Christmas Decorating: My Mantle

It's Christmas Eve! I'm probably at work as you're reading this, but I can't wait to come home and spend the evening cuddled up with Travis and the pugs. We're going to make a seitan roast from this recipe book (wish me luck! i hope it turns out) and watch movies.This is the busiest time of year for both our jobs and we're ready for a little break.
Here are some more of my decorations. I love my mantle. Maybe I can get Travis to build us a fire tonight!

Lady head with some mercury picks!

I didn't find any pine cone gnomes this year. But I did find a few cheap boxes of indent ornaments.

A favorite Christmas card, my sweet ermine, and a decorated monkey tail.

That jaunty deer is one of my favorites. And that little jar of old candy decorated with felt.

I might have a few more stockings than we need. Travis bought the dog house one for Phyllis when we first got her. It was so sweet and I love putting it up every year. Priscilla's is that granny square one. And I pretend the rest are for the cats though they don't get stockings. They don't care about treats! The two on the right are mine and Travis's. We made them for each other when we were dating. He keeps trying to buy me a new one but I love mine. He sewed it from scratch and picked the blue velvety and puppy Christmas fabric.

The bottom shelf of our built in is always a Harry Potter shelf. The rest changes for the holidays.

I went to a estate sale just to get that tree. It is like a box top with felt glued on. Isn't she sweet?

I have a pile of vintage Christmas photos and this is one of my favorites. One year I'll wrap our front door in foil! Isn't it a stunning look?
That angel is a new addition this year. She has a china head and a mesh layer over paper. And glittery arms. The photo in front of her is a marching band in the snow.

Even our tv gets a little festive touch.

Christmas Decorating: Part Two!

When I decorate I focus mostly on my living room and this hutch in my dining room. One day I'll have a beautiful mid century hutch in here but for now this one that Travis painted works! I put my Dream Pet reindeer here.

And some of my Santas too. Quite a few of my Santa mugs fell victim to curious kitties last year, I thought they would be more secure  up here.

Little Styrofoam pixie on my tangerines! Are you obsessed with them too? I'm eating 5 to 10 a day!

I love this toilet paper roll turned crochet candle. I added the little spun head Santa this year. I bought him at a vintage shop in Columbus. It was my only purchase and the woman ringing me up laughed!

There are usually apples in the bowl, guarded by Santa and a reindeer who has seen better days.

Little choir of spun head angels.

Close up on this amazing record. Look at Bob Ward! I love the styling. And the record is clear red vinyl, of course!

Christmas Decorating! Part One!

Vintage Christmas is my favorite kind of vintage! I love pulling out my decorations every year and I'm really happy with how everything came out! I've got a couple posts worth to share with you over the next few days. Are you ready for Christmas?

As you know, the star of my decorations is that pom pom aluminum tree. It is so beautiful. I always get it out first, and love to gaze on it whenever I'm in the room. The ornaments belonged to Travis' grandma Betty. How perfect is it that they are our wedding colors? The Santa cookie jar with the red top was her's too. She gave it to Travis when she moved into her apartment because he always loved it.

My kitschmas wreath made it another year! I want to make another one, I have all the stuff, I just need a little time!

And sweet Phyllis posing. We had to start keeping an afghan on the couch all the time because the pugs wouldn't stop LICKING it. So annoying!

I have one more gift to wrap and I'm done!

I've been listening to lots of Christmas records this year. I have been hoping to find this record in the wild for a few years but finally gave up and bought a 2011 reprint online. It is the Phil Spector Christmas album and it is amazing. So many of the tracks are classics that play everywhere this time of year. And there is the ceramic tree I found last year and cleaned up. It was almost all brown when I found it!

Some of my favorite records to listen too. The Beach Boys Christmas album is my favorite Christmas album of all time! I got the Muppets out to listen to Christmas morning with Travis, it is our tradition.

Hank is loving all the holiday cheer.

I love the trees on top of the window. I think I said that in a previous post but I can't get over it! It is so cute!

Here is the photo someone on facebook sent me of their grandparent's house (if you're reading this tell me who you are and I'll give you credit! I LOVE it!) See the trees?

That present garland is one of my favorite decorations too. I got it at the Goodwill outlet, after untangling it from a huge modern pine needle garland. It's little presents wrapped in calico looking fabric and curling ribbon.

I jazzed up the side tables with our Santa cookie jars.

And one more Phyllis.

Top Five: Christmas Movies!

