas is a story for all to read and enjoy. 

My two best friends and I made plans to go Christmas shopping. It was Christmas Eve and I wanted to spend the day with Jenny and Amanda. We have been best friends ever since my husband and I moved into the neighborhood 7 years ago. They both had two children, but I was pregnant with my first child and we were all excited. I felt like this was going to be one of my greatest Christmas gifts I could receive. Having a baby in the holiday season.

So off to Neiman Marcus we went. It was cold and clouds covered the sky. It was my kind of day. I absolutely love the cold weather. 

We gave the keys to the kind gentleman working the valet station and made a beeline into Neiman. Amanda, Jenny and I went shopping confident that we were going to find the most thoughtful Christmas gifts that we set out to buy. 

Jenny immediately found her mom’s gift and Amanda bought two gifts for her hubby. I, on the other hand, took my time looking for a special gift for myself. 

Walking through Neiman I decided to head on over to the Louis Vuitton store because I knew I would find that very special Christmas gift to go under my beautifully decorated tree.  

Amanda, Jenny and I walked around LV until I found the perfect pocketbook. It had my name written all over it. I purchased it with love.

As the three of us sat waiting for my handbag to be monogrammed with my three initials, GTB, we sat eating macarons and drinking sparkling water that the store manager kindly offered us. The presentation of the macarons and sparkling water was lovely and we felt like Christmas queens.

After all, it was Christmas and we wanted to enjoy every second of the season.  

When the manager brought my beautifully packaged gift we went to a few other stores window browsing. 

We walked through the mall window shopping and had a ball talking and laughing. The mall was merry and bright and filled with Christmas shoppers from one end of the mall to the other. I loved seeing how happy the people were. Christmas has a wonderful way of pouring out love from the hearts of people everywhere. 

Now time was quickly passing and winding down as it always does when you are in the company of love.

Jenny, Amanda and I were hungry and it was time for us to have an early dinner and make our way home afterwards. I was tired and felt I needed to nap. 

We left the mall and went to Capital Grille for dinner. The food was incredible. I had lobster Mac and Cheese. Talk about delicious. Jenny and Amanda shared a plate of large crab cakes and their sides. They said it was more than delish. 

Right after my best friends and I engaged in an awesome conversation and amazing food we headed home. We had a fantastic time. Three close friends sharing, spending and showing love one to another is simply an awesome way to spend part of the holiday season and we appreciate one another and our friendship more than we could ever express with words. 

Amanda, Jenny and I hugged and they headed home. 

Now that we were all home safe and sound it was time for me to relax and enjoy a warm cup of chamomile tea. My husband was on his way home and I wanted his company for the rest of the evening. 

As I sat comfy and cozy awaiting my husband’s arrival I fell asleep. It wasn’t too long after I fell asleep that my husband came home and planted a warm kiss from his lips to my rosy red cheek. What a lovely way to wake up.

Not long after my husband’s sweet warm kiss woke me up we sat talking for a few minutes before we turned on Home Alone and fell asleep not long thereafter.

When we woke up I gave my husband his Christmas gifts and I opened mine from him. 

I still had another gift to open which was my Christmas present to myself.

Looking for my lovely gift I noticed that the packaging was completely different. However, I didn’t say a word, but I must say that I was scratching my head puzzled. I opened my gift that I bought from the LV store to show my husband. 

As I opened the gift I even noticed that the pocketbook had a little more weight to it than it did at the store. I opened my beautiful bag and found another gift inside. There was the most stunning red gift box inside my handbag. I nervously, but excitedly removed the gift box from my LV bag.

My husband said, Merry Christmas beautiful! Open your gift. When I opened the gift box my eyes saw the reddest Ruby ring I had ever seen in my life.  It was, indeed, the reddest Ruby to shine in my eyes. 

The day had dawned and Christmas was shining through the window of our comfortable living room. My husband and I enjoyed the day. I made brunch and then we had Christmas dinner. By the end of the night we were on our way to the hospital.

