Christmas in July!!

I couldn't stay away from my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas , for too long!!

Since it is almost July, it is time for Christmas in July!!

But first, here is my Patriotic tree which is in my Living Room and will stay up until September 11. To read the entire post , please click HERE


I accidently used this pic for Pink Saturday. I meant to use a pic of something else so please forgive me.....

Before I add some pics to my sidebar, I want to tell you a little about them.....

First I found 2 pics of me on Santa's lap as a child.




Unfortunately there were no dates on those but they had to be from the early 60's.....

Here are 2 pics taken in 1961......

This first one is my sister, Barbara and I in front of the manger scene in church.

I was 3 years old and she was 13 years old!


The second one is me and my brand new tricycle when I was 3 years old!!


This is the house that my Dad built when he returned from WWII. He made the Christmas figures outside the house... I lived there until I was 4 years old..

This is the house that he built in 1962. The figures came with us when we moved. I lived there until I got married....
Here is my house in 1984..
Notice the figures???

I used them for several years and then they started to fall apart. My nephew then took them to his new home in York, Pa. He fortified the backs and got several more years of use out of them.
They went through 3 generations.....


These pics are taken from Victorian Decorating and Life Style magazine, December /Jan. issue 1999.

I thought I would share these with you....

You can click on them twice to enlarge them to read....



What a staircase!!





A Victorian Christmas just speaks to me. It was during this period of time that most of our beloved Christmas traditions were created.

The Victorians loved ornaments.....



They loved to decorate with greenery....



And they decked their homes all out for the Holiday.....


Check out those stained glass windows....



I LOVE this Dining Room!!

Look at the red ceiling......


These next pics are of a beautiful home all decked out in mostly Pink, is from Victorian Decorating and Life Style magazine, Jan. 2001


Loving those pink chairs!!


Do you see the old Sewing Machine???


And so loving that stove!!!


I hope you enjoyed these photos. I have saved all of these beloved magazines since I feel that the ones out nowadays do not compare !!

I will be posting more great magazine photos through July so please come back for a visit!!

I am joined these great parties:

Vintage Thingie Thursday

Show and Tell Friday

Home Sweet Home Friday

Pink Saturday

Seasonal Sunday

Amaze Me Monday

Masterpiece Monday

Rednesday

Deck The Halls Friday!

Thanks for stopping by today and every day that you take the time to visit me!!

Hugs,
Debbie

Where Do You Keep It All?? Christmas Decorations!!

I promised the Tablescaper that I would join her yearly party,

Where Do You Keep It All?

I am often asked where do I store all of my Christmas decorations ( with 14 trees after all) and all of my other Holiday and Seasonal decorations.

Several years ago, when I started my little Craft business and the boys were still living at home, I needed more room for storage as I do live in a townhouse with no basement ( which is a rarity around here). So we decided to rent a Storage Shed right down the road from us.

We then started storing the larger Christmas things in the Storage Shed which resulted in needing a larger shed , hence.........

Our Storage Shed


Now brace yourself........

This is not going to be a pretty post with beautiful china hutches and gorgeous dishes and linens like most of the other participants in this party.

I also have to add that I have not been down to our Storage Shed in some time and have been putting off going down to "Straighten " it out. Joe has been taking all of the decorations and seasonal items down there.....

Need I say more........


Okay, you could close your mouth now.......

On this left side in the front is all of my craft supplies and already made things for Craft Fairs.

In the back are all of the Christmas trees , wreaths and larger outdoor items.

The large 7 foot trees from my living Room and Dining Room are bagged and standing behind these boxes with the smaller trees in the boxes as you can see "Den and Master Bedroom Tree" marked.

Honest, there is a method to my madness. I do have a master sheet of what from each room is stored where......

I have to.....

The large wreaths from the outside of the house are stored in boxes.....

Here is my sled from the front porch.....


The other side of the shed is used for storing more of my craft supplies. I have 5 tubs of flowers and 2 tubs of wired ribbon....what can I say???? It's an addiction!

Joe also has tubs with his clothes for different seasons stored in the shed as he finds it easier to store it down there rather then in the attic. My clothes are stored in the attic in 2 old toy chests that my Dad made.

As we have gotten older and with my back problems, more decorations are finding their way down to the Storage Shed rather then up in the attic but I still do have a lot stored up there.

Now please bare in mind that I am trying to get this post in under the wire because I have been finishing my Kitchen Re Do. I took these pics this afternoon and it has to be 120 degrees up in the attic so there are not many pics but you will get the idea....


You can see that the rafters form sections. Each section in this side of the attic has 2 rooms of Christmas decorations stored in it and I have the sections marked by numbers and what decorations from what room is recorded on my master sheet.


Sorry the pics are blurry...very hot up there but you get the idea.....


On the other side of the attic , I have linens, curtains, my clothes and dishes and tablescaping items stored.

If you noticed, I do not use a lot of tubs. I do have some but I find them heavier than boxes to move and for all the decorations that I have, it would cost me a fortune. Boxes are free for the taking at Sam's Club!!

If you would like to check out my Kitchen Re Do on my regular blog, Debbie-Dabble, please click HERE

You will see that all of my kitchen Christmas decorations will still fit right in with my " new" Kitchen!

Sorry that I sort of threw this post together but i haven't had much time and I wanted to answer the question of "Where Do You Keep It All" in regards to all of my Christmas decorations!!


Thanks for stopping by today and please visit the other participants with all of the pretty storage ideas!! LOL!!

Hugs,
Debbie