Off To The Local Hardware and Garden Center .

I needed to buy a few items for some home maintenance .  Our one and only extensive hardware store in our little community is Ace Hardware .  And , it is the time of year that they open their huge Christmas Shoppe .  So , I was quite eager to go take a look .  And , because I know that for the past few years it has been a "sight to behold" I remembered to take my little "point and shoot" camera .

Will you look at what my eyes saw as I entered the front door !

And , there is a lot more .  It extends throughout about a third of the store and out into the Garden Area .

This is usually where anything related to kitchen ware resides .

Since I had seen their weekly advertisement there was one item in particular that I wanted to look at and that was a large wreath . Many years ago (late 1990's) I decorated a very large wreath for the wall above my indoor corner fire place .  That wreath has had may reincarnations through the years . At first it was dressed to coordinate with my living room deco.  

After I moved here , I decorated the wreath for an outdoor Christmas decoration for the front of the garage . I strung a string of lights on the green wreath , added some poinsettias , some Christmas balls and a big red ribbon .  Following several revisions it has become "a little worse for wear" .  By now ,  some light bulbs have broken and it was looking quite ragged .

At one time it looked like the photo below .  And , it was an impressive piece of Christmas decor at the time before large outdoor residential wreaths became popular . 

For the last few years I have not had  a wreath up on the front of the garage and I have missed it .  

The store had a 36 inch wreath (the size I wanted) and 100 LED lights were attached .  Super !  I will add Christmas balls and red ribbon and more .  Just what I was looking for .  Better yet . I had a coupon ! 

Each month the store has a coupon ($10 off  $50.00 or $20 off $100.00) and it comes in very handy when it seems that many times I need something for my home repairs .  I put a couple more things in my cart and off to the checkout I went . 

Have you ever had something JUMP into your cart?  This spectacular 12 inch shimmering snow globe is extraordinary with its illuminated "snow" falling down over Santa and his reindeer and a lovely church .  It is battery operated and is only a couple inches deep .

I have never seen anything like it . I am sure I will enjoy it for many years at Holiday time .  Oh , and it has a timer switch.  I am not sure of the length of time .  Tag just says timer .  My special (Christmas) gift to me ! 

I was thinking about sending one to my Great Grandchildren , however it is incredibly delicate , fragile and quite heavy for shipping .  The top of one of the snowflakes is already broken from just carefully bringing it home !  I will super glue it .

When I finally got to the checkout I showed them my coupon and they asked if I had the drawing coupon .  It so happened that they were having their Thanksgiving sale coupon draw .  They had me draw a coupon and it was for 40% off  which meant that my purchase total was much less money ! It was a good shopping trip !

When I finish the new green wreath I will show you a photo . 

Have you started your decorating ?  Have a great week .

Mary