Little Baby Cyn was born. She was fine and healthy. My husband and I looked at each and said Merry Christmas. Love has come into the world. We are still smiling.

May the reddest ruby for Christmas warm your spirit and bless your heart.

Story Written by Cyn

www.wreathonmydoor.com

www.beautyandtheface.com

www.achampagnechristmas.com

 

 

 

How To Have a Delightful Christmas Brunch

It’s Christmas Morning and Time To Enjoy a Wonderful Christmas Brunch

A Festive and Delicious Christmas Brunch

How to have a festive and delicious Christmas Brunch.

Looking for a festive and delicious way to celebrate Christmas morning? Skip the presents for a bit and gather around a delightful Christmas brunch!

From sweet treats to savory delights, there’s a perfect recipe to satisfy every palate. Imagine fluffy cinnamon rolls dripping with icing, alongside a cheesy strata packed with sausage and vegetables.

Or perhaps a lighter option like a vibrant fruit salad served with homemade granola and yogurt parfaits.

With a little planning and preparation, you can create a memorable and stress-free brunch that will become a cherished holiday tradition.

Enjoy a festive and delicious Christmas Brunch and have a Merry Christmas!

Cyndi

A Champagne Christmas

Love for the Skin

How to Live a Phenomenal Life

Christmas Is Still Lingering In My Home and I Love It

Christmastime is a Feeling That Never Leaves My Heart

Christmas Is Still Lingering In My Home and I Love It

Christmas is still lingering in my home and I love it!

I know it’s February and Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but forever Christmas remains with me.

Whenever I think about Christmas and all the joy that comes along with this special time of the year I smile. I smile because I love how the holiday season hugs me.

Furthermore, I love the shopping, baking, caroling and singing. 

For me, Christmastime brings hope to my heart and home. There is a special sensation that enfolds every inch of my being during the holidays and I embrace this feeling every year with gratitude.

Unwrapping gifts of hope, peace, joy and good cheer keep me uplifted and amazed. 

Christmas 2025 will be celebrated with more family traditions, thankfulness and a whole lot of wonder accompanied by beauty and splendor.

Whatever your plans are for the Christmas holidays plan accordingly and get ready early. This way you can sit back, rest and relax and enjoy the celebration!

The Christmas season will be upon us before long and we want to make sure that we enjoy every second of the most wonderful time of the year.  

Christmas is still lingering in my home and I love it. I always have and will.

Here’s to planning for a very amazing Merry Christmas.

‘Tis the season to be jolly, holly and happy.

With peace and love,

Cyn

www.wreathonmydoor.com

Christmas in my Home

How I Welcomed the Holiday Season into my Home

Welcoming New Christmas Holiday Traditions

Welcoming New Christmas Holiday Traditions for 2025 and beyond.

Christmas 2024 was very special to me. All of my Christmases are dear to my heart.

Last year I started a new Christmas tradition and I am happy that I did. You see, Christmas comes around quickly and I want to enjoy every second leading up to the most wonderful time of the year.

So when the Spirit of Christmas spoke to my heart I leaped for joy and began decorating my home in October.

Instead of waiting until November 1st to decorate my home for the holiday season, I got started super early. I was so excited to get the Christmas festivities underway I began decorating October 1st. Yes, I sure did. Talk about elated I couldn’t wait to fill every inch of my beautiful home with wonder and splendor.

New Christmas Traditions for My Heart, Home and My Family

Welcoming New Christmas Holiday Traditions

I put up my Christmas tree and placed three ornaments on it; one purple and two red baubles. I didn’t feel the need to cover my tree with an array of ornaments because the lights on the tree were more than enough to make me and my family smile. It was beautiful just as it was. Those bright-enough white lights gave my living room a soft warm glow that said welcome to all who enter.

After I was finished with the tree I decorated my coffee and sofa tables with my usual stunning red and gold decor. I never tire of using these same decorations year after year. They glitter and sparkle which makes them so very beautiful.

