Bit By Bit . . . .

Welcome to the wonderfully wacky world
of Christmas preparation at That Old House.  
Which I'm pretty sure is exactly what's going
on at your home as well!

It goes with the season.

 I'm recycling a post from last year, at about this time, because in real life today 

Howard and I are blinging-up the old pile we call home, and tomorrow

I'll show off a bit of what we've been up to this weekend. 

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So . . . back to December 2009 . . . .

Dashing through the house,
With ribbon, greens and twine.
Thru the rooms we fly,
To make the house look fine.
Lights on trees and wreaths
Making spirits bright!
We're decorating That Old House
To make it look just right.

Oh . . . strings of lights, stars so bright,
Candles light the way.
Oh, what fun it is to deck
The house in bling today-ay!
Mistletoe! Ho Ho Ho!
Santa's on his way.
We're ready here at That Old House
For St. Nick's holiday.

Many, many thanks to my husband Howard, who strung little white lights around the tops of the conservatory windows. I love how they reflect in all the glass. I am tempted to leave them up forever, but hopefully cooler heads will prevail and we'll take them down in January. In the meantime, they are so neat!

Now, a look at some random Christmas oldies that are emerging from their summer slumbers:

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I scatter Santa Claus-es around the house.

This little guy's in the study; he is an incense burner, and is only about 5-inches tall.
He is nicely detailed. The smoke comes out his coffee mug.

This Santa, below, is a cheap (ahem, inexpensive) little fellow from A. C. Moore, a few years ago.

He holds a candle, and the light shines thru holes in his body. Ouch.

And this Santa? He is very special. Very vintage, from the 50s. Like me!
And well-worn. Also like me.

When I was a little girl, back when Pterodactyls hauled Santa's sleigh through the Ice Age skies, 

this Santa spent Christmas in our living room, near my dad's platform rocker.

I used to sit in that rocker, which seemed so enormous, and play with this Santa.

He's a good 12-inches tall, and is a bank.
Can you see the Scotch tape covering his coin slot?
My mother clearly didn't trust her 4 kids to put only coins in Santa.

He was stored in an unheated garage at my parents' beach house

in later years; some of his paint peeled right off.   I asked my Mom if I could have him,
and after asking, "Why?" she graciously handed him over.

Sometimes I am tempted to re-paint him, but honestly . . .
he wouldn't be the same after that.

He is part of the family, and family is loved -- chips and all.

It's funny how powerful tactile memories can be.
When I have this Santa in my hands, and feel the shape and the chill of the old plaster,
I am transported right back to being a little girl in my father's great big rocker.
Which in reality, was not so very big.  Except to one who is very small.

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And here we are -- back in the present, December 2010,

after our visit to December 2009.

I hope no one got dizzy during the time traveling.

We are making progress, Howard and I, toward having the house in Christmas trim by the Saturday the 18th, the date of our Christmas party.  Our trees are UP, although not decorated.  Howard's done his job; 1500 lights are on the fresh tree in the sunroom, and the new pre-lit artificial one is set up in the parlor and ready for its snazzy trimmings.

If by snazzy trimmings we mean

"random collection of ornaments too bulky or heavy to go on the fresh tree."

I plan on getting this year's tree pictures up on Monday.

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Many thanks to the blogging ladies who host linky parties; I'm linking to two of them this rainy December Sunday.  

The Tablescaper hosts Seasonal Sunday; how appropriate!  Visit here for Christmas delights, and her sweet story of her Mom's Christmas candy display . . . and how she recreates it for her children.

And at Happy To Design, Chari is hosting her 83rd Sunday Favorites party.  Visit by clicking here!  Loads of great re-runs to read and linger over!  Chari's own post is a delightful one, introducing us to her Three Nutcrackers from Europe, with pictures of her own travels. 

Love to you all -- Cass