A friend of mine recently told me she hasn’t seen a Christmas decoration in orange. I immediately reminded her of this image I posted last Christmas by the glamorous Mary Mcdonald. Once I got home, I started browsing through my old issues of Veranda magazine when I came across these images that were published December 2005. This stunning 16th-c home located in France’s Loire Valley region belongs to San Francisco designer Stephen Shubel. The house is filled with antiques, vintage and new furniture pieces and decorated with crystal, silver candelabrum, mercury glass accessories from Mis En Demeure in Paris and old decorative papers wrap gifts. There are more images of this home in Stephen Shubel’s website.

“A living nativity scene is created by costume townsfolk in the ancient town square outside the home’s front door. Sights and sounds of the season, complete with the caroling of bells from a church on the square, transform this otherwise quiet place” How magical should this be. Sometimes we forget the real meaning of Christmas and just reading this makes my heart fill up with awe.

Photos scanned by/for Bellevivir by Thibault Jeanson via Veranda.