I Love Celebrating the Christmas Season While Creating Special Memories with Family

Every night around 5 pm I’d sit in the midst of inspiration enjoying whimsy and wonder as they blanketed every area of my first floor.

With the lamps turned off and my deep red Christmas hurricanes all lit up, a warm sensation would clothe me in love and I embraced each and every moment of the beauty.

Even though Christmas has come it never leaves. I still see Christmas miracles all around me and I’m grateful for them all. The holiday season has always been and always will be filled with unspeakable joy that warms my heart and home forever.

Welcoming new Christmas holiday traditions is a great to keep the holiday season special.

I hope you had a phenomenal Christmas celebrating the love, joy and good cheer.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Cyn

Home

Home

Best Time of the Year

Christmas is the Best Time of the Year and Here’s Why

 

Best time of the year

Not only is Christmas the best time of the year it is also the most wonderful time of the year. Here’s why.

During the Christmas season we get to experience the presence of more love. This special kind of sincere love seems to appear more than any other time of this e year because it does. The love is real.

In the midst of this joyful season hearts are warmer. People are more loving. Hearts more giving. Spirits are sweeter and good cheer spreads from one heart and home to another. We are merrier and brighter.

Every year at Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year, we look forward to the joys, sounds and songs of this sensational season.

Hearing the jingle of the b-e-double-l-s we smile. Shopping for family, baking cookies, making candy and cooking the most delicious mouth-watering dishes to scape our tables are those activities that we look forward to every year during the most loving time of the year.

Do you hear what I hear. Love is coming around again. Christmas 2025 is coming to a home near you.

Tis the season to be jolly, happy and thankful.

Cyndi

Gifts for Christmas

Best Store for Christmas Trees

The Missing Christmas Gift

A Christmas Evening I Will Always Remember and Cherish Forever

The Missing Christmas Gift

It was Christmas Eve and it was time to wrap gifts. I had 7 pretty gifts that needed wrapping and I wanted to get them all finished by 3 pm because I also had to make butter cookies and a sour cream pound cake in addition to making my annual Christmas Eve dinner.

I headed to my bedroom and when I got there I went straight to my closet where my gift were stored. I took all 7 gifts out from the closet, laid them on my bed and spread them out to make sure that they were all there.

As I browsed over each gift I noticed that there were only six Christmas presents and I had bought 7. I immediately headed back to my closet to find the other gift, but to my dismay I did not see it nor could i find it. The most important gift of all was missing.

Carefully and slowly thinking back I went back to my bedroom closet and searched frantically to find the 7th gift, but it was nowhere to be found. I sat on my bed for a moment thinking back on the day that I put my presents away. Had I hidden the gift from myself and simply can’t remember where I placed it. My oh my. I was upset that I couldn’t think with a clear mind.

i keep asking myself – Where could the other Christmas gift be?

The Missing Christmas Gift

Since I was unable to find the missing gift I decided to wrap the other six Christmas presents hoping that I would remember where the other gift may have been. After I was finished wrapping all of my gifts I spent a few more quiet seconds in my mind and in my closet trying to understand what could have happened to the missing Christmas gift. I was still baffled at this point because there was still no thought or trace of that seventh gift.

Time was quickly moving on and I still had to cook Christmas Eve dinner for my family and a few dear friends. Preparing for the Eve of Christmas and all its warmth and wonder I hurried along with my dinner plans for my family.


It’s time to celebrate the love of Christmas while the missing gift is still in my thoughts

The Missing Christmas Gift

We were all super excited and could not wait for the Christmas festivities to begin in our home. I made a delicious dinner, baked a batch of moist butter cookies and a sour cream pound cake. I also made a basket of homemade dinner rolls to compliment all the flavors that helped make my dinner a Christmas feast my family would never forget..

It was six o’clock and the festivities were under way!  We happily started the festivities adorning our bright and beautiful red and green attire. We were surprised to see that it was snowing too!

