It's the little things...

When it comes to Christmas decorating , I find it's the little things that really make me smile. I've had this little sled ornament for a few years. It use to be on a wreath, but when I reworked the wreath it was left homeless. I added some elements from my vintage stash -- an old bottle-brush wreath, bells and snowy baubles-- and I found myself smiling from ear to ear. It's a little thing, which probably no one else will notice, but it makes me happy. As does my collection of tiny porcelain bells (see the one in the bottom left of the picture?)

If you inject vintage and little into the picture, then I really start to smile.

One of my favorite "new" items this year was a small, gold-tinsel tree, which belonged to my great-grandmother.

I have very distant memories of her. I faintly remember my mother taking my sister and I to visit her at a nursing home when I was very little. I remember all my aunts crying over her loss at her funeral.

Anyway, this year, when my grandmother cleaned out the attic, this is one of the things that was found. It is covered in little chenille ornaments and I just love it to pieces. My grandmother tells me her mother would be thrilled to know I have it and love it... and that I do.

I love this little choir of angels I picked up years ago. It sits on a little accordion-style wood base that expands for display, it's a little worse for the wear, but it makes me smile every year when I unpack it.

I have a collection of vintage ornaments too, but there is always an element of heart break when you love vintage items. The years make them brittle and your always bound to lose a few.

It seems there is an element of hearbreak in anything worth caring about -- the bitter in the sweet.