Living Room

Yep. That's how it's going to be. I just wanted to let you know up front. Plus, if I get it over with right away, it's less apt to give you nightmares. I hope. I'm sure you'll feel better when you find out that I didn't pay for this particular gem. I'm not even real sure how or when I got it. But the important thing is, that I did. And, in case you are wondering..it's plastic, not porcelain or ceramic. I'm not the queen of England, over here! That's 100% unadulterated, painted plastic. With glitter. I feel like I could end most sentences that way. With glitter.

Next we move to the snowman vignette. These guys sort of developed into a collection without my knowledge or participation. One day I didn't have any, the next I had a whole family. They just sort of showed up. *shrug* The little angel is a candle. My grandmother had one just like it when I was little. She had another which was composed mostly of brown wax, where this one is yellow. I was convinced that they were, in fact, treats. I cannot tell you how many times I held them, smelled them and placed a tentative tongue to their surfaces. They never tasted like treats, but I tested them every year, just in case. I think they reminded me of pudding.


The mantle. More trees, lights and little houses. This is where the more subdued trees reside. No flashy red and white trees here.

Exhibit A.

Lots of vintage stuff.

The little truck is the husband's. It delivers trees to little paper houses every year, without fail.


The tree. This year we tried to rein it in a little. Ever since we moved in we've been getting progressively larger trees. Our house is small. But, on the other hand, our ornaments are many. This is our favorite type of tree to get. A Frasier fir. They are very skinny, fit well in small spaces and the needles are not sharp, they are rounded. The branches tend to be sturdy, too. For heavy ornaments. Of which, I have a few. I won't even bother to tell you about the very nearly avoided Christmas Tree Crisis. Suffice it to say it involved creating a large, tree sized flower frog. That's what we get for dialing it back.


This is one of my favorite ornaments. The husband got it for me, early in our relationship. I'm not sure if we were even married yet. I think it came from Pier 1. It's pretty big, but light as a feather. It reminds me of the claymation Christmas special: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. You know? It's not perfectly round. I don't think it was made in a factory. Probably some little Chinese kid made 2,000 of them for 12 cents. Nicely done, kid. Nicely done. Probably someone from Pier 1 is going to come and have me arrested for saying that.


This is another favorite. My brother and I both have one. It's from Avon. I can't tell you how much I love Avon products. Just look at this guy! LOOK! It's ridiculously cute. Firstly, I love things that look like cookies and aren't. (I mean, I love things that look like cookies and are, too. Especially if I get to eat them.) Plus, the colors cause me joy that is close to physical pain. "Sea Green" as I call it, thanks to Crayola, was my favorite color when I was little. And it is again, now that I'm all growed up.


I ganked this guy from my mom. A teacher gave it to her when she was little. He's Humpty Dumpty. I believe he's Italian. He's actually listed in one of my Christmas collecting books. (Yes, one of them. As in, I have more than one.) Look at him. Little cutie. Over there flirting it up with Strawberry Shortcake. She's a strumpet.


This is our tree skirt. It's Martha Stewart. I think it was only like $20 or something. I had looked everywhere for a fun tree skirt. It took me forever to find one that I liked which was not $100. I nearly choked on tears of joy when I found this. It's got these trees all the way around, too! Come on people! Felt? Ric-rack? Mini pom-poms? The only way it could be made better? Come on, say it with me: With Glitter!!

Too true.