Christmastime

I love Chistmastime and all the glitz, sparkle and bling that surrounds it.  I always did.  My favorite job was working in a department store and seeing it all decorated at Christmastime. As I was growing up, we had a silver aluminum tree.  I always thought it was the ugliest thing I ever saw.  My mom eventually threw it out.  It was even in the original box.  Well guess what.  All of these years later, I have 3 miniature silver aluminum trees and I think that they are wonderful.  My favorite one was used in a department store as a  prop.  Each aluminum tree has a theme.  The smallest one is decorated with vintage Santas, one is decorated with vintage elves and other figures and the third one is decorated with ball ornaments either glass or some other material.

I collect vintage ornaments all year round.  I especially love elves and Santas.  My collection has grown, but I love to see it every year.  It brings me so much delight.  I don't put out everything; I don't have the display space for it.  We put up our tree on Sunday.  (We always buy it at Menards and it was only $22.88. )  It is the best tree we have ever had.  It is so full and is still drinking water, so I can keep it up until after the New Year without it losing all of its needles.  The kids kept asking me if we were done decorating it because I have so many ornaments to put on the tree.  It was never ending.  We tailored it down and put on as many ornaments as we could fit without making it look tacky.  It is splendid!

I was at Interiors Anew yesterday and found some vintage ornaments.  One of my favorites is an elf made with pinecones.  It was made in Japan.  I have a nice collection of them.  They are pretty old and so neat.  I don't display them too often since they are rather fragile.

Besides decorating for Christmas, I have been going through my collections and have begun listing some things on Ebay.  That should keep me busy throughout the winter.   Next, onto the kids stuff.

Carriage House Christmas Open House

The Carriage House Antiques in Crystal Lake held their Christmas open house this weekend.  I like to stop by on the first night which was Thursday evening, but Austin had a basketball game.  So, I went on Friday and had fun looking at all of the Christmas ornaments.  I managed to find an elf ornament that I didn't have.  An elfs head was on a star.  I had not seen an ornament like that before.  I had to have it.  I bought a few more ornaments that I didn't have.  It's getting harder and harder to find vintage ornaments that I like or don't have.  I couldn't believe the collection of vintage ornaments that I have.  I will take pictures of my "Christmas wonderland" and post them soon.  I found my mom a holiday troll in a Santa suit.  It is really cute (if a troll can be cute).  I also found a really nice vintage pin.  My collection keeps growing.  I entered their raffle and ate some cookies too.  This is a really neat store to find unique items.  I especially like going to their holiday sale.

I have gone to some estate sales and charity sales and haven't found anything worth while lately.  I am happy to say that the vintage Florida tablecloth that I found at the Goodwill sold on Ebay the other day.  I made a nice profit!  That makes looking at sales all the more fun.

Now is the time of year that I want to purge my house.  I will start in the kids rooms soon and look for more shelving options to hold their growing collections.  We will begin sorting things for our garage sale in April.  Everything is starting to look too cluttered.  I will post pictures of my decorating additions in the near future.

Here is a good deal that I took advantage of on Tuesday at the Sears Outlet in Woodstock.  Every Tuesday until the end of December, if you are a Sears/Kmart reward member, you get 1 piece of clothing for free.  I got Ethan a shirt since he has been outgrowing all of his shirts.  At least Austin is getting a nice wardrobe from it.  I will be going every Tuesday for 1 item.  Deals can be found everywhere; if you are willing to look for them.

Also, TJMaxx in Crystal Lake had some great clearance items this week.  I happened to be there on the day that everything was being marked down and put out.  I bought some items for gifts and stocked up on candles.  When the kids and I packed the teacher's gifts last night, we had enough candles for each of them plus the cowls that I had been knitting.  (Each cowl has a pin on it.  I like to put decorative pins on the cowls and bags that I knit.  The pin then is an additional gift).   I think their gifts this year are really nice; if I do say so myself.    We went through my box of gift items and finally used gift items that I have been storing for awhile.  It pays to buy things throughout the year when the prices are good, so that you always have gifts on hand for when you need them.  I need to restock my gift giving box now.  Another incentive to keep looking for those deals.