Christmas break.....

... that's what I'm doing at the moment... taking a break from the Christmas decorations.  I've been taking boxes out of the storage closet since the day after I took down the Halloween decorations.  Just in case you're wondering... there are 51 days left till Christmas.

I've been buying Christmas gift-boxes whenever I see them at the thrift and resale shops...... nice heavy boxes of all sizes and shapes, decorated as if they've been wrapped inside and out with Christmas paper.  I use those boxes to store the decorations.... as each box comes out of the closet and I take out the decorations, the empty boxes then become part of the décor--- placed around the rooms as if Santa got here extra-early with gifts.  The best part... into those empty boxes, I can put the decorative items that I've taken from tables and shelves to make room for the Christmas decorations.  Saves lots of trips back and forth to the storage closet.... plus with the decorated boxes, it's quick and easy to see where the Christmas decorations are in that maze of a closet.

Perfect day for transforming the house into a Christmas wonderland..... it's raining lightly outside, not a drop of sun.... and I'm all caught up with the laundry.  A day without laundry.... wonder of wonders. That magic will end with the first towel that gets used or the first shirt that gets tossed into the hamper. 

One more Christmas tree to put up in the living room.... the 1950s silver aluminum tree.  Never thought I'd have one of those in my house.  The first silver tree I ever saw was in my Aunt Jaye's house when I was a kid. She loved her silver tree because it was neat and tidy... not one green pine needle would ever fall on her pale pink carpeting.  Plus, she didn't even have to put ornaments on it because of the color-wheel..... just plug that in at the base of the tree and all those colors made the silver tree appear to be filled with glass ornaments.  Not exactly my idea of a Christmas tree when I was a kid.

About eight years ago, my husband and I found an aluminum tree in a resale shop.... perfect condition in its original box, for about $35, with the color-wheel.  I bought it with the intention of selling it at the antique shop. (Famous last words.)   When I got it home and assembled it (for the shop, mind you), it was just so pretty and nostalgic that I couldn't part with it.  The tree stayed right in our house, but I did sell the color-wheel at the shop, for more than what we paid for both the tree and the wheel.

So the silver tree has become part of our Christmas décor.  I've collected antique glass ornaments for it over the years and I keep those in a special box just for that particular tree because they're light-weight and won't bend the delicate branches.  I told my Aunt Jaye this whole story a couple of years ago, and I asked her if she still put up her aluminum tree for the holidays. She told me that she donated her silver tree to the church years ago when she stopped decorating for Christmas.  When I told her how much those 1950s aluminum trees are worth, she was sorry she didn't keep it.

I have a photograph of my cousin T (Aunt Jaye's daughter) and myself.... it was taken before we started first grade, and we're standing in front of Aunt Jaye's silver tree in our Christmas dresses, each of us holding a gift and smiling into the camera.  T is holding a doll wearing a blue dress, and I've got a stuffed puppy in my arms.  I remember that puppy toy... it looked like a small Collie and it had a leash, and if you walked slowly enough and held the leash just-so, the dog's legs would move as if it were walking. 

Nostalgia. That's what keeps all of the antique shops in business.  You don't go into those shops looking for any particular item..... you just look around until something starts nibbling at your memory, and that's usually the thing that you end up buying.