Dreaming of Vintage Treasures

I absolutely love Christmas! For me, it's one of the happiest times of the year. I love the traditions - decorating a tree, wrapping presents, eating panettone, watching Christmas movies, enjoying warm drinks in m y Christmas mugs and lighting my Christmas candles. My mum always had wonderful Christmas parties in the backyard when I was growing up and I love catching up with those same family and friends each year . Let me share my cute, little golden Christmas tree with you... It's covered in all my favourite ornaments...  These boots are made for walking! Bambi and a carosel! How could I resist the Powerpuff girls, Bugs Bunny and Tweety purchased from Typo last year.  This year, I read How the Grinch Stole Christmas to my students and we absolutely loved it! So these Grinch decorations, also from Typo, had to join the tree this year. Because I am crazy about Christmas, I also collect Christmas salt and pepper shakers. Each year, I buy one or two sets, hence my collection h...

 As always, I've been busy, busy, busy this week. Yes it is worth writing three times, but then again the end of year is a busy time for many people. Christmas shopping and celebrating, catching up with loved ones, racing to the end of the work year. Yesterday was spent visiting family friends which was nice. This morning I had brunch with a couple of friends from high school. It's always good to catch up on each other's lives and while away hours chatting. Some other dear family friends visited this afternoon and now I've got the last few hours of the weekend to myself. Before I get to relaxing, I wanted to share some Christmas-y photos with you. This is my family's beloved Christmas tree that goes up every October 31st (I know that sounds super early and crazy but we don't care). This year we thought we needed some extra Christmas cheer so October 31st couldn't come around fast enough. Mum has been collecting a few decorations each year since my sister and...

I absolutely love Christmas! I'm looking forward to catching up with friends and family. I've been listening to my Elvis Christmas album and as I mentioned in my last post , I've been in the Christmas spirit all month! My special golden tree , on my bedside table. Can you spot the Rolling Stones badge, shell, cowboy boot and sausage dog? Here are some photos that were taken on October 31st when my mum, sister and I put up our Christmas tree. I know it's early (!!) but it's been a tradition that we've been doing for 20+ years. This year I wanted to share photos of some of my favourite ornaments...  Geisha and lantern. The cutest toadstools. A glass slipper. We used to take turns putting this one up each year because it's our favourite decoration. And a chocolate covered strawberry good enough to eat! We've collected these decorations over many, many years, buying 1-2 each year. I wait until after Christmas...

Hello! I finished work for the year on Thursday. We had a staff lunch at a cute Italian farm estate. The food was delicious and it was nice to celebrate the end of the year with all the lovely staff. I can't believe I've finished my first year as a teacher! It's been such a challenge and steep learning curve, I'm glad I persevered. I'm hoping that next year is a whole lot easier now that I'm a bit more confident and familiar with everything. Now that I'm on holidays, I get a chance to embrace the holiday spirit. I love how my mum decorates the house for Christmas. We've both  been  slowly collecting decorations over the years. A lot of them must be vintage by now, we've had them for that long! My mum has always told my sister and I stories of how much she adored her grandmother's little gold Christmas tree when she visited her in Italy as a child. So my mum was thrilled to find her very own this year for $2.50, ...