I Will Honour Christmas In My Heart

I will honour Christmas in my heart,
and try to keep it all the year.
I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.
The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.
I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!

~ Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Thursday, December 10, 2020

One Vintage and One Victorian Christmas Tree and Village in the Living Room, 2020

 


 

 

 

 

 Welcome to my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas!!

 I am so happy you decided to stop by my Christmas Blog!!

 I want to mention that since Blogger changed to a new format for posting, if you can click on each picture if you care to enlarge it...... 
 
 Every room in our townhouse has a different Christmas Theme and Color Scheme!!
 
 I prove that you do not have to live in a large home to have several Trees, over 20, in all shapes and sizes!!

The majority of my Christmas decorations are placed in the same room every year and I know that this is not what most Decorator's care for but to me, it like seeing old friends again when I decorate each year for Christmas as many of my decorations were gifts from family and friends........... 

I do try to add a few new things and change up things a bit but for the most part, these decorations are part of my Christmas Traditions and bring back a lot of treasured memories.....


Today, I will start to share my Living Room decorated for Christmas.....

But first, I want to Thank Katie, over at Let's Add Sprinkles. for featuring my post, Sweet Treat Tree and Hutch in the Kitchen, from last week's Keep in Touch Linky Party!!
 

Thanks Katie  and also for your kind words!!!
 
I also want to Thank to Rebecca, over at Zucchini Sisters, for featuring my post, Gingerbread Land, Beverage Bar and More Christmas in the Kitchen, from last week's Celebrate Your Story Linky Party!!
 
Thanks again, Rebecca!!!!
 
Please stop by and link up to these charming parties!! 

On a Personal Note:

We celebrated our son Jim's 37th birthday this past Monday!!

We ordered his favorite pizza for our celebration and had a Carvel ice cream cake!!!

The highlight was, of course, little Miss Faye!!!

Uncle Joey even let me take pictures!!!!






She was in her play pen while we ate and of course, Joe had to keep playing with her and petting her.....





And Joe just had to take some pictures of me and Faye!!




 
And getting ready to go home with her Mom and Dad!!!

 
She is getting groomed this weekend for the first time so we can not wait to see her afterwards!!

In my last post, I shared the outside of our townhouse all decorated for Christmas......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click HERE if you missed that post......

In today's post, I want to share 2 of the Trees in the Living Room ......

This is the corner area by the stairs......


This is where I set up a Tree displaying my red, green and gold vintage Shiny Brite ornaments.....


The color theme of the Living Room for Christmas is the traditional red, green and gold colors.....

And there is a mix of Vintage, Victorian and Traditional Christmas decorations in this room.....

I am also going to be sharing the stairs right behind this Tree and the area surrounding it......

The wall by the stairs......

A swag that I made.....

On the stairs, is a nutcracker and lanterns......

There is also a gold lighted globe......

When you walk in the front door, this is what you see next to the stairs.....

I like to set up seasonal displays on this vintage chair......

And underneath and to the side of it.....


A Bear Nutcracker bought at J.C. Penney's......



On top of the chair......


I did a different display this year with "toys"......

A drum planter turned upside down......


With one of my Bearington Bears sitting on it along with a replica of a Radio Flyer sled.....


A replica of a vintage rocking horse, an Avon ornament decanter and a little skating doll that my Mother bought for me about 55 years ago in a Hospital's hospitality shop when my mother was in for surgery.....


She helped calm my fears about my Mother returning home from the hospital.....

Underneath the chair......

In 2 lanterns......

A vintage reindeer in one with the bottle of reindeer food I made from an A1 Steak Sauce bottle.....

The deer is actually a planter with a hole on top for the Christmas picks that I added to it....

And in the larger lantern is a vintage boot .......

I placed a Santa head inside of the boot......

A set of vintage Boy's training skates ( double blades) sit next to it....



Next to the chair on a gold cherub planter that I bought in Salvation Army and topped with another Salvation Army find, a marble round, is my new Tree.....

 

 I bought the Tree in Boscov's last year on clearance as I liked the urn it was in......

 

The Tree that I had decorated with my vintage Shiny Brite ornaments in previous years, ended up in the Den and decorated with Thomas Kinkade ornaments......

Click HERE if you missed that post.....

I love to use these outdoor pathway Trees inside because they can be tucked into corners or displayed nicely on a table.....

This is my Vintage Shiny Brite Tree.....

 

 I started with a small gold and silver tinsel like garland that I bought a few years back in Target..........

  I topped it with a bow made from the same ribbon that I used throughout the Living Room.......

 
And a small red finial topper.....

 

My Mother had thrown away the vintage ornaments that she had so I collected these at Estate Sales and church Flea Markets.....


 This Tree has ornaments all around it because of where I have it......

 

I will let the pictures do the talking.....

