on to christmas

Hard to believe Thanksgiving was less than two weeks ago. It's like we go from Thanksgiving to Christmas overnight and Thanksgiving is immediately forgotten. I think part of that is because a great deal of people start decorating before Thanksgiving. Way before Thanksgiving. I'm not one of them. However, each to their own. Whatever makes you happy!

Our Thanksgiving was lovely. My mom hosted, made tons of food, and the rest of us brought side dishes and desserts. We were grateful to gather in person again, after spending last Thanksgiving at our own homes due to the pandemic. Of course, holidays make me miss my boys even more...Phil's been gone for 12 years now and Tim moved to California two years ago.

 Here's my mom and Brian tending to the turkey, while my mom's pup, Marley is hoping that they accidentally drop some scraps. This was the first year we tried a free-range non-GMO turkey from a local farm. It was definitely different from the mass-produced store-bought turkeys. It had a stronger, more distinct turkey taste. I didn't care for it, but I'm not a turkey fan anyway. Bring on the stuffing!

Mom always sets a beautiful table, but I forgot to take a photo until after we were done eating.

The weekend after Thanksgiving, the annual ritual of dragging the Christmas totes from the basement upstairs began. As usual, Clementine and Monkey were in the thick of it.

Forget the blankets, tissue paper makes great bedding!

Thought I'd start by showing you the decor in my living room today. It already looks different from this photo. I'm always tweaking!

Here's a tweaked difference...I changed up the decor on the shelves and put lighted branches in the wall cut-out, exchanging it for the wooden bowl of vintage wooden beads.

After looking for well over a year for a new chair for the living room, I finally found one: a mid-century modern leather chair that's quite comfortable. It feels good on my back when I sit in it; firm but not too firm. I discovered a warehouse outlet place in a nearby suburb that sells surplus furniture and appliances from Wayfair, All Modern, and Overstock. We really got a deal on this chair!

We don't put up a big tree, just a tabletop one. The ornaments are ones from the boy's childhoods. It's not all the ornaments...I'd definitely need a standard sized tree for that.

Can you make out the trio of singing angels on top of the shelf?

Those are a new purchase ~ from our favorite vintage store, Secret Treasures. They're Goebel, made in Germany. We don't need anymore Christmas anything, but we're both attracted to quality vintage pieces and couldn't resist.

Love the detail!

Our one other Christmas decor purchase this year was this vintage Merry Christmas light-up garland. This came from one of my favorite local shops, Vintage Art & Findings. In true tweaking form, I've now added the vintage wooden bead garland as an added layer hanging underneath the letters.

 Mantel decor...

How are you doing on your holiday decorating? All done, or just getting started?

💓