When it comes to decorating for Christmas, I used to be of the opinion strictly no Christmas decorating or music until the day after Thanksgiving. Over the years my love of decorating has increased (as has the amount of decorations), and I hauled out the Christmas boxes in mid-November, so our place has been decorated for a few weeks now, but we’ve been so busy I just now had time to photograph!

This year we welcomed two new trees to our collection. Another small silver one, and a large six and a half foot green one. My dad had actually purchased this green beauty a few years ago, and it was the main tree at his house for sometime, but three years of putting up and taking down the pink tapered branch aluminum tree has taken a toll on me and the tree. Last year, while putting it together, I noticed that if I put up just the upper half of the tree I could have quite the adorable three foot pink tree, so I requested that my dad mail me the green one. I love having three different colored aluminum trees and hope to one day lay my hands on a blue one!

Over the years I’ve noticed the amount of new decor items dwindle, and it’s to the point where nearly every piece is vintage (which a handful of exceptions), which makes me extremely happy. Christmas is such a nostalgic time, and it genuinely feels nice handling old items with such care. While some items are family pieces (such as the houses along the mantle, which belonged to my grandmother), many are items I’ve collected through making diligent rounds of antique malls during the Christmas season over the years. How do you decorate for the holidays? New items? New to you items? Or family pieces passed through generations or items loved ones have made?

It’s hard to talk about the holidays without thinking about gifts. And honestly, I’ve been rather terrible about my Christmas shopping so far, it seems I am finding far more for myself than others, because so many of the lovely, but expensive, shops I love have been having sales! But now it’s time to try and focus on others and the season of giving.