Living With Christmas

Why do I decorate for Christmas starting November 1st?  Because. I love it.  And I have a shit ton of decorations which take about two full weeks to put up.  (Two full weeks meaning the hours after dinner until bedtime.  I do have a job, people.)  And as I said before, I love Christmas.  These little bits of lights, glass, sparkle and shine keep me happy when the long winter sets in.  

I got news for you, Stark.  Winter isn't coming, it's already here.

So, if you are the kind of Grinch that hates Christmas music in November and cannot bear to see a decorated tree until after the turkey has been eaten, get out now.  This place will not make you happy.

To everyone else I say, welcome.  To my living room, in particular.

On my mantel each year, goes a little town of vintage and new trees and houses.  My main Christmas collection is Christmas trees.  And ceramics from the 1950's.  And Muppets ornaments.  And vintage Hallmark mouse ornaments.  

The first year we put the lights up there I could not bear to part with them and so we keep the lights up all year round. 

The snowy red truck is a new addition this year.  I got it at Target.  It reminds me of this scene from my favorite Muppet Christmas movie, Muppet Family Christmas:

Here we have an adorable Christmas Tree Stand.  With some vintage buddies.  The husband and I buy our tree from a local farm every year.  I like to support local agriculture.  Plus it's freaking adorable to go to a tree lot and choose your tree at night with all the lights strung up and a chill in the air.  Note that I said tree lot.  Not a tree farm, it's self.  I'm not trudging around seven soggy acres of trees in the freezing cold and chopping it down myself.  Those days are way over.  I'll leave that to the Griswold's.

I got these mittens at a thrift store, so don't get sentimental about them or which of my loved ones they once belonged to.  I just think they are perfectly adorable next to the tinsel tree.

Can we talk about Yankee Candles for a minute? Because I went in to get my yearly pine scented candle fix in time for the holiday season and...damn!  Those little suckers are worth their weight in gold!  I mean, this is some seriously expensive wax up in here!  Someone somewhere is making fortunes of fortunes out of this here wax.

That didn't stop me though.  I bought them all up.  Don't you judge me!

So, In Summary:

I need a little Christmas, right this very minute.