Something for Sunday

Christmas is in the house! This post is photo heavy. The pictures are all mixed up, but you'll get the idea.

When I was at Morgan's over Thanksgiving, she introduced me to this Swiss Miss peppermint hot chocolate. Now I'm hooked. I'm leaving my Christmas mugs out. I bought the nutcracker one on the left in Quebec City, Canada last December. The one on the right is from London--a Christmas scene of the Tower Bridge.

Stephanie made this cute little Christmas tree for me years ago. 

You can see my champagne glass collection in the background. The Scrooge teapot is one of my most favorite Fitz and Floyd pieces. Over 25 years old.

This mantle scarf automatically makes everything Christmasy. Most of the stuff on the mantle is my regular stuff---vintage books, antique binoculars, camera, swing frames and scale. All I added was the big santa on the left, little sitting santa and some white glittery pinecones. There's an ornament of Highclere Castle--home of the Downton Abbey show--on top of the scale. Actually, that stays out year-round.

I think it was about 35 years ago that I started collecting these Murano glass Christmas trees. I bought one every year--half price after Christmas. They were around $400-$600, so the only way I could justify them was half price. 

Just a hodgepodge of random stuff with lots of glitter.

Sandy made the counted-cross-stitch Christmas house for me before Mitchell was born--so that's about 28 years old. It stays up permanently--not just at Christmas. The angel is another one of Morgan's childhood creations. The tree is made out of Christmas pins. That football shaped santa is a dimensional needlepoint piece. It has four panels. The poinsettia is a porcelain piece that my mother gave me.

These little vintage angels are some of my favorites. I can remember that we had something similar when I was little. The white tree is another Murano glass piece.

This needlepoint piece is from 2009. It was a class that Connie and I took at Nashville Needlepoint. When I was laid up, helped to finish hers. 

I love layering this vintage tablecloth every year. I really love vintage Christmas stuff. I don't have a lot, but a few things.

The dining room table is just a collage of things. 

These antique Christmas trees are a couple of my very favorite things. I bought them when we were on our Danube river cruise. I'm really hoping to snag a couple more when we take our Rhine river cruise this summer. We'll be visiting a German Christmas market--surely they'll have some. When I bought these two, there were dozens to choose from. It was hard to pick. They are from the 1920's--made with Swarovski crystals.

The ceramic Christmas tree was a Christmas present from a friend, Greta in the 1980's. I bought the little trees and the others you see here and there from her sister who made the big tree. The little manger scene was made by Morgan when she was in kindergarten. The little tree on the left with the ornaments came from one of our trips to Italy.

Okay, I guess that's enough. I have to admit, I really like how everything looks when it's done. But, I don't really enjoy doing it anymore. It's a lot of work. The whole time I'm putting it out, I'm already dreading the "take-down."

Every year I say I'm going to pare down. Next year for sure!