Hearts and flowers....

Valentine decorations have been popping up in our house over the past few days. Of course, once I finish packing away Christmas, they will dominate my home but until the packing is done, they add a sweet, red touch to my decor!

New find at a new vintage store....

Today after lunch, I somehow persuaded my husband to let me stop in to check out a store near home which is a resale shop (Jodi's off Northland/Plainfield). It has been there a few years now and I never bothered dropping in to check it out. It turns out there is quite a bit of vintage furniture as well as other things and has openned a second space in the same strip mall. I found a few things I might 'need' in the future and almost skipped out on the second space but I'm glad I didn't. I found a small straw hat lampshade that I have been covetting since I saw one on a 'Clean House' episode. I couldn't believe that the woman got rid of such a unique lamp and lampshade! So now I have the straw hat lampshade alongside my top hat lampshade. Could this be the beginning of a new collection?!

Turns out I love polishing silver!

I ran across a box with old silverware at my Mom's. We brought home much 'stuff' from my Aunt's house-some from their Aunt who lived in Chicago...some from Great Grandma. Anyway, I decided I loved the ladles and they would be a terrific way to display my baby mice (Wee Forest Folk). I tried several ways to clean the ornate flowers on the handles but finally went out and bought silver polish~and it worked! A bit time consuming but the results were worth it! It's a bit funny but the smell from the polish reminds me of home permanents-and I actually enjoyed that! Guess I am a bit strange...
Now I need to figure out how to soider a wire on the back of each handle so I can hang them. And can I think of something to display on the ornate serving fork...

Catching up....

I know I haven't posted in quite a while. Not sure why but plan to try to be more diligent in the future!
Happily, Christmas wasn't as trumatic as expected with our sons away from home. My dear husband shocked me with a river cruise as a combination Christmas and birthday gift. I shocked him with tickets to the Daytona 500. So we will be traveling in February and March- first to Florida then to Paris, France! I am so excited about both trips, since I will get to visit DisneyWorld and Universal's Harry Potterville while hubby and our son drive to Daytona. Hopefully our son's girlfriend will be able to have fun with me. Both sons visited in the past few weeks. We left all Christmas decorations up for them and enjoyed our time immensely! I even spent one on one time with the girlfriend and had a terrific bonding experience!
I will share pictures of the highlights of the past month...gotta love those kids!

Favorite Christmas Decorations....

Of course there are my mice-Santa mouse; Santa's helper mice; the new along with old Wee Forest Folk mice in my WFF case; I decorated my hall tree with a mouse Santa hat, flashing red nose and mouse slippers; and my toy shop (in a cheese box). All part of my favorite holiday decorations which will stay up until February. I didn't get everything out this year but the house looks festive, warm and happy! I hope everyone enjoys their decorations past New Years Day!

Countdown to Christmas....

The days have zoomed by! We hosted a family party last night so I finally finished some decorating. This year I find I lacked the energy to put out everything (darned bronchitis)...but the house looks very festive. I LOVE our new tree! We have a new artificial tree which allows me to display all my wonderful ornaments from the past forty plus years! Wow! I am OLD....and I have been a collector for most of my life! Plus, our cat who used anything on the floor as his personal place to relieve himself is now an angel kitty so I can use my gold tree skirt!

I hope everyone is taking time to savor all the magic of these days!

Treasure of Christmas Past...

One of my holiday treasures is a collage of our annual 'Santa' pictures. It took much persuading to get both boys to visit Santa every year until they were about 17. Then I gave up. They surprised me one year while both were in college with a picture of them once again on Santa's lap. I think that this year I will do my best to persuade my husband to visit Santa so we can send the 'boys' a Santa picture of us!
I love this picture collection so much that I have it in our bedroom year round. The years seem to have sped by~so glad we have the pictures to remember those sweet times.