Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!  We finally made it home from my Mom and Dad's house.  Today was lovely.  Time with family, a wonderful meal, thoughtful gifts, tons of snow, and a true day of peace, joy and contentment!

I thought I'd share my passion for Christmas and its decorations.  I have a rule when it comes to Christmas decorating...everything I purchase has to be my age or older, a reproduction of something my age or older.  I totally also decorate with items gifted to me or those made by family and friends!  I started collecting Christmas decorations waaaay before I married Greg almost 24 years ago.  The trimmings and trappings of the season really and truly pull at my heart strings!

I used to decorate the whole house, but lately, I have been content to just decorate the "Ladies Parlous".

I love antique post cards and tuck them into the frames of my pressed ferns.

My sweet Mama embroidered this stocking for me when I was very young.  She did a stellar job on it!

 

The pinecone ornament is one that my Colton made when he was a Cub Scout.

A stack of children't books from the 1940s and 1950s.  There is even a Family Circle Women's magazine from 1960.

The reproduction candy tin holds cards from the 1930s.  I thought they were 1940s, but last night I looked through them and the recipient of the cards wrote the dates they were received on the inside!  Fabulous!

The antique paper mache goose decoy came from a thrift store.  The pressed paper Christmas scene is from the Edwardian era.  Mom gave me the reproduction chocolate pot set last year.

A sleigh very similar to this one sat on my kitchen table when I was a child.  Mom gave hers away years ago.  One day while at a thrift store, I came across this one!  Don't know if it is the same one, but that would be fun!  It now holds vintage Christmas lights...my favorite ones are the American Flag Chinese lantern and the Santa.

Vintage home made tree skirt also came from a thrift store.  The cat we had years ago decided that the pom poms would be a tasty treat!

I also had antique chenille candy canes on my tree growing up.  I found a full set of 12 at an estate sale!

My Cody "made" this ornament when he was about 2 when I was working at a daycare center.  I have strings and strings of glass garland, the first one coming from my Grandma!

The paper mache love birds, cotton batting snowman and celluloid angel in the moon all came from an Estate sale.

Some of the funnest ornaments we have are ones that spin when air currents waft by them.  Those came from Greg's Grandma who hung them on her tree in the 1950s!

I love novelty candles.  Sadly, many of them melted in hot attics.  Happily I have been able to acquire many from family members!

This wonderful nativity came from my Grandparents.  It was made in Occupied Japan from chalk.

I love old boxes, whether they be ornament hook boxes, gift boxes, candle boxes or boxes of real spun glass angel hair!  The novelty gift wrapping tape is so fun!

This fabulous box of lights dates from 1927!  They still work and burn HOT!  The bottom hat box is very old as well.

I saw on Pinterest stacks of SHINY BRITE ornament boxes and thought, "Hey! I have those boxes!"  So, I made stacks with my boxes!

Bottle brush trees and cardboard houses dusted with mica are also a favorite of mine.

Many of the antique and vintage ornaments on our tree come from both Greg's and my Grandparents.  I love knowing that these very ornaments adorned trees lovingly decorated in the 1940s and 1950s by those that we loved!

I think this was my very first Christmas decoration.  A crazy awesome bees wax nativity that was once covered with gold leaf.  It belonged to my Great-Grandma Nonnie.

A plastic Santa stands guard over fun Christmas records. 

My tree topper is like the one that used to sit on top of my Mom's tree when she was a little girl.  I found one for Mom at an antique store a couple of years ago and then I found this one for me!  I love this little cherub!

Well, that's all from our house.  I hope your day was a truly good one.  That you had a sense of peace and joy.

Blessings!

g