My Home for Christmas…

It seems like I was just posting about Halloween and now it’s Christmas Eve. A late Thanksgiving really messed me up this year. I feel like it’s been a mad rush since then to check everything off my “to do” list. I have managed to find some balance… I did watch just about every Christmas movie on Hallmark, Lifetime and Ion… it’s a sickness that I never plan to cure. I absolutely love watching Christmas movies… it really doesn’t matter how cheesy… I’m glued to the T.V. from the beginning of November until now.

I told myself that I needed to be conservative on new purchases for Christmas decor… it kind of worked, but let’s just say that Hobby Lobby, HomeGoods, T.J.Maxx and my favorite boutiques still got some of my money. This is the first year I borrowed a few items from friends, so that was fun.

The suitcase and ice skates were new this year… I got them back in October at an outdoor vintage and collectible show that I took photos of and never posted about. Seems to be a running theme with me.

I picked up the little toy truck for a few bucks at the Sacramento Antique show I always go to under the freeway… It has since moved to a new location, but I haven’t checked it out yet. I picked up two trucks, the other one was cream colored. I purchased some mini Christmas trees from the modeling section at Hobby Lobby and added them to the beds of the trucks.

I borrowed this awesome Royal typewriter from my girlfriend Carolyn.  I knew I wanted to type a letter to Santa to put on display.

The only problem was the typewriter doesn’t work too well, the red ink ribbon wanted to take over… so Adobe Illustrator, a typewriter font, some cool paper and I was good to go. I was happy with the results and it makes me smile every time I walk through my front door. Dan wanted to know how I selected the Cessna TTx and I told him that I did a little research and it looked like the most bad ass plane his pilot’s license would allow him to fly. He laughed… then asked if I had a spare million sitting around… duh, Santa has connections. You gotta believe!

Something else I borrowed this year was the rusted toy truck. My friend Aaron collects toy trucks and I knew it would be perfect for some bottle brush trees. I added some red berries I already had and hung some silver mercury glass ornaments on jute with painter’s tape to the back of the mirror and I loved the look.

I found a rust colored wire tree at HomeGoods and it balanced out the dresser.

Our sweater monogrammed stockings were hung from the dresser handles with more jute twine.

I added some fabric wrapped candy canes to our lamps…

Ho Ho Ho ribbon I found at HomeGoods was also added to the lamp shades… I just tied a small knot in the back since it faced the wall… a super easy holiday twist.

Another place I added ribbon was to an old wooden drawer I picked up several years ago at a garage sale. I used some small nails and tacked it straight onto the drawer… no glue so I can easily remove it. The felted dalmatian dog was purchased from a vendor at the Victorian Christmas in Nevada City – I fell in love the minute I saw it. The adorable dog reminded me of my childhood BFF’s dalmatian Sparky… great memories.

I used natural ornaments and jute twine balls along with fresh greens from the bottom of my Christmas tree to complete my dining room table centerpiece.

I added my candy cane sign to the top of my mailbox… then stuffed it with greens and more fabric covered candy canes. The rolled up newspaper is one my parents gave me from the 1960’s. The loop you see is from a set of old keys…

I had purchased the bell trees from my local grocery store last year… but decided to add more bells and some recipe books that I inherited from family. My German Santa (he’s a candy holder) made his way into my decor this year. I incorporated pine cones into the mix as well.

I went with stars, bells and reindeer on top of our entertainment center. The black and tan train case was a purchase this year from one of my favorite antique shops.

This snow globe is from Target’s Threshold line and it plays “Here Comes Santa Claus”  – I love it!

I LOVE having a real Christmas tree again. Finn was less than a year old last year and I didn’t want to risk it. This year we decided to place the tree on top of my old round dining room table and it worked out great! No puppy exploration or broken ornaments… and our house smells wonderful from the fresh pine scent. I could not get a good photo of the tree because it’s in front of a wall of windows… the glare was horrible and I didn’t want to break out my big photo lights… so this is what you get. 🙂

The tree is just shy of 6 feet… the star on top almost reaches the ceiling. I decided to break out all of the ornaments we’ve collected over the years. I took photos of some of my favorites.

A marionette violinist frog… why not?

How about a dancing frog with a top hate and cane? I swear, not into collecting  frogs… just loved these two ornaments.

A fish with a Christmas tree hat… now that’s fabulous!

A more traditional cross country skiing Santa…

An alligator with bows…

A peg-leg bulldog ornament… yes please!

Super special to me are the Danbury Mint schanuzer ornaments my Dad has been buying me since Higgins came into my life. Now that Higgins is gone, I feel like it’s a sweet reminder of my sweet,  little,  grey angel dog… each year it’s a new design… this year was a grey schnauzer next to a snowman and the year before that was one driving an old car. These are very dear to me and I make sure they are reinforced and actually tied onto branches.

My Aunt gave me some ornaments this year (Thank you so much!) that belonged to my Grandma and Grandpa. They are the most vibrant pinks, blues and silvers and I remember them hanging from their table top tree every year. I love that I have a special part of their Christmas tradition in my home. I miss all of my grandparents so much, especially this time of year. If you still have your grandparents, give them extra hugs… you are so lucky to still have them in your lives. I do adore watching my parents get to be grandparents to my niece, but man do I miss Christmas get-togethers at their houses.

I did hang a few on my tree this year, but loved the way they looked in my trifle bowl on the dresser in my office.

Speaking of my office… it turned into a wrapping center for the holidays. Besides being a little obsessed with Christmas decor… I might also have a slight obsession with beautiful wrapped packages. I put a lot of thought into wrapping each gift and I select papers that go together and purchase fabric ribbons with texture and unique gift tags. I’m sure it would be different if I was wrapping for kids… I’d go with shiny and bright kid friendly wrap and I did do that for my niece… but the rest get color coordinated boxes, tissue, ribbon and tags. It’s just what I do and I love that you can get deep discounted stuff at HomeGoods and T.J.Maxx to make it happen.

Wooden Danny Seo tags and beautiful Domain wooden spools of ribbon made their way into my cart and heart this year.

Love, Love, Love the vibrant reds and textured neutrals… I did splurge on these ribbon spools, the wooden box with 5 spools was $19.99. I did find some more manageable prices as well.

A big roll of jute twine is only a couple of bucks at the hardware store… solid color fabric spools can be found for a couple of bucks each.

I used recycled paper gift tags this year from World Market and HomeGoods. I have a ton of wrapping paper left over this year… I went a little crazy. $1.99-$3.99 a roll doesn’t seem like a lot, but it does add up.

The cookies have been baked, stocking stuffers have been selected, food has been purchased and prepped. I now look forward to spending some quality time with my family.  I’m sure it will be over before I know it and I just want to soak up as much as I can while it’s here.

What is something you love to do during the holidays? Besides my Christmas movie watching marathons, one of my favorite things to do is looking at Christmas light displays with my family and friends… I really admire the people that go all out.

Merry Christmas from my home to yours,