Matt B. and I bought a house last year, and after Christmas at his aunt's house, where we admired a nutcracker collection at least 100 strong, we decided it was time to start building our holiday kitsch collection. We'd accumulated a handful of ornaments and decorations over the last few years (mostly basset hound themed), but this time, we hit up a sale on 12/26.
It wasn't entirely planned. We were just walking on Larchmont with a couple friends when we saw the Christmas window display at CH boutique, with all holiday items 50% off. We were particularly taken by a series of nutcrackers decked out in glitter and feathery poofs, cute and decadently ridiculous. The front of the store was full of these holiday goodies, and we picked up two of these nutcrackers (our friends also bought one) as well as a little Christmas carousel that plays music and a hideous ballerina frog ornament that I like very much.
The rest of the store was devoted to clothes and accessories that aren't necessarily my style, as well as other knick knacks and household items that are in line with the Christmas goods, though less gloriously tacky. A lot of stuff you might expect to see at Grandma's house, but like good stuff, stuff you would've sneaked off and played with as a kid.
Matt and I collect basset hound paraphernalia, and I knew I had a decent chance of finding at least one basset hound item in CH Boutique. I was right--there was a whole collection of tiny ceramic dog figurines, and sure enough, a basset hound among them.
There was only one person taking care of the boutique, a nice woman who answered our questions and wrapped our purchases with care. Horridly, I think we threw out our new basset figurine in the confusion of Christmas--it was so small, we might have lost it in its lovely tissue wrapping. We're going to have to replace it, so I'll swing into CH Boutique again soon. I look forward to more basset finds and post-holiday sales. read more