 

 

 

 

 




 

 I did add 4 red candle ornaments to the Tree.....

 

 I found this vintage pop up Christmas card in my neighbor Elly's house when cleaning it out for her sons......

And I have displayed it here ever since....

Notice the Post Office on the card ( Joe is a retired Letter Carrier)....


Next to the Tree is a curio......

 

The top of the curio....

 

 

Santa.....


Inside the curio are several sets Angels from Sam's Club.....

I added some Christmas florals......

And Ornaments......

To give it a bit of Christmas cheer.....

On the side of the curio ......

Is an angel that I bought in J.C. Penney's several years ago....

      

 

Now we will take a look at the main Christmas Tree in the room......




Again, this Tree is decorated in red, green and gold.....



But this is very much a Victorian Tree.....

Last year, I bought 2 sets of red, green and white LED lights to add to the Tree for Christmas.....


I started with a green beaded garland that I wrapped around a gold and white beaded garland.....

Then I added a red, green and gold beaded garland.....

I topped off the Tree with a gold finial topper, a bow that I made and 2 gold floral branches.....

Added red and green filler balls, tucked within the Tree.....


 
And then added all the Victorian styled ornaments that I have amassed over 25+ years....

I even made a few.....

I tucked gold glittery picks into the Tree....

 
And finished it off with the red and white striped candle ornaments that I bought one year at J. C. Penney's.....

Victorians added candles to their Trees prior to the discovery of electricity and only lit them  on Christmas Eve....

They always had a bucket of water handy to throw on the Tree in case it caught fire!!!

I will let the pictures do the talking.....











At my request, my Dad built me a platform like his the first year that I was married at my request.....

I have covered it with white felt and this is where I set up my Lemax Christmas Village.....

For the first time, I am going to share how I set it up.....

I use the boxes that the houses and other pieces come in to create "mountains"  along the sides.....

I then cover them with white felt......

A few years ago, I realized that one of those grabbers for reaching things work quite well in adjusting the pieces of felt, especially in the the back corner......

This saved me from having to lay on the platform trying to adjust it which was no easy feat for me......

I then added my "mountain" props.....

Next came the houses and how I wanted to line them up this year.....

This year, I decided to put the light house on the "cliff".....

And the church and Queen Anne Victorian on one of the "mountains......

Now that I had my Village set up, I added everything else that I had collected since the birth of my first son in 1981.....

Several of the houses are dated 1981 on the bottom!!!


When I started to use this 7 foot Slim Tree in the Living Room, it exposed a lot of the platform......

Making the Village easier to see and easier to set up!!

Over the last few years, I passed on a piece or 2 that was not part of my original Village.....

Now I am back to my original houses that I started to buy in 1981, all of which have a Victorian look to them and all of them have a particular meaning me.....

Bare with me since I have told you about these houses over the years.....

Just scroll through the pictures if you read it before.....

In the left corner......


The lit Christmas Tree was actually bought from a craft vendor who makes ceramics a few years ago.....


The Light House was bought to commemorate the yearly vacations that we took to Wildwood, N.J., where we visited both the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse in North Wildwood and the Cape May Lighthouse in Cape May.


This light house is similar to the Hereford Inlet one as it was connected to a house.....

The blue building is Joseph's Seafood Restaurant, bought because we stopped ordering Lobster in restaurants because it could not compare to how good the lobster tails that Joe makes are....




I bought the Train Station because at the time, Joe and I frequently went to dinner at the refurbished local historical Train Station that was a Restaurant and Night Club.....

Sadly, it has fallen into a state of disrepair but there are plans to restore it once again....
 
The covered bridge is for the covered bridges in our area in PA......

I set up a Park with a Gazebo, a Nativity set and Santa  Claus.....

I bought the Gazebo because it reminded me of the local Historical Victorian town, Jim Thorpe , where there is a Gazebo in the Center Square where you can take advantage of Train Ride Tours....

I used to meet friends there in that town to shop quite often many years ago......


Ironically, I bought the Post Office for no special reason, never realizing that soon afterward, Joe would start his career as a Letter Carrier for the United State Post Office......


I bought the Church because church has always been an important part of my life.....


And that blue Queen Anne Victorian house is my Dream House......

Maybe in my next life time or maybe I lived in a house like that in a past life....


The General Store and Carrington's Department Store were bought because of our love of shopping!!

The white fence is a Plasticville fence and to me, it symbolizes the fence that my Dad had made to put around the platform that he built to use under my childhood Tree.....

On the side of the  platform , in an urn is a lighted Cardinal Globe that my Niece and Great nieces gifted to me last Christmas which was the first Christmas after my nephew, her husband, had passed away.....

I am sure you may have heard the saying about a red cardinal......

I have said this every year when I do this post about my Village......


As I work on setting this all up like my Dad once did under his Tree, I can hear him say....