The tree in our living room was brightly lit. Gifts were tucked underneath the tree, dinner was hot and ready to be served. Songs of the season were the perfect backdrop for a joyous holiday celebration. Dessert was lovingly spread out on the elegantly decorated serving table and of course we were elated for the sparkle of the night which has always been that special moment of our yearly tradition that the kids look forward to on Christmas Eve which is the one-gift opening moment!


After celebrating such a wonderful evening our home became a silent night

The Missing Christmas Gift

I must say that it was a miraculous evening as it always is. Even though I still hadn’t figured out what happened to my other I had a joyous time with my family.

By the time the night was done, my kids were in bed dreaming of Santa coming down the chimney, eating a warm plate of homemade butter cookies and a chilled tall glass of milk.

Feeling blessed, warm and renewed my husband joined me as I sat in silence with peace in my spirit. We had a conversation with thanksgiving in our hearts for each other, our children, our warm and loving home and most importantly Jesus. He has always been and always will be the Reason for the Joy in the Season.

Talking to my husband I mentioned the missing gift to him. I asked him had he seen it and of course I knew the answer before he spoke. He had not seen nor did he know anything about any of the gifts and honestly I didn’t expect him to.

Close to midnight, it was now time for hubby and me to go to bed and let Santa come in and do what he does best, delivering smiles to homes on this cold winter night.


We snuggled into bed and quickly fell sound asleep

Before I knew it our precious pearls, our sweet little kids came running into our room at the break of dawn.  I somehow managed to get up and embrace Christmas morning while my kids opened their presents. My husband and I also exchanged gifts.

After we all had opened all of our Christmas gifts I noticed that there was one gift under the tree that no one had opened. My husband went under the tree and grabbed the gift. He said, honey, this gift is for you. He handed it to me and said, open it. I surprisingly opened the colorful radiant red Christmas wrapping paper and was in awe of what I found in the small little gold box.

You see every year I treat myself to a special trinket at Christmastime. This year I decided to treat my husband to a special trinket which was the missing gift that I could not find in my closet. My husband took the special trinket that I bought for him and replaced it with a diamond necklace for me. Was I surprised? I was shocked to say the least. What a beautiful Christmas gift he had given me and he softly spoke and said, because you deserve it. Merry Christmas my darling were the loving words that he spoke to me. I’m still smiling.

Merry Christmas Luminaries

Cynthia

www.beautyandtheface.com

www.wreathonmydoor.com

 

The Best Sweet Potato Pie Ever

A Recipe of Sweet, Sweeter, Sweetness Called Sweet Potato Pie

 

The Best Sweet Potato Pie

The best sweet potato pie recipe is here!

My mother, God bless her, made a sweet potato pie that was too good to be true. She was the greatest cook and baker.

I watched her every move in the kitchen and remember every ingredient that lovingly went into that thick strong glass bowl each and every time she created deliciousness all throughout the year. 

At Thanksgiving I could smell those tasty pies permeating throughout our home. When they touched my tongue my tummy smiled.

Now I bake these same pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas. My husband and children love them.

Here’s the recipe.

  • Five large sweet potatoes
  • Butter
  • Carnation Milk
  • White sugar
  • Brown sugar
  • Nutmeg
  • Ginger
  • Cinnamon 
  • 3 frozen pie shells

Christmas Friends I do not measure any of my ingredients. All I can suggest is that you use them to your liking, your own taste. 

One thing I can tell you is that I do bake my pies for about an hour. They turn out perfectly amazing every time. Brown and tan in color with rich velvety goodness define this heavenly warm slice of love.

Have yourself a very amazing Merry Christmas,

Cyndi

www.achampagnechristmas.com

Christmas is Love Peace and Joy

 Christmas Miracles Happen When Love Enters Into Our Hearts 

Christmas Miracles and Love

Christmas miracles and love.

Christmas is love and when we invite this special time of year into our hearts and homes we get to experience overflowing joy that majestically flows in clothing and warming us with Christmas presence.

Wonder becomes splendor and the two become expressions of love that await Christmas miracles making wishes come true. This happens when we close our eyes to dream.

