6 days till Christmas!

Holy crow...seriously?! 6 days till Christmas?! My gosh, I have no idea where time has gone. All of these days have just melted into one another...and we are just filling every waking hour with work and cleaning, and organizing, and planning, and phone calls. And then as the day winds down and our heads hit the pillow we both fall asleep knowing that we're going to do the same thing all over again once that sun rises.

But Aaron and I have always been workhorses. We're not too big on sleep. The midnight oil is always burning. And there are lots and lots of irons in the fire at all times. Only now things are a bit heavier. I know Aaron has his own set of coping skills, but I think my are being put to the test. I'm definitely in that strange state of being on the verge of tears at all times. And they could equally be good tears or bad ones. Sometimes it actually takes me a few minutes to figure out which type they are. Any long time readers of this blog will know that I have suffered from panic/anxiety disorder since my twenties. I have come a very long way, largely due to my artistic output and the great response from this art community. ( You can read my Art Saves story from a few years ago here. )

Hurricane Sandy brought so many things back to the surface for me...and for us. And the tragedy in Connecticut absolutely floored me for days. For the east coast I feel like things have just been so so heavy. You can easily slip up and let yourself get so overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions. For us bleeding hearts these are scary times and we must be responsible. We can't let our emotions run away on us. You really have to convince yourself to keep up a strong front and realize that life is short and uncertain and every moment spent in paralyzing fear is a wasted moment. Cherish every moment. Cherish the little things. Cherish everyday...Celebrate Everyday! 

One thing that has served as such amazing medicine for us is our work. Our fabulous customers really pulled through for us in a pinch and took advantage of our big hurricane relief sale when we needed them most. It's crazy that we have all these orders to fill and we have no studio in which to fill them. Our home and home studio could best be described as construction sites/ disaster areas. Luckily Aaron's parents are totally awesome and they have let us commandeer their dining room table. ( you can see a tiny peek of it above with a handful of orders being prepped on it's surface! ) Aar's parents, aka Barb & Skip, have been so so generous with their time and space. We pretty much commute across town to their house every single morning and put in our work day there. And don't let me insinuate that we're only occupying their dining table. We've hijacked lots of corners and tabletops and any nooks and crannies that we could get our hands on over there! And poor Skip!...we did this to him at precisely the wrong time of year. You should see him running around trying to decorate the house for Christmas around us.

Our tree full of treasured ornaments.

Which leads me to a topic that has been weighing heavy on my heart. It's so strange how much it has effected me...the simple sad fact that Aaron and I do not have a Christmas tree this year. Yep...Jenny Holiday has no Christmas tree! My tree is my pride and joy. I have been collecting vintage and handmade ornaments for as long as I can remember. Over the years, through swaps with some friends here in blogland I've received some incredibly beautiful ornaments, and purchased some treasured pieces on etsy and at craft shows and events like Silver Bella.

Here is our tree from a few years ago...

 I have so much amazing Christmas stuff!  Vintage bottle brush trees, and mercury glass, tinsel trees, my absolute favorite quirky handmade vintage felt tree skirt. And there are ornaments that Aaron and I bought together for our first apartment years and years ago. And even without all the fab stuff...I'm totally in love with my artificial white tree. It's like a member of the family that we get to see only once a year during this special time.

Some treasured ornaments and a table top tree.

Our dreamy Holiday mantel. 

A happy collection of trees...gosh I loved them.

This is our dining room...two apartments ago. 

 Yes, I applied the past tense to the previous sentence. : ( Because it turns out that Aaron and I lost our tree and all of our decorations to Hurricane Sandy. We had been holding out hope that this wasn't the case...but sadly...heartbreakingly so, it's all gone. We had it all in storage in a garage at our old apartment.

 Every time that I start thinking about it all I get so so sad. And it's not only my Christmas stuff, but all of my favorite and equally amazing Halloween decor. Lots of vintage stuff from the 50s...lots of folk art pieces from Wendy Addison, and Nicole Sayre, and Dee Foust. Oh gosh, I just am so saddened by it.  And I also feel terrible knowing that so many families have lost so much more than we did. This just kinda came as an awful aftershock. I know I can collect things again, and replace some things, but it's the memories that I'll miss the most.

ahh...gosh..well what can you do? I hope that by this time next year we will have a new tree and new old ornaments and sparkly things that will bring joy to countless future holidays. 

The Holidays are so special to me. I cry a lot...and they're definitely the good kind of tears. I love getting Christmas cards from our amazingly sweet friends! Here are some that had us crying like babies.

Gosh it's late! We're up in our new cozy bedroom...which is the warmest room in the house being that it's on the second floor, which still has insulation. Tomorrow morning we might have the insulation guys coming over to re-do our crawl space. Right now, if we are able to stay awake we just might watch Men in Black 3...that's the one with Josh Brolin playing a young Tommy Lee Jones...looks like fun!
xoxo, Jenny