Ornaments R Us.

The big tree is up and decorated, after a full day, from after breakfast till nearly midnight on Saturday, of arranging lights (my husband's job) and arranging and re-arranging ornaments (my job). Every year I say the same thing: Where did all these ornaments come from? Of course, I know exactly where they all came from-- we bought some, others were gifts, some came from yard sales, and still others came from little Christmas shops.

I've sifted through the ornaments every year, donating a bunch that we just didn't like anymore, or using some as decorations for the smaller trees-- like all the gold glass ornaments, which are now on the bright red tree, and all the tiny silver ones, now resting on the blue and purple tree. (Blue and purple? Absolutely... and it's bright and shining and right by the front door, and everyone smiles when they see it.) I've used some of the smaller ornaments as package decorations for gifts, and still others were taken to the consignment shop where someone else will fall in love with them and buy them for their own tree.

For a tree standing nearly ten feet tall, a lot of ornaments and lights have to be attached so the tree doesn't look as if it's half-dressed. I keep saying that we should count the number of lights and ornaments that we put up on these huge trees, but by the time we get to decorating that tree, we're not thinking of counting anything but the hours it takes to get the job done.

I've been spending a lot of time with the glue gun this week... making those Victorian cone-shaped ornaments out of heavy card stock paper, ribbons, rhinestones, pom-poms, tiny bells, and all sorts of holiday embellishments. I've also made a pattern for paper nut and candy cups--- I bought a few on eBay just because they were inexpensive and nostalgic and I needed to see them up close so I would know how to make them myself. My Aunt Dolly always did that-- bought things she liked that she knew would be simple to replicate. Usually, my Uncle Mino would make the pattern for her, then out would come her hat-boxes filled with ribbons and old greeting cards, and we'd get the tiny scissors and start cutting out pictures from the cards to decorate whatever we were making. These days, you can buy ready-cut embellishments for any holiday or celebration you can think of.

I've been making candy cups for holiday lunches, and paper cone ornaments for decorations and gifts, and even using old Scrabble letters and wooden letter racks to make Christmas decorations. I painted the wooden racks either red or silver, then sprinkled them with glitter while the paint was still wet. On the red one (with gold glitter) I spelled out the name SANTA, then glued on a little Santa on one end and a red and white candy cane on the other. On the silver one, I spelled out ANGELS, sprinkled with gold and silver glitter, then glued on a tiny angel, blue rhinestone stars, a tiny half moon and some little blue pearls. That one came out so well that I made another for our friend J, who collects tiny angels for her blue angel Christmas tree.

When the glue gun and the glitter comes out, the vacuum follows shortly after. Miss C stopped by over the weekend and saw some gold glitter on the floor and wanted to know what I was "up to now." I showed her the SANTA sign, and the ANGELS one..... but I didn't let on that I've made her one with her named spelled out and decorated with all the little things that she likes and sprinkled liberally with silver glitter. She's going to love it, and I know she will be searching yard sales for bags of Scrabble letters (which is how I got started on those signs). I also made a SANTA sign for our friend V, whose house is as filled with Santas as ours is.

Twenty-five more days till Christmas, according to my Uncle Tony's perpetual wooden calendar, which I've re-made into a Christmas-countdown decoration. With a glue gun and some scrap booking embellishments, just about anything is possible.

All of these arts-and-crafts projects are keeping me out of the consignment shop. Every time I go there, I find more holiday things that are just too inexpensive to resist. The other day, I found a set of four beautiful white porcelain plates and mugs with gold stars all over them-- made years ago for Macy's, and the entire set looks like they were never used-- less than a dollar for each plate and each mug. Of course I had to buy those... our fireplace mantel is all decked out this year with gold stars, as well as the top of the china cabinet in the dining room. Plus, I've got an entire set of gold flatware from a yard sale that will look perfect with those plates and mugs. I told my husband we'll invite a few friends over for cake and coffee and the table settings will look fabulous.

My husband looked at all the gold stars on the plates and mugs and his first thought was that they can't be put into the microwave. Well, who cares about that? It's Christmas, and this house is filled with gold stars. And Santas. And angels. And little red and white porcelain pixies. And way too much holiday stuff. But who cares? It's Christmas!