Every Neighborhood Should Have an Eiffel Tower: Christmas 2024

Once upon a time, when I was raising a family, I decorated the house from the guest bathroom to the kitchen and everything in between with boxes and storage bins filled with Christmas. Oh, and even the front porch. I can't believe it took me over twenty years to realize that the more Christmas stuff you decorate with, the more you have to put away and store. Today, I pull a few decorations out of a couple of hat boxes. The total amount of time spent is about 15 minutes. 

Every year, I tell myself, "This will be the year I will decorate excessively inside and outside," except I don't.  The older I get, the more time seems to escape me. Before I know it, it's Thanksgiving, and too late. I should have had a game plan done by the first of November. 

Not all is lost; I discovered a handmade cranberry-colored pillow with a Currier and Ives print while exploring a lovely bazaar held at a little country church on the Stateline. I only paid $8.00 for a lot of love that went into that treasure. 

A few weeks ago, while grocery shopping, I bought a cranberry mandarin-scented jar candle and a Glade pine-scented candle (I know, right? Glade. I went all out.) 

As always, the little vintage Putz houses are lined up on the mantle. This is only half of the collection. The name for Putz houses evolved from the German word for "putzen," which means to clean or decorate.  These little houses have been decorating holiday mantles everywhere for around 100 years. I couldn't help myself, so I added the Eiffel Tower to the neighborhood.            

Joyeux Noël

PS: There's a history lesson here. During World War II, the Eiffel Tower was occupied by the Nazis, but it was not destroyed despite orders from Hitler to demolish the structure. The French Resistance cut the elevator cables to prevent the Germans from accessing the tower. After the liberation of Paris, a French flag was raised on the Eiffel Tower to symbolize the city's freedom from German occupation.