Christmas Magic

I've been meaning to post a Christmas tour of my apartment for a long time, but life got in the way. The sun hasn't shone here in two weeks so that doesn't make for very awesome pictures. I decided to just take pictures anyway, but have since updated them! Yay! I've added a few really spectacular vintage Christmas things to my collection this past year. Our furniture setup has really changed and I like how my displays came out because of it. It really feels sparkly and magical in here. Then I hear the guy on the other side of the wall howling and the annoying kids crying, screaming, and banging on my bathroom wall and I'm ripped out of my dreamland. Please help me send good vibes into the universe for us to get out of this awful place ASAP! I'm dreaming of a hot shower/ just like the ones I used to know/ Where the water had pressure /and silence wasn't precious/ to hear...

Probably the most significant of my additions is this 6' pom pom aluminum tree that we scored on Craigslist! I really had no hope left that I'd have a full-sized one this year, but then I did a search for one expecting nothing and there it was! I can't believe that it had been posted for so long. It was meant to be I suppose. By next year, I'd like to have a rotating stand and color wheel.

Of course if I hadn't found the tall one, I still had two tabletop trees! This one is from the first estate sale we ever were first in line for.

So is this guy. The original plug is in it, but it doesn't work. I don't know if it's the bulb or the cord because I can't find the right sized light. It's one of those things that really pushes the limit on fire hazard. He's made of a really fragile, thin plastic and backed with cardboard. One spark and the whole thing could go up in flames. For that reason, I'm not sad about not lighting him up!

This tree is from a second day garage sale where everything you could fit into a paper bag was $10 total. We fit A LOT into that bag including this tree. I felt like I was stealing it from them, but with consent. The lady it belonged to said she used to be an antique dealer and this was her first ever Christmas tree that one of her coworkers gave her because she didn't have one. 

I seem to have started a small collection of ornament hook boxes. They all have such great graphics! I displayed them in the Christmas List box I found at Arc's when Thriftmas opened. The Holt Howard cookie jar is a $1.49 find from last weekend! When I spotted it, I couldn't grab it fast enough! There was a snooty guy couple looking through the Christmas stuff and they kept giving me the evil eye for being in the same aisle. Don't get in my way of Christmas kitsch.

This is the other thing that I wanted and I didn't even try to find! I was quite envious of all the people posting pictures of theirs on Instagram and thought I'd never find one. We went to visit the booth one weekend day and the first thing that I saw when I walked through the door was this in it's original box for a crazy cheap price! My hands grabbed it and brought it to the register. It took FOREVER to setup and by the end I was sweating because it is really involved and there is so much cardboard! It looks like it wasn't put together many times because the creases were still crisp. I imagine a lot of people probably just smashed these all up and tossed them at the end of the season. I don't look forward to taking it apart...

I found the red and white table runner at a second day sale in St Paul this summer. We met a very tame white squirrel who wanted to be fed there. I love the coziness it gives to my Lane cedar chest! The Shiny Brite ornament tree is from an estate sale this fall where everything was super over priced, but this seemed cheap. It has the original box which is in great shape and I wanted to display it on it's own, but couldn't find the space. The topper is broken at the point though.

I saw a Santa tree on Instagram and knew that I had to find a way to do one of my own! I collected most of these guys over the past year from various sales. This tree definitely makes the top 5.  (I have 7 trees.)

I'm deeply in love with this display! The Santa mug shelf makes me feel like I'm living in a department store circa the 1950's and that is basically how I want to always feel.

My mom found the pink tree for me at a thrift store and I decorated it with all the pink ornaments that I had. I don't know if it's vintage or reproduction, but it is great either way! She told me that several ladies came up to her and ogled the tree in her cart. Isn't my tiny Jadeite collection great? The wreath was the inspiration for this shelf.

These pictures are terrible, I'm sorry. This is my extra Pyrex display. 404's don't fit in my hutch so I couldn't incorporate the Golden Leaf I got last year after Christmas. I love my candy cane stack of 501's!

Here's the hutch this year. I decided not to change it too much from last year because I liked it a lot, but wanted to make sure all my snowflakes got in there. Boy was it annoying to take out all of those balls at Thanksgiving to use a 045! Luckily I just got the Golden Poinsettia 045 so I don't have to do that for Christmas! I found the lid in Lamberton on a pink daisy DD and the cradle at Animal Ark with an opal DD and an 045 lid. I waited 6 months for that to go on half price because they had a crazy price on it and it was mismatched. I just wanted the cradle. I had no idea what it went to and when I found out, I was on a mission to get the 045 to complete it! That is currently in the sink waiting for a wash. Hopefully we have hot water tonight...

This is a new 501 snow scene that I made this year with little porcelain carolers. 

Can you spot the hidden Mickey?

I found the Holt Howard candle holders after Christmas last year at the shop that we had no idea we would move into! I found the candles at an estate sale I think. I really love tacky plastic greenery. They all go well together. I had no place to store my Fenton cake stand so I thought I'd use it to add some height and interest to my tablescape. The fuzzy Santa boot holding my poinsettia is from the estate sale we went to last weekend. I was very disappointed to find a Pyrex display table in the attic with a sold sticker, but I got an ugly furry booth made out of a coffee can and a giant plastic Santa head that fits approximately nowhere.

This is my deer table. When I unpacked my deer after Halloween, they just kept coming. I had no idea there were so many! They're lucky we're vegan and there is no open season in our apartment.

I made this smallest display out of bits I've found over the past year.

Here is a cart of creepy Santas with a bed beneath for my cats. They don't really seem to use it when the cart comes in for the winter, though.

That brings us to the main attraction! Our second live Christmas tree of the year. The first one was a blue spruce and was dead the morning after we bought it. The lot said that several had been brought back so I guess they weren't a good crop this year. We exchanged it for a Frasier Fir. The cats get their bed under the tree so they don't feel the need to be their naughty selves and ruin presents and ornaments. So far so okay... My cats are light chewers! 

"What's that smell?" "Fried pussy cat!"

It is almost a tree in the round in the corner we have it, which is great because I can see all my ornaments!

I wrapped presents this week. There was so much cute paper this year that I decided to wrap boxes that can be reused. I thought I'd get crafty with it and make cute things to attach to them like people used to way back when. These are all vintage findings thrifted or found in estate sale land.

Only 8 sleeps until Christmas, Kittens! Only one thing in the world can drag me away from the soft glow of electric sex. I have to go make dinner... Happy holidays!!!