Refurbished Sled for the Holidays

Several months back we were helping my mom go through some old stuff that was going to be sold in an auction.   While pulling stuff out, we came across an old wooden sled.  My mom had used this sled as a decoration outside during the holidays.  It had become very weathered and rusty due to the weather and was in need of a total makeover! 

My husband did all of the dirty work of sanding it down, pressure washing it, and repainting the metal on it.  

Once it was thoroughly dried, he then proceeded to re stain the wood on it to a darker finish.  Since I will be using this sleigh as a decoration for Christmas, I wanted it to match the darker wood in my house.  

After giving it a couple of days to dry, it was time to decorate!  I've never had the natural knack for floral arrangements or decor, so I did what I always do when stuck with a dilemma.  I washed my hair!   I know that sounds crazy, but trust me, it works!  While washing my hair, I began to think about what it must have been like to have that beautiful sled brand new back decades ago and all of the adventures I would have taken it on.   I pictured sledding down the biggest hills western Pennsylvania could provide, finding an icy driveway to speed down, or grabbing ice skates and sledding my way to the closest frozen pond.  I never figured out how to ice skate myself, but always pictured myself falling down like that little boy in that 1980 something McDonald's commercial.   Needless to say, my sled was going to have ice skates with it!  And mittens!  Oh, beautiful brown mittens.  And some evergreen and a bow!  Oh, it is going to look so great at Christmas sitting in my....well, I'll figure out later where to put it.   I gathered some supplies and started decorating it.   Here is the finished product. 

 I still have about 6 weeks before I need to decide where I am going to put it.  I'm sure it will come to me in the shower!   

Halloween

Halloween is my absolute favorite time of year.  I remember how excited I was as a child to get dressed up in a Ben Cooper's Casper the ghost plastic costume or tweety bird costume.   Every year, I started planning my costume in July-whether it was a wicked witch, Madonna, or Bloody Mary herself.  I couldn't wait for the first fall leaf to fall because I knew that meant Children of the Corn would be on TV, caramel corn would be made, and my Dad would be planning the family trip to a Haunted House (where I made sure I wasn't scared, even when I was, so my parents knew I was tough enough to handle that crazy guy with the chainsaw).  Needless to say, when I got older(growing up is still a work in progress), I still became excited for Halloween and Fall weather.   After I married and we bought the house, I let my crazy decorating alter-ego come out.   My crazy Halloween decorating started in 2005 when we added the cemetery, coffin, and mannequins to our yard.  Each year after we started planning in June to add additional props and displays to our yard.   Now that I have turned 40, and maybe because I am starting to 'grow up', I have decided to downsize slightly the yard decorations.  I am beginning to focus more on the details of a few displays and more authenticity-kind of the 'less is more' idea.  This year I really focused on making a Witches' Altar in my bay window.  Here are a few pictures from this year's display.