Christmas All Through The House--The Front Living Room

And now we are moving out of the dining room and on into the front living room...

 Oh wait. Before we leave I want to mention one thing...everything we typically have on the walls gets removed and something Christmas-y gets put in its place:

 On these walls I have a old pictures of a Christmas scene and a poster from a play Lu was in years ago:

 Ok, lets continue on...The tree is the same as we have every single year, filled with old, new and handmade ornaments. We can spend a lot of time walking around it and remembering.

 Its sorts of crazy looking, but its so much ours and I love it.

 Totally should've had a fire going...

 The Santa collection still makes me happy...

It just all comes together on this table, more so than if I had them all scattered everywhere through out the house.

The old gumball machine filled with the tiny Shiny Brites drives Bud to distraction. He keeps asking if he can put a coin in and get one out. To which I say no. I am assuming this will happen in secret at some point before it gets packed away again, but one can only hope that the 7 year old finds it within himself to show some restraint.

 The mantle was really throwing me for a loop this year. Until we decided it needed more light and more red and there you go. If I come across some more unique looking candles I will be adding a few more.

This was what the front room looked like exactly one week ago...

And today...

Next tour will take us through the kitchen and into the back living room!

Christmas All Through The House--The Dining Room

I was going to load all the pictures of the decorations at once, but once I hit 36 plus photos, I decided...you know...to pace myself a little bit.

We moved the dining room around to seat more family during Thanksgiving and afterwards thought it would be a nice shake up to leave the table this way and move the buffet on the East wall. Change is good.

I am still surprised at how much we have let go of the past years but still really love the decorations that remain. Lots of little vignettes, but it really doesn't feel overwhelming when you walk into a room. Speaking of rooms, more will be coming in the next few days!

An Explosion Of Christmas in Booth 316 at Memory Lane

Gifts From The Sea (or the Gulf)

One of our very favorite things to do while at the beach was to gather shells. We walked alone scanning the beach where the waves rolled in and in pairs in ankle deep water, letting out hoots when we would find pieces of sand dollars or unusual-to-us shells. We would do this for hours upon hours...so relaxing!

When we brought home our little bag of memories, I immediately put them in a bowl with a tiny amount of bleach and let it sit for a couple days....

 And then we poured them out onto a large clean towel to dry off, play with and sort...

 Once again oohing and aahing over the pieces that we had found...

 And wondering what some were...

 After admiring them on the table for a week or so, we knew we had to find a bowl to display our Texas Vacation Treasures! Of course I have cool bowls and dishes lying around that could've easily served this purpose. But of course I used this as another excuse to go browse one of my favorite thrift stores that had been ignored for much of the summer.

  Isn't she lovely? Found at Goodwill for a dollar.

 Sigh...and our shells have found a forever-home...



  Aren't they pretty?

 Just one more picture

And then just one more to sufficiently admire them.

So far they have been taken out and rearranged by each one of us at least once as an excuse to play with them once again. As it should be.

Summer Sales

The Summer Of Sales Continues! Visit Memory Lane here in Sioux City and enjoy a 40% discount off of every single item in booth 316 OR visit Dime Store Thrift Etsy and enjoy a 50% discount off of every single item in the shop! Just enter the code: Summer when you check out online.

Enjoy!