I'd Like to Live There

I am still trying to wrap my mind around the idea that it really is Christmas. Perhaps some snow would help. The weather has be mild, chilly but sunny. The garden looks  is dead and brown, as well it should be. Inside. Well, I am moving rather slowly toward the festiveness. I used to bake up a storm, decorate until there wasn't anyplace left to decorate. Shop until I dropped, with little energy left to wrap packages.

This year I just seem rather blaze` about the whole thing; however, I am working on decorating.  Would like to see what I have been doing?

I have a dear friend who changes her Christmas theme every year; she has 25 years of Christmas in her Christmas closet with each year carefully sorted theme by theme. She tweaks her themes each year by doing different color accents. She has the touch, the flare to decorate, and her home is always beautiful.

This year she won't be doing any of it. A month ago she tripped over the gas hose at the filling station, falling, and breaking 5 bones in her foot. She has spent the month at her daughter's house. A blessing in disguise really because they live nearly 3 hours away from each other and don't see each other all that often. So for her daughter to be her care-taker has been a very special time for them both. She is finally weight bearing, but will probably still have to some surgery to do some repair work. So she won't be decorating this year and she had such good plans.

Here, Christmas is traditional; it is about the memories, loving the old memories and making new ones and using the same decorations year after year after because I can relive all those years I as I put each piece in place.

Take a look to see what I mean:

I have decorated a pink tree for years. It is full of dolls and ballerinas, pink and gold balls, crystal snow flakes, golden glittered deer. The mosaic reflects the grandchildren, even though some of the ornaments do not reflect the pink theme: a pink ballerina for Lucy who dances, a goose for Elinore because she loves the geese that her other grandma buys in the spring; a sock monkey for Nathan, a snowman for Jacob, and a teddy bear for little Lily. 

You may notice that I don't have tree skirt to cover up the bottom of the tree. Good reason. Boone. He'd have it drug out and ripped to shreds before we could yell BOONE! The Santa has been under every tree since Heather's first Christmas, 40 years now. My mother made him for Heather's first Christmas in 1975. 

Sleeping in their storage box all year, the fairies, pretty dolls, and ballerinas always make me smile when I take the like off.

I collected these sweet angels a few years ago at Tuesday Morning. I think I finally bought all that the store had.

And sweet golden birds. The fancy one with the pink tail holds special memories. I purchased it from a little Christmas store in Stratford on Avon in 2006. The gold and bronze birds are Martha Stewart Home Depot, I think.

I adore this fairy ballerina tucked in the branches. She is a new this year: an ARC thrift store find.

Last year Hobby Lobby had the best Nutcracker ornaments. I only bought the Mouse King and Clara.

A pink tree filled with ballerinas would not be complete without the Nutcracker, now would it?

This dear fairy takes me back to Stratford on Avon. She is just so serene and peaceful. I was so lucky to get to England and these ornaments hold those precious memories.

Last year I used my Cricut to make this Christmas village out of paper. I love the putz houses, so that was the look that I was going for, but the poster board that I used didn't glitter very well.

None the less, I love the look in the dark.

I have added a it more, so later I'll take more photos for you.

Each year I find a new craft to make for little gifts. I showed you the little cars that I have been collecting to create little snowy vignettes in glass jars.This one I have given to Heather for her desk at work.  Let me tell you how I made them.

First, I scrounged around the house looking for all of the pretty glass containers I could find. I washed the with ammonia and dish soap to make them squeaky clean and sparkly in the light.  Hubby found this one for me when he was sorting through his aquarium stuff. It is an old Miracle Whip or peanut butter jar from back in the day before plastic. It does not have a lid, but it works.

A little owl ornament. I don't glue the trinkets down in the jar; instead, I used a goop that I use to anchor down things in the dollhouse. Non-oily. 

When I was a kid, my dad drove a 1946 Ford Panel truck like this one, so there is bit of a memory here. I use hot glue to attach the trees and other little figurines to the trucks. For my own jars that I plan to keep, I use the goop to hold them in place in the bottom of the jar. For those that I give away, I will hot glue the truck and trees to the jar. Then I sprinkle in the snow. This jar is lit with a string of lights powered by a nickel battery.

This year I kept the mantle simple. The Santa has been with us for years. I wanted him years ago and sweet hubby bought him from the high end florist where we were window shopping one evening. He paid too much for this birthday gift,  but that's what makes the memory so sweet today. The angel in the middle was a gift from my friend. She is fiber optic, so she literally glows at night. The last angel came from a crummy little hardware store out in Holyoke, CO years ago. We always visited our friends out there Thanksgiving weekend and Sherry would take me shopping. I found this angel who really looked like she had had better days, but I love her.

The lighted garland is new: Hobby Lobby. The bows are in year 3. I pack them carefully away.

I enjoy my decorations best late at night in the dark with the gas logs hot and glowing. It is very peaceful--a time when I can reflect on all of life's blessings.

One day next year I will do a blog on Thrift Shopping, but just let me say that this collection of houses was the find of the season. It is the Victorian Village Grandeur Noel 2002. In the box. Some minor breakage and a tree is missing. It was priced at $39.99. When I checked out, it rang up at 50% off. Oh my. Now that is thrift shopping at its best. (On ebay there is a set for  $189.00) I set it up here on the china hutch, but it just didn't work.

My Town Check out my post in 2012 to see the village piece by piece.

So this morning hubby added a shelf to the existing village that I wrote about last year. Oh. The last building on the shelf next to the merry-go-round is a Department 56 and so is the big ceramic tree on the shelf. I shopped an ACR in Denver yesterday with Heather only to discover an entire village. We bought 5 town buildings. I left 3 with her, kept one, and will give one to Jen. Department 56! 

It is a peaceful little village reflecting life at the turn of the 20th century, a place where I would like to live. I'll link to my post on it from 2012 year. ( I think it was one of my best written blogs) I thought I wrote a nostalgic post, but some odd reader (not one my regulars) took exception to my nostalgia and left a very mean spirited comment. I contemplated deleting it, but I left it. She does have a right to speak her mind. 

I love the fantasy of magic of Christmas, a time of year when there is joy in the air everywhere. In my home I want to remember my childhood memories and the 40 years of memories with my children and I want to keep making beautiful Christmas memories for my grandchildren.

Perhaps this week while the weather is still mild, I hope to get some decorating done outside. Lights on some of the trees, bows on the fence. Nothing fancy, just some Christmas spirit for the neighbors to enjoy.

Well, dear friends, now back to reality. Laundry and dishes. I am linking with Lavender Cottage so make sure that you stop by to see all of the other beautiful mosaics.

Have a great week. Thanks for taking time to visit.