"That a Girl" with that tear in his eye......

I will continue to do this as long as I physically can, honoring my Dad's Love of Christmas and Decorating......


 

 I hope you enjoyed seeing how I decorated 2 of the Trees in our Living Room......

In my next post, I will be finishing up my Christmas Room by Room Home Tour by sharing the remainder of the Living Room.....





And sharing you the last Tree in the Living Room.....



So I hope you will stop by to visit again soon!!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......


I am linking up to these parties:
 
 

14 comments:

  1. I love both trees, but I do have a special place in my heart for shiny brite ornaments! I am sure your dad is very proud of your village traditions, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love all your trees, you have the "Tree art" and touch. I love, love the one with the village under it, it is just gorgeous ! I should inspire myself and create me a village next year, if I'm still around, lol..
    See, you had a village tradition, and you really continued with it, which is wonderful for your boys and future grandkids.
    Thank you for your sweet visit. You made my day !
    Fabby

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  3. I love how pretty Christmas decorations and how festive it looks Debbie. I hope you are enjoying the holiday season.

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  4. Hi Debbie, Christmas greetings to you and your family. I am so happy to see that everybody is safe and healthy. This has been a trying year. I just love the Victorian tree, especially the vintage cards/prints and the gold spray picks! The picks add so much dimension and glamour to a tree. I do like a tree "fully loaded," I tend to fully load the one regular size Christmas tree I put up. Even after all these years I've been following you each Christmas, I still can't get over how to you manage it all. While you have 20 trees, at the end of 2018 I traded "down" in size to one of those new "blended" PE and PVC trees that have the more "realistic" looking branches/tips. My original tree was 11 years old and really looking its age. I love the new shorter tree (5') I got, it's full and beautiful and those PE tips do look very realistic, but it's different than having a 6.5' tall tree. I can't imagine decorating all the trees and everything else that you do around the house. I find that I'm fussing/putzing less with Christmas decorations for the past few years, I leave all my energy to build up for my garden beds once the grass starts to turn green again outside, so I can get my hands in the dirt again. We may get our first "sticking" coat of snow late tonight/tomorrow. UGH! I'm afraid to check the latest forecast - depending on the "track" this storm takes, we may get only a dusting, or we could get as much as 11 inches, yikes! Ho ho ho Merry Christmas and I hope all of us have a much less worrying/wearing 2021.

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  5. Little Faye is too cute, I bet she will look a lot different after her hair cut. I don't remember you putting a chair by the steps on past years maybe I just forgot. Wonderful Christmas display!

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  6. So many sweet vignettes and display. I like your chair too and the village is impressive! A big happy birthday to Jim!

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  7. Hello and Merry Christmas to sweet little Faye!

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  8. What a cute pup! I love your Victorian village. Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!

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  9. Hello there Debbie!!!

    Glad to read you and yours are doing well!

    Wow!!! Your oldest boy sure looks like you!!! But I am sure you have heard that many times.

    I just LOVE ALL your decorations...and the stories behind your little town (Dwebbieville as I call it made me smile. And what a clever idea to use the boxes the little buildings come in to make your mountains!!!

    A question....as you are a fan of all things Victorian, do you ever watch Anne of Green Gables (the books and the movies)?

    Thank you for opening up your heart and home to us...May the blessings of the season bless you and your sweet, sweet family!

    xoxo,
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nina,
      Thanks so much for stopping by to visit and for your very kind words. am noticing that as joey ages, he is starting to look like my Dad...A relative remarked that he has my Dad's smile and that made me smile! I hate to admit it but no, I have not watched Anne of green Gables, though it is on my bucket List but I have read the original book a very long time ago....Merry Christmas to you and your family!! Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
      Hugs,
      Deb

      Delete
  10. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! That is all can say after seeing how lovely all your decorated trees and rooms are! Your yorkie is sooooo cute! Thank you for your kinds words on my post! Merry Christmas to you!

    Hugs,

    Tee @ Teediddlydee

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  11. Oh my gosh Deb! Your trees are all so beautiful! I love your village set up there. You are right...it so much fun to see the things we have the same! I even noticed the same little altar boys outside the church in your village. And the teddy bear nutcracker! We could have had so much fun shopping together! Your little grandpup is adorable and I am so glad you have your family close especially this year. Have a wonderful week!

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  12. Beautiful trees again this year Debbie. I wouldn't expect anything less from your home. Enjoy the holidays. #HomeMattersParty

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  13. Debbie,
    I love seeing all of your vignettes and all of your Christmas decorations. Have a Meery Christmas. Congratulations, you are being featured on Over The Moon Linky Party. I hope you stop by. https://www.eclecticredbarn.com/2020/12/over-moon-linky-party_20.html
    Have a Merry Christmas.
    Hugs,
    Bev

    ReplyDelete

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