We’ve been taking wallpaper paste off walls, filling holes, sanding then painting and I have been deep cleaning right along to minimize the dry wall dust from settling in places it hasn’t already infiltrated. When I went to dust the top of the bookshelves in our living room I decided, since I had the ladder out, I would put up the Christmas décor we usually place there…it’s close enough to Christmas.
I inherited the black metal Santa sleigh and four reindeer candle holders from my mom. The set holds fond memories for me. My dad was a carpenter and built the house I grew up in. The fireplace was surrounded by stone and he placed three stone shelves – high to low, in step formation – for the mantel. It was the perfect place for this Christmas decoration. On the lower shelf Santa’s sleigh was set in angel hair (to depict snow or clouds?), two reindeer were one shelf higher and the last two reindeer were on the top shelf with garland cascading from sleigh to reindeer to reindeer to connect it all.
Although I don’t have the cascading shelves I put the set on top of my bookshelves with white lights underneath the angel hair, and then set the sleigh and reindeer with four red candles on top.
Last week I was at Bachman’s in Richfield to tour their Christmas Idea House and browse the many beautiful things they have for sale in their store.
The Idea House is a historic home on the property. The brochure tells me “Arthur Bachman Sr. and his wife built this home on Lyndale Avene in the early 1920’s.” Arthur was the second son of the founders of Bachman’s, Henry Sr. and Hattie Bachman. The house stayed in the family until 2001 according to the brochure.
The theme for this year’s Idea House is “Dressed in Christmas Greenery” using “nature’s color palette.” There was much to look at, good ideas to take home and dreams for decorating my own home.
I was surprised to find they were selling black metal stick reindeer, similar to my 1950’s reindeer that I have on top of my bookshelves for the season.
Well, it’s a start.