Santa Buoy, Baby!

Because Thanksgiving was so close to December 1, I packed up all of the autumn and Thanksgiving decor literally hours after the holiday ended, put it away in storage for another year, and gradually began to pull out the things I wanted to use to decorate for Christmas this year.

Over the years and several moves, my collection of holiday items has evolved, growing with the items inherited and acquired, eliminating the items I no longer love so much, gifting to friends and family who would appreciate certain pieces, selling some online, and donating the rest to my favorite local organizations. It's more important to me to keep the things that have enduring appeal and special meaning.

Among those I have kept is this charming vintage wooden Santa buoy that I purchased about 25 years ago at a church holiday craft fair in Virginia during a business trip to Washington, D.C. I've never been a boating or water sports person, but boating, in particular, was something in which I was  involved for several years for my job at the time, so I found this particular local artist's booth at that church fair so appealing. The primary color scheme of my interior decor was (and still is) navy blue with deep red accents, and his color combination and rustic feel was just right for my country home. I no longer own that particular country home, but I still have him, so I am pulling him out again this year to reside on his usual perch on my fireplace's raised hearth, next to one of the pair of tall and slender illuminated faux trees that flank the firebox as a cheerful reminder of special times and special holiday memories.

It's a bitterly cold day again - just 1F degrees (!). It's not normal for this region at this time of year (late January maybe, but definitely not early December!), but neither was the nearly two feet of snow that blanketed us just a week ago. I'm spending the day inside and will continue to unearth some of my holiday treasures to decorate the house while I'm waiting for the "heat wave" to arrive tomorrow - we're supposed to hit 50F on Tuesday. It's crazy, but after a week of shifting gears into "instant winter" (even though it, technically, is still autumn until December 21), I'm starting to "sail" into the holiday spirit, regardless.