We open our eyes to see the beauty of the holiday season and we smile.

Gifted to us we receive an abundance of peace and joy and maybe even those things which our hearts desire or that which we need.

Love continuously wraps and warms us and we are given ornaments of grace.

Enjoy Christmas and take time to sit relax and think of the beauty of this sensational holiday season.

There is no time like Christmastime. It is truly a time to love and a time to give and to welcome family friends to gather around and love each other sincerely.

Lasting love endures and Christmas lives in our hearts forever and always. This season why not let joy, all the love and peace become our way of living and speaking. When we do this  Christmas happens everyday because Christmas is love.

 

Merry Christmas Eve Everyone

Cyn

beautyandtheface.com

Let’s Decorate for Christmas

It’s Time To Decorate the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Christmastime!

Let's Decorate The Christmas Season

Good Day Christmas Luminaries.

Christmas is right around the corner and I’ll be ready when it arrives. I’m ready for the decorating to begin. Are you with me?

Let’s decorate the Christmas season together.

Are you ready to decorate for Christmas? I know I am.

If you’re ready or getting ready, please stay and join me and let’s get started brightening our homes with all things Christmas.

First things first.

I have a gold basket that I fill with white lights. To that design and my family’s delight I’ll add red and gold bulbs. I love this creation because it lights up my entire living room when I turn off the lights at night. The lights in the basket are bright to lend just the right ambiance for the space.

Secondly I will decorate my coffee table. I will add a lovely Christmas runner and build on it. I’ll be adding a gold tray with the perfect pop of colors. Purple and red Christmas ornaments will complement this one of a kind Christmas design.

From there I’ll decorate my sofa table with my gold reindeer large and small. I’ll also add lights to this table with green garland.

I’ll also be showcasing my cute little gingerbread couple and all of my Christmas signs.

Beautiful Christmas Decorations Warm the Heart Morning, Noon and Bright

My living room is where I spend most of my time throughout the holiday season. I will be adding a multitude of lights on my window sill of my picture window and I cannot wait.

When the decorating begins I’ll be playing songs of the season and to name a few will be Jingle Bells, It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year and Holy Night.

Now starting in October, the 15th to be exact, the Christmas decorating will begin. I plan to take photos to post so that you can see how it all ties together.

Please visit often so that you can see my lovely Christmas decor.

Thank you for stopping by.

Merry Christmas.

Cyn

Christmas Is Coming

Season’s Greetings, Christmas Luminaries,

Welcome to Christmas in my home

Christmas in my home

Can you believe Christmas is right up the road. I am so excited I cannot wait to put up my Christmas tree and decorate my entire house from top to bottom for this joyous holiday season!

Here’s how I plan to decorate my home this year.

Every year at Christmas I create a theme for the most wonderful time of the year. This year my  theme will be gold reindeer and beautiful Christmas angels. My color palette will be the Christmas tradition that I grew up with and simply love which is red and green with a little bit of gold mixed in.

Starting at the front door I will add a lovely traditional Christmas wreath. Should you enter into my home physically or by your imagination, you will see two gold reindeer comfortably nesting in my warm candle lit living room. To this gorgeous display I will also be adding red hurricanes, by Valerie Parhill, that I purchased on QVC. They are simply gorgeous.

Christmas Is Coming and I’ll Be Ready

Christmas in my home

In addition to all of this Christmas wonder, stringed white lights will accompany the greenest garland joyfully laid across the window sill for beauty and splendor. This window brings a lot of light into my home. 

Last year I bought a cute little gingerbread couple that I found on QVC so I will be sure to put them out for a conversation piece. I got them on sale for a really great price.

A few years ago I purchased Luminara candles, a special collection from, again, QVC. They will go on my coffee table up against the wall in my great room. They will add a soft light affect throughout my home this Christmas.

It won’t be long before Christmas in my home will come to life. I am truly looking forward to Christmas 2024 and as I countdown the days until Christmas I will be dreaming of this special holiday season and enjoying the love that it brings.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

From A Champagne Christmas