Vintage Christmas Monday (on a Tuesday)

If my life right now was to be represented by me swimming, I'd barely have my nose above the surface of the water. I feel like I've been operating on a stress level of 13 (on a scale of 1 to 10) for more than a month now, and it's definitely taking its toll on my mental state. My memory is like Swiss cheese lately and I feel like I'm constantly moving in slow motion--no matter how much I run around, I hardly get anything done. I'm most definitely overloaded--some of which is my own fault, and some that I can't help. I caught myself this morning thinking, "If I can just get Christmas over with, I'll be fine and I can rest." Over with? What? I need an attitude adjustment, stat! So even though I still have a To Do list that's a mile long, I'm going to try hard over the next few days to let go of perfection and enjoy the moment (thanks for the much-needed reminder, Jane!)

So, then. Onto Joan's final Vintage Christmas Monday party, to which I am a day late. For this last installment, I thought I'd show my very favorite vintage Christmas decoration, my tree!I know that I'm not supposed to love material things and all that jazz, but I think my beloved aluminum pom-pom tree and my collection of beautiful vintage ornaments may rank up there in my Top 5 Material Possessions. I love my tree so, SO much. I say it every year, but when the afternoon sun comes in through that window and hits the tree, the *SPARKLE* just blows my mind!

My crazy stressed-out end of November and most of December meant that I only put out about 25% of my Christmas decorations this year. A bummer because I love my vintage Christmas pretties that are packed away most of the year, but maybe a blessing because now I don't have to put so much away, right? However, the first thing I put up and the only thing I really care about was my gorgeous tree and all of the hard-won ornaments that I've found by searching through the crap at garage sales and thrift stores. You can see some of my favorites in this Flickr set (I'd post some of the original photos for you to look at, but I can't find where I filed them on my computer!)

And my thanks to our lovely hostess Joan for making Vintage Christmas Mondays possible! I hope she does it again next year!