As you know, I love the holiday season. One of my favorite things to do is cozy up on the couch with Travis and the pugs and watch Christmas movies by the light of the Christmas tree. Here are our favorites:

1. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: Like everyone else I grew up watching this on tv every year. Last year I took the plunge and bought my own copy. This one is such a classic, I love the songs, I love the stop motion animation, I love the unlikely dentist side plot. I even love the weird noise Rudolph's nose makes when it lights up. The Bumble is the cutest I think, though my mom told me when she was a kid it made her cry!
2. A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All: Chock full of hilarious weird songs and cameos I like to watch this special a few times every season. The Toby Keith number makes me crack up every time, and Travis and I love to sing the John Legend gem "Nutmeg." And then there is the Colbert and John Stewart duet "Can I Interest You in Channukah?" We've been listening to it while we drive around doing our Christmas shopping. I just have one gift left to buy!
3. Love, Actually: I'm kind of embarrassed that I love this movie so much? I don't know why because I'm not embarrassed about much lamer interests. If you haven't seen it, it is a movie featuring about every British actor you know of, and has all kinds of interwoven stories about love and Christmas. We were just watching it while I was typing this and I cried about five times. It's just so lovely. This is one of those we'll watch during the year sometimes. I think my favorite story is the guy in love with his best friend's wife, or the guy who goes to America to meet girls, or the aging rock star with the lame Christmas single. It's just all so good! (This one barely nudged out The Holiday for top five status. Jack Black needs to be a romantic lead more often! Haha. )
4. The Nightmare Before Christmas: My grandma gave me a VHS copy of this for Christmas when it came out and I was OBSESSED. I watched it every day for weeks until my mom hid it from me. I was always into things that were a little weird, even as a kid (I blame Pee Wee's playhouse). This one is another watch all year favorite. I have a big collection of figures from this movie, and the soundtrack on tape, and picture vinyl, and cd. Beautiful stop motion, great songs, wonderful sweet story about getting in a rut and finding yourself again and not being afraid to fail, and vampires! And a ghost dog! I'm sure you've seen it, but if not go find a copy immediately.
5. Christmas Vacation:  I had to put this one in the top five just because I've probably seen it the most. Like I said the other day, it is Travis' favorite movie of all time and we watch it a lot. It is still funny to me after exactly 1 million viewings. My favorite part is when Clark tells the kids that he heard Santa had been spotted on the radio and Cousin Eddie looks at him deadpan and says "You serious Clark?". I still laugh out loud!

Here are some movies that were close to being in the top five. When I was a kid I had a little cardboard cut out of Ernest in my room. Another weirdo that I loved.  Home Alone is the first movie I can remember going to see in the theater!Of course A Christmas Story has to be in there, and The Muppet Christmas Carol is very nostalgic to me. I feel like it's up there with the original Muppet movie, but I think I'm in the minority on that one. We listen to the John Denver and the Muppets Christmas album every Christmas morning. Magical!

What are your favorites? You would think I would have more classic Christmas movies on my list, but I really haven't seen that many. We're going to see It's a Wonderful Life at the local indie theater, and it might be my first time watching it all the way through!

Life Lately: Christmas Edition!

Christmas is coming! And I've been trying to really enjoy the season this year. We went to our local Oddities shop, Hail, and got our photo with Satan Claws! I love these photos!

We have tickets to Hail's Dark Arts Holiday Masquerade Ball later this week. I bought a black velvet dress and I'm really excited for it. I hope it is fun!

A local brewery did a screening of Christmas Vacation with unlimited beer. So of course Travis had to go. That is his favorite movie of all time and he watches it all year long.

Here he is, legitimately stoked. It was so fun! The best part was at the end when the sewer gas makes the reindeer fly through the air and Aunt Bethany starts singing the star spangled banner, everyone in the audience sang along. What a great night.

We took the pugs to see Santa at Petsmart. Santa and Priscilla both had a hard time looking at the camera. Ho ho ho!

We went to my parents house and decorated cookies for them to take to their neighbors. I need to make some this week to take to my work's Secret Santa party.

I got my decorating done last week and I love it this year! I'll try to take some real photos later this week. It is such a bummer that it gets dark so early. I work in the mornings and it is always dark when I get home.

I'm in a vintage kitschmas group on facebook and someone mentioned their grandparents had window boxes like mine and always put bottle brush trees up on top. I will do that forever now. How cute!

Monster Christmas Mash is just as awful/great as you think it will be.

Got two movies I've been waiting on in the mail. I'm sure you saw Guardians of the Galaxy, but did you see Frank? It is so good. If you like weird movies you'll be into it. Michael Fassbender is incredible in it.

I was going to do a day in the life type post but I forgot most of the day and just took pictures when we went out to lunch. Here is a portrait of Travis at Happy Cow.

I got the nachos! I ALWAYS get the nachos. They are so good I just can't take a chance on anything else. I've never had better vegan queso.

And we had some chocolate almond pie. Mmmmm.

We went to an art crawl in downtown Nashville, but mostly just ended up walking around with our friends. Apparently this area is getting turned into a luxury hotel, so this might be our last photo with the nude karaoke sign.

I met a mini poodle named Bowie! It made me want a tiny poodle even more! Gosh he was cute, and sweet! And sassy.

Here is Phyllis and I in the backyard watching Travis burn junk mail. Hope you're having a good holiday season! I have one more present to buy then I'm done!