Welcome
DAO Designs
David A. Olsen
Radko Collector's
Links
Contact

 

 
Christmas 2006

[ Open House ] [ Our Godchildren ] [ Commitment Ceremony ] [ Photography ] [ Woodinville Pond ] [ Christmas Decorations ] [ Our Home ]

These are the first pictures that I have taken with a Canon Rebel XT.  I used several pre-programmed settings to take these pictures. 

Each image is 1.3 - 1.90 megs to provide additional detail of the images.

This is the view as you step into our home looking to your right.  The tree and garland are ornaments by Patricia Breen.Looking to your right as you enter our home you will find a 10" tree of Disney exclusives by Christopher Radko with a 50th Anniversary train around the base of the tree. 

Going up the stairway are Radko balls and drops leading to the second Disney tree which is filled with Disney exclusives and Italian versions of Disney ornaments.

As you enter the formal living room you see the Breen tree which is on a spinner, the Asian tree, the Christopher Radko Russian Santa tree in the formal dining room, that is, if you don't get stopped by seeing the 10" tree of Radko Italian pieces.

 

This is one view of the Disney tree in the entry way.  For another view, click here.This view is looking from the formal living room into the formal dining room.  The archway has been decorated with Radko Italian and favorite Santas.This tree is decorated with Christoff Santas and the Highlands Store Exclusive Glitterazzi Santa.

On either side are Christopher Radko Schaller Santa candy containers.

 

One view of the Patricia Breen tree.  This tree spins to present a full view of the tree.  This is the first year for the Breen ornaments to fill a tree, and additional ornaments were put on the banister behind the tree.This year I did some tree toppers at the Tacoma Dome Gift show and liked the way that they looked so I added this to the Italian tree themed tree below.

 

This is the main tree with 5,150 GKI lights, approximately 475 Italian ornaments by Christopher Radko.

When I did the trees for the Tacoma Dome Gift show we found a lady who made elves and banners. The banner that is on this tree is "May all your dreams come true."

The Asian themed tree for 2006 has a Japanese wedding kimono on one side with a obi on the opposite side.  Antique silk fabric has been used as the tree skirt. 

Ornaments on this tree are by Christopher Radko, Patricia Breen, antique balls, Luna Moth and others.

The fans used at the top of this tree are antique Japanese and Chinese fans.

Each year I do a reprise tree of the previous year.  When I started working on this tree I was placing each of the Russians and then started filling in with other non-Italian pieces but decided to go with just the Russian Santas by Christopher Radko.  These include the Julie Andrews Russian Santa which I received as birthday gift in 2006.

The banner on this tree is very simple - "Believe" which reflected the music from the invitation this year.  The music was taken from The Polar Express.

 

Going through the formal dining room you will see this Santa.  He was originally a mold for paper maiche pieces from the 1950's through 1960's.  There is actual scoring on the sides where the paper maiche was cut from him.Above are some of the Santa pieces that we have collected over the last several years.  These are in the family room and are on either side of the television. 

You may click on either image to get a larger image for viewing.

The finial display in the formal living room.  Additional finials were displayed in other areas, but I realized that I needed a LOT more stands as I had 3 full containers that I did not display this year.

 

This is another piece that we found at the Tacoma Dome Gift show.  He was on the stairway to greet our visitors throughout the holiday season.This is the kimono that was in the entryway for this year.  The other Christmas themed kimono was in the Asian tree.Rob's tree for 2006.

This tree is filled with Christopher Radko, Patricia Breen, Hallmark and handmade ornaments along with other pieces that Rob has collected over the years, some of which were from his grandmother.

The icicles on this tree are made of tin that we found when we visited my parents in eastern Oregon.

The banner on this tree says "Be Naughty save Santa a trip"

 

This is the western themed tree in the family room along with Rob's tree.

Ornaments are mostly by Christopher Radko along with hand carved kachinas, ornaments by southwest Indians and other pieces that we have collected over the years.

Each year I try to come up with a new idea for this tree, but it is hard to find ornaments that fit this theme. 

This year the finial is made from a straw hat, boots by Boulet (yes, these are real western boots), bandanas in southwest colors and a grape ivy garland holds it all together.  I let it sit for 3 days prior to adding any of the ornaments to the tree just to make sure that it stayed in place.

 

This is the preview tree for 2007.  The 10" tree in the formal living room will be filled with balls and drops by Christopher Radko.  Vintage themed ornaments will be included as drops next year.Two different views of the bubble tree. In the image on the right you can see the column of water as it changes to the dark blue.

While we have had this tree for several years, I have finally figured out what to do with it!  Next year it will be filled with smaller ornaments and possibly the garland will be changed to a flocked garland.

Floral Arrangements

Each year I make new floral arrangements to be used throughout the house.  In a previous life prior to working at Microsoft I did floral design.

This arrangement is to the left of the Radko Italian tree.  It is made of burgundy calla lilies that have been covered in large chunks of glitter in an antique Chinese case.This piece is in the formal dining room.

 

In the upstairs hallway outside the master suite is this arrangement in an antique Japanese incense pot.At the end of the upstairs hallway, outside the computer room you can find this floor standing arrangement.

 

This arrangement is at the landing going to the upstairs and is seen as you enter our home.  There is always some sort of arrangement on this antique Chinese cabinet.  The ornaments are hand carved by Barbara Scoles. To view the detail of these ornaments, select each of the following.  A, B, and C.  She has also done a Santa face that we have in our Family Room this year.

The standing Santa is a prototype by Jim Schurr and the teddy bears on the floor are Steiff bears with the Swarovski annual snowflake around their necks.  The other teddy bear is one that I picked up this year just because he was calling out my name.