It's beginning to look a lot like, well, you know.

It snowed last night. Not much, but enough to consider it snow in Arkansas. I took this photo as proof to The Bean that it has actually snowed. He's taken to sleeping late on Mondays. (If 8:00 can be considered late.) That's okay, it gives me time to get my morning chores done before we start school.After I took this photo, it snowed quite a bit more, but then it all melted again. It was just enough to make it cold and for it to be the perfect day at home, learning about the American Frontier and doing some more Christmas decorating.

Last night I made this wreath out of my less desirable Shiny Brites. By less desirable, I mean not figural or the ones with indents. With every squirt of hot glue, I fully expected each and every Shiny Brite to explode in my hand. But, luckily, that never happened.
I kept adding one here and one there to even it out and make it round, but I really think you could add ornies all day and make it as big as a tractor tire and it would never be completely symmetrical. Finally I pulled out a box of my treasured smaller Shiny Brites and filled in here and there and it came out pretty well. I took the photo at an angle, so it still looks a bit off on the right side, but it's basically round - ish.

I filled my big glass jar lamp up with the smaller Shiny Brites. Pardon that pile of roadkill Santi on the side there - it is all still very much a work in progress at my house. I was just happy to have enough little ornaments to fill up that big jar this year. The thrifting gods have smiled upon me this year and let me find plenty of little ornies.

I've had this old clock case for quite awhile. I usually have a carved rooster in it, but that had to go for Christmastime. This is one of my favorite Santas out of my humongous collection of Santas, so I decided to showcase him. He is hand-sculpted out of clay, hand-painted, his clothes are handmade, etc. He is really cool and I found him for only 50¢ at the thrift. The "Santa Collector" sign was a no brainer purchase at a thrift a few years ago.

My happiest finds this year and in the past few years has been vintage Christmas packaging. I love it when I find anything vintage still in the box. But, the truth is, I usually love the box with it's colorful graphics far more than whatever lies inside the box. Several times this past year, I have purchased items and handed the item inside back to be resold. Especially when there is some random item in a cool old box. That vintage gift wrap box was full of cut sewing patterns. I bought the box for 50¢ and handed them back the sewing patterns to be sold again.

This year I was determined to use the packaging, but I wasn't sure how to display them. When I saw this post on My Vintage Soul, I knew I had my answer. The Dime Store. I gathered up all my packaging and a few things that you could have bought at the Dime Store and put them all on my Holiday Shelves. There's Shiny Brite boxes of every size and style, various light bulb packaging, candles, tree stands, ornament hangers (a favorite of mine due to their size and graphics), a fruitcake tin with a cool old Santa, Santa themed cigarettes (yes, you read that right), a tabletop aluminum tree and a box of vintage tinsel garland to round it all out. I know my fellow blog buddies will like it, but not so sure if any real life people would "get it". You get it though. Right? I thought so.