It Wouldn't Be Christmas Without...

 

A Nativity...


 

Candles...

 

An Angel on top of the tree...

 

Baby Jesus under the tree and


 

and this sweet p. in my arms...  Have a great weekend my friends.  Enjoy this magical season!

Tradition Time

 

So much of the joy of Christmas
Is the sameness of it all-
Always the wreath upon the door,
The festoons in the hall;
The mistletoe hung overhead,
The squeals at getting captured,
The sparkling tree that holds it's viewers
Silently enraptured.

 

The same beloved ornaments,
The candles and the bells;
The same old Christmas stories
That Grandpa always tells.
The same old battered angel
Once again adds to the joy-
It's stood atop the tree each year
Since Grandpa was a boy.

 

The merry family gatherings-

The old, the very young:

The strangely lovely way the

Harmonize in carols sung.

For Christmas is tradition time-

Traditions that recall

The precious memories down the years,

 

The sameness of them all

Helen Lowrie Marshall


 

The things that make Christmas special to me each year are the traditions.  The Christmas songs...I can't hear The Little Drummer Boy without thinking of my Mom...How Mom played it over and over on the record player when Dad brought it home for her.  Baby Jesus under the tree. Baking cookies and making pirogi. Luminerias lining the sidewalk and the path to our house on Christmas Eve.  Holding a sleeping child through Midnight Mass.  Oplatek, a wafer that is passed among the family, every break includes a wish, a Polish tradition. Having my whole family together. Our granddaughter's first Christmas...sigh...      

What makes Christmas special at your house?  I'd love to hear.

Have a great day my friends! 

Not a Creature Was Stirring...

 

Well, that only happens in fairy tales...
With a feral cat population that has reduced our bird population in the neighborhood, you would think that my days of innocent bliss would continue...

 

This morning when I got out of the shower, my guys were whispering in the conspiratorial way guys do when they don't want the women folk to hear.

 

I thought, oh no...Mike was in a accident last night...something like that.

 

Thank God it wasn't that, but to me it is BAD, real BAD.  Mike saw a mouse in the kitchen...

 

I went to Ace this morning and spent 28 dollars on traps, foam sealer and steel wool.  The war is on.  You brought this on yourself Mickey, or Minnie!  Oh, how do you like my mantle? 

Enjoy this beautiful day my friends!

Snow, Snow, Snow!

 

Snow, it won't be long before
we'll all be there with snow
Snow, I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow
Snow, oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow

 

Where it's snowing
All winter through
That's where I want to be
Snowball throwing
That's what I'll do
How I'm longing to ski
Through the...
 

Snow, those glist'ning houses that seem to be built of snow
Snow, oh, to see a mountain covered with a quilt of snow
What is Christmas with no snow
No white Christmas with no snow

 

SNOW...I'll soon be there with snow
I'll wash my hair with snow
and with a spade of snow
I'll build a man that's made of snow
I'd love to stay up with you
but I recommend a little shuteye
Go to sleep
And dream
of snow, snow, snow snow

 I've waited a whole year to hang this mobile.
It's the prettiest decoration ever.
Especially if you are like me...
I love snow!

A girl can dream!
Have a great day my friends.
 (Lyrics by Irving Berlin)

Vintage Sheet Music Fabric

 

I saw an awesome pillow in the Ikea ad paper, among other interesting Christmas items.  Last weekend my dearest took me for a little walk around Ikea.  In the fabric department...yes, there is a fabric department at Ikea, I found this cool print.  ( At my store, fabric is on the third floor with the curtains and pillows.)  It is the fabric that the above mentioned pillow was made from.  I bought a few yards and then decided that I wanted to make a piece look like a large piece of vintage sheet music.

 

(*I felt weird all last week...not sick, just not right.  Headache, achy, tired...  I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never did.  So I kept on crafting.)  I got out the stock pot and 20 bags of Lipton tea.

 

I brought the tea to a boil and then plunged the crumbled fabric into the drink.  I turned off the heat and let it sit for several hours.  I rinsed the fabric well and threw it into the dryer.
 

It came out beautifully vintage.  I tacked it onto a large canvas and put it on my buffet in the dining room.  It's not finished, but I love the look.  It needs something, but I don't want it too Christmasy.
 

Now my angel is too pristine.  She needs a little walnut ink to take her color down a little.  Let's just call it a WIP.

I am enjoying creating, decorating.  I've been organizing in anticipation of baking week.  Yes, a week dedicated to cookies!  I have my tree up and decorated, and I've tried to keep things simpler this year.  We'll see!

The pillowcase count is 28!  Now I have to iron and wrap them all. 
Josh and Brent are still in the Amazing Race.  I shouldn't be surprised, but I am.  Next week is the final show, and they really have a chance to win. Those guys are amazing.  Go Team Beekman!

That's all the news.  Thanks for checking in.  I hope that you're feeling some Christmas spirit where you live... I have it, even though it will be 70 degrees today and foggy.  Where's the snow you might ask?  I'll show you tomorrow. Enjoy this beautiful day my friends.