My Favorite Time of Year

I love Christmastime!  Now that the open house at Carriage House is over, I can try to focus on my own home.  I am so behind this year on just about everything.  Usually I'm done shopping for gifts by October, but this year I'm just finishing up now.  I want to make sure that I have time to enjoy the season, so I want to be caught up soon.

Right after Thanksgiving, I start to decorate my house for Christmas.  Vintage Christmas usually.

I love to go through the boxes to see what treasures are inside.  I'm always in awe at what wonderful pieces I have.  I set up three aluminum trees with each one having their own theme.  This one is vintage glass ornaments.

I love to combine vintage with newer vintage looking pieces like the Merry Christmas star.  The red truck was a find in January that I have been changing each season.  I love it!

I found a box of vintage ornaments recently at a sale for $2.  They look great in the Westmoreland milk glass sleigh that was also a garage sale find a few years back for $10 and the reindeer sleigh was 25 cents.  Too cute to pass up.

The ironstone pitchers that I found this summer at garage sales look nice on top of the piano in a simple vignette.  Once again, vintage with a newer Peace dress form works well together. I also like to change my doily seasonally.  Right now I'm using vintage Christmas towels in place of a doily.

In the bookcases, I just like to overfill them with my collections of Santas, elf figures and angels. I pick a few every year to bring out.  There is always way too many to set up so I try to rotate them every year.

I added a Santa to my aluminum piece that I purchased at the Wendell August Forge showroom in PA this summer.  The piece is too lovely to put away and was the perfect stand for Santa.

A few years ago, I made quite a few felt stars with a vintage piece attached to the front.  I needed something extra to decorate a few packages this year, so I made a few more.

I found those vintage star ornaments in different colors at a garage sale this year and knew that they would be perfect.  Next I may try the blue or pink ones.

I still have a few more packages to get ready, but with some holiday music and creme brulee coffee, I'm ready for anything.

Happy treasure hunting!