31 October 2010

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . . decoration shopping time!!

Greetings all,
Our Saturday pared out well, athletics in glorious sunshine, then quick shower of the children & dressed into various themed party ensembles & started delivering them around Canberra.  The last drop off & first pick up was in Jerrabomberra (NSW side of the bottom tip of the ACT) so after Shop Girl's tip to check out the Christmas Barn in Bredbo, we were off down the Monaro Highway towards the Snowy Mountains.  Bredbo is a tiny town north of Cooma & EVERYONE was at the Christmas Barn.  Husbands with arms folded & rolling their eyes, wives squealing with delight at decoration mania.  Judging from the ELF plated Audi out the front, the Christmas decoration business is very good indeed.
Super friendly service & so much variety, glitter & sequins, we had to do a lap before we picked up a single item.  My husband was overwhelmed, arms folded & rolling his eyes.  We were offered a basket & i started filling it with jingle bells & turtle doves.  Yes, i jingled all the way.  We were asked if we needed assistance . . . "what is your colour theme darling??"  Um, i looked at handsome soldier who was already covered in glitter & said "oh, we don't have a colour theme, a guess multicolour for fun".  So underprepared for this was i!! 
The Army tends to relocate you at Christmas time so we've had maybe 3 Christmas trees in the past 10 years, often using a hotel room fern as our tinsel & star encrusted attempt at a make shift Christmas tree to stand over the children's gifts.  So often my husband is away in a war zone on Christmas, we make other family celebrations a big deal, to take the pressure off a daddyless Christmas period.  This year my husband is home & wants a decent Christmas tree. 
Now i grew up with a plastic European Christmas tree.  I remember it well as it was strapped to me . . . aged 4 in 1979 it was my duty to drag it through the airport on the trip home from London to Sydney.  The box still has "Jennie QF2" all over it.  My husband is a genuine-pine-needle-dropping-real-tree enthusiast.  I grew up with an angel on top of the tree . . . um, acquired from a Policeman's Christmas Ball/ Dinner/ Dance in the mid 70's, my mum just really wanted it & held up my sister to reach it & the commissioner smiled - that's my mother's story (we just refer to it as the 'stolen angel' behind her back).  My husband's family Christmas Tree was real, with a star on top, purchased legally.  So this year it's a real pine tree with an angel on top (& proof of purchase)!!
Finding the angel was difficult but gave my husband something to do while i kept gasping at the Babushka decorations & wondering how an owl could fit into Christmas booty.  He found a beauty!!    
Voila, our contained collection of decorations for this year.  Love the folksy style & simple silver, all a tax deduction too as they are used as props & merchandising at my market stall, yippee!!
Have fabulous weeks everyone, love Posie
PS nice little plug for my new range of boys' fashion range METRIC over at the Handmade blog in Shop Handmade now, not far from the GingerBreadHouses of course!!  Thanks Tania!!

13 comments:

Sarah B said...

Wow, that looks like a fabulous place to visit - I can just picture all the husbands rolling their eyes :)
I lived in a tiny apartment for 7 years prior to moving here so I hadn't had a tree in all that time. Very sad. So, last year I went out and bought the biggest tree I could find. It was wonderful, though I couldn't then afford to decorate it really well. I'm looking forward to bringing it out again soon.
ps love the tax deduction idea.

Tania McCartney said...

Oh my - I'm SO there!! And what do you mean you don't have a colour theme for your Christmas decorating this year? Get with the programme, girl! Mine is red and white with a hint of Nordic straw and pine. Can't wait. Love your stash!
Tx

Tammy said...

Ahhh colour theme yes I vaguely remember that! I used to have a red and green theme with lots of clear glass ... but as we have a tradition of each buying a new ornament every year to add to the tree it is slowly becoming multicoloured too!

Knicky Knacks said...

Oh my goodness. Like a kid in a lolly store...that's incredible. I would have been found rocking back and forth underneath a tree, sucking on my thumb and mumuring something like...hello my pretty, your mine, all mine. I could never be left alone in a place like that with a credit card!

Market Girl said...

Out of control Jen, it looks great. Road trip here we come!
Theme, just cannot decide this year. I love Tania's idea so might have to jump on board with that one Tan.We usually have red, gold and silver. I like the red silver and straw. Nice!
x

moose and bird said...

This sounds like my kind of Christmas store! Another thing I don't get is why men don't like Christmas??? How could you cross your arms and roll your eyes at anything remotely christmassy!

Heidi said...

Oh my what wonderful displays!

Kerry said...

Whoa...how long till Christmas!! I've never been game to stop in at that shop. Your kids are going to have so much fun decorating. I did a black and silver tree the last two years for those grown up children of mine...not sure they fully appreciated the effort :)

bron @ baby space said...

Wow. That place looks incredible. Nice one in having the husband come along with you even if he was eye-rolling. The Baby Space man would not set foot anywhere near anything remotely like this!

Aww, Christmas. So exciting :)

Chicken Willow said...

Jeepers, what a place! I like what you came out with though. Our colour theme is multicolour as well. xx

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