What’s your favorite holiday decoration? I’ve been collecting Christmas items since before I married. A girl can accumulate a lot of stuff in half a century. Oh, my gosh, I’m getting old! But, doesn’t that mean my first collectibles are actually antiques?
I got this guy when I was a teenager. He must be the first of my collection.
I’d have a difficult time singling out any one item as my favorite. I’ve long adhered to the shove-it-in method of decorating. It works like this. You just keep shoving items together until you can stand back and say, “I like that.” It works for garlands, dining table décor and tabletop displays. Additionally, I’ve found I enjoy exhibiting—or maybe over-exhibiting—like items in one lavish display more than scattering things around. I’ve provided examples.
Santas galore adorn a shelf in the living room. I actually had a few more I could have added, but there wasn’t any room!
Snowmen turn up all over the place, but I’ve bunched quite a few together on my buffet. The entire guest room is devoted to snowman décor.
The elf shrine is always terribly overdone. I managed to add a few new toys. They haven’t made Kringlekins in many years, so I have to make do with my current elf collection. They’ve branched out into bigger shelves this December.
It’s always a relief after I load the last of the empty boxes into the attic, stand back and scream, “I’m done!” After several years of putting everything in the same place, I was more creative this year and changed things up a bit. It’s probably time to downsize my collection. Well, maybe next year.
I must admit, I like to piddle around once I’ve finished. There’s always something that needs a bit of ribbon or some sparkly accent.
We recently visited the Bembridge House for their Victorian Christmas celebration. The entire house was bedecked. The theme was Christmas decorations of the world. I was particularly taken with the Victorian traditions.
I have made tussie mussies as gifts. That’s a Victorian thing. All the ladies filled them with something fragrant to put to their noses in an attempt to camouflage the bad smells of days gone by. They adorned the Victorian tree at the Bembridge house. I bought this vintage-inspired woven lavender ornament.
We also got a very reasonably priced succulent container. Of course, I had to Christmas it up.
Our Christmas tree has long been a family joke. We use every ugly, old ornament we have. This is a prime example of the shove-it-in method. There’s so much stuff on that tree, nobody can discern the really ugly ornaments like children’s school projects, mummified marshmallow snowmen and inherited plastic ornaments from the 60s. Everything goes—on. If we hung all the ugly ornaments on the back of the tree, there wouldn’t be anything in front. I’ve been dreaming about a proper Victorian tree. Visions of pastel glass ornaments, lacy tussie mussies, woven lavender, dried orange slices and strawberry-painted walnuts are dancing in my head. Hey, it will be Christmas again before we know it!
So as the Victorians used to say, “Happy Christmas and a bright New Year.”
