christmas in comfy house

The past few years it's been the same thing: Brian drags up the containers of Christmas decor, I dig through the contents, and end up with Christmas explosion all over the coffee table and floor. I wander back and forth between our small living room and kitchen, trying to decide where to put each item. And because space is lacking and I have too much Christmas crap (I did start a donation bag), I get frustrated and crabby. Yes, that is a pile of lemon thins and biscotti with two cups of tea on the coffee table amongst the mess. Mr. and Mrs. Claus needed a break.  

I don't do a lot of Christmas decorating; it's mainly just the living room and kitchen. The older I get, the less I want to do. In fact, I may have muttered, "I don't know why I bother" when I was in the midst of my frustration. But once it's done, I do enjoy it.

 

I have a fondness for vintage Christmas items...I saw this little Santa Claus tube in a shop and wondered what it was. I opened the top and - surprise! - there were matches in it. So cute amongst my Christmas candles.

It's been cloudy and gloomy for days, so the photo quality isn't the best in this post, but if I waited for the sun, I wouldn't be posting until who-knows-when.

See the yellow Pyrex bowl on the bottom of the cart with the wood beads in it?

It's a garland ~ another recent vintage find. I thought I'd be using this garland on the fireplace mantle, but it didn't happen. No matter, they look pretty just plopped in a bowl.

I've had these Debbie Mumm snowman plates for over 20 years. 

Not much going on in the china cabinet. The Meow bowl on top belonged to Zippo. 💔

Both the wooden pointing hand and the wooden Santa bells are also recent purchases from two different antique stores.

Moving on to the living room. Please overlook my paint-stripe-window on the buffet...I was experimenting with chalk paint and didn't finish...

The silver snowflake stocking holders were 75% off at Bed, Bath and Beyond after last Christmas. I put them on the mantle this year and realized I needed something for height in back of the snowflakes. I immediately thought of tall silver candlesticks. I looked in my candle box and didn't have any, so I stopped into Goodwill one day when I was out. I didn't want to pay full price for candlesticks that I was only going to use for Christmas. (Side note: I haven't been in Goodwill in ages. I rarely shop there anymore for several reasons: the store near me is now mostly junk; I don't go in there unless there's something specific I'm looking for since I'm working on clearing stuff out, not dragging so much in; and I can't stand the smell in there. There's some kind of funky odor that all the Goodwill stores have and it permeates everything. And the chemical air freshener that they pump through the store makes me feel sick. I can't buy clothes there anymore, as these odors are so embedded in the fabric, that no matter how much I soak the clothes, wash them and air them out, I can't get the smell out.)

Anywho! I found just the tall silver candlesticks I was looking for. And only 99 cents each.

I had to leave the candlesticks outside all day to air out that funky Goodwill smell, but they're all good now and gracing my mantle.

A vintage sleigh with ornaments and a bottle brush tree for the side table...

White and silver for the ladder bookcase this year...

The metal folding houses on top are from the Target Dollar Spot. The twin bird pottery vase on the middle shelf is my newest McCoy find.

If you follow me on Instagram, you might've seen my new bench from Joss and Main. We don't have a foyer in our home; when you walk in the front door, you're right in the living room. There used to be a console table in this space, and while it looked nice, I always wished for a bench where guests could sit down to take their shoes or boots off and put them back on. It was hard to find a bench that we truly liked and that had space underneath for a shoe/boot tray. This is not a sponsored post, just my honest opinion. We're very happy with this bench. The quality is wonderful and the bench is very sturdy.

As for Christmas decor in the bedrooms, I left the master bedroom alone, but put a few things on top of the dresser in the spare bedroom. A collection of Christmas mice...

and a child figurine reading A Christmas Story, as well as the book in miniature.

The hallway bath got a couple of bottle brush trees and mini ornaments in the tub.

Our front porch and deck that were under construction are now finished, so all I need to pick up is a Christmas welcome mat and a pine wreath for the front door. How about you ~ are you done with your Christmas decorating?