The Cobbler’s Children Syndrome…..And You

Remember the story about the unfortunate children of the cobbler?  Poor things; they never got shoes since their father was too busy making them for other people.

That’s a bit like I am feeling.  After months of making vintage Christmas goodies, I find myself in the position of being incredibly behind in my own Christmas preparations.

Shopping done? No.

Wrapping?  Nothing to wrap yet.

Outside lights up? Um, nope.

House decorated?  Ok, can I have a glass of wine now, please?

I always loved to decorate the house and I keep wondering how I did it in the days when I worked full-time for someone else (someone who actually paid me a salary).  Now I get to work full-time for myself but I never sem to have time to do anything else.

Yesterday evening, I started on the tree.  The tree is the pinnacle for me – the absolute most important thing in the whole scheme of Christmas.  It puts me in the mood to do everything else.  I  love to go in the living room late at night, turn off all the lights except for the tree, put on some beautiful Christmas music, and stretch out on the sofa to drink it all in.

I do it all by myself, even the dreaded lights which, when I grew up, was always considered to be the “man’s job.”  I hate them.  And sure, enough, I had 3 strands of lights that were duds.  It was pouring down rain and I chose not to go out to get more.  The tree is a little smaller than usual (I always try to get a really fat one – and it is always a Fraser Fir) so I just went ahead.  It still looks pretty good, thankfully.

So I got the lights and garland on.  Then I went to the basement and dragged up the fake tree that is the one I put my vintage ornaments on.  I decided to put that up in my new garden room (former screen porch) instead of the dining room, its usual spot.

And guess what?  Some of the lights on it aren’t working either. Grrrrrrrr.  Time to go out to dinner.

Fast forward to late this afternoon.  I humped the tons of boxes, bins, and chests upstairs that house the ornament collection for the tree and got started putting them on.  I got a good 31/2 hours into before I decided to quit and write to you.  People have asked me to post pictures on my tree this year and I promise to do that once I am finished.  I will tell you all about it.

But here’s a little look at how it is starting to look now.  I’ve gotten some of the more “important” ornies on.  Now only about a thousand more to go…

As you can see, most of the ornaments are figural.  In fact, they make up a good 99%.

Here’s a close-up of some of my faves.I’ll tell you about the special ones when I get it finished.

But now, to YOU.

I asked folks to send me pictures of their Glittermoon wreaths once they hung them up and several of you have come through for me.  It’s exciting for me to see then in their new home.

This is Pink Passion in its new home, Pam’s.  I am dying over her vintage Santa collection.  Wow – just incredible.  If she was closer to me, I might just lighten her load a bit.

Pam has 4 Glittermoon wreaths and she sent me pics of 3 of them so far.

This is Home for the Holidays in her dining room.  I bet it looks spectacular in real life with her red lanterns that really pick up the reds in the wreath.And here is Pink Pixie with her snowman collection.  How adorable is that?  I wish I could visit her; she knows how to decorate for Christmas!!!

Nancy and Dick from upstate New York sent me this photo of Heavenly Gold hung on a mirror over their fireplace.  Doesn’t everything look cozy and warm?  I want some hot chocolate to go with this scene.

This is Susan’s Pink Memories hanging over her sofa.  It goes perfectly with her color scheme, I think.  This was a custom order and has a terrific story which I am going to share with you this winter.

And this is Joy-Full.  Remember this one?  I mostly made it with Joy’s own ornaments.  I love this scene!  So Christmasssy!  But she was undecided…..so she also sent this:

Oh, be still my heart.  I LOVE it on the mirror with that gorgeous blue ribbon.But best of all is that she sent me a picture of herself, too!  I love being able to finally put a face to her name.  Joy lives in Pennsylvania.  Isn’t she lovely?

You’ve already seen this one but I still love it. This is Ice Dance in Felicia’s New York City home.  Scrumptious.

This is Old-Fashioned Christmas.  Way down in Austin, Texas.  I made this one for Scott.  He wanted a wreath to lay on his coffee table.  He seems to have a real mid-century vibe going here.  Very cool.  Scott was my first custom order.  He found me when the Fabulous Beekman Boys tweeted my wreaths at my first Country Living Fair in Atlanta, back in 2011.  In 2012, I made him a topiary, too.

And, finally, this is Boot-i-Full which belongs to Kathy, right here in Richmond.  Something tells me that she really gets into Christmas, too!  Just adorable.

Thank you to all of you who took the time to send me your photos.  Keep on sending them and I will share them with everybody.

Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to go upstairs, turn off the lights, and look at my Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas !