Friday, December 31, 2010

Christmas is past



This is what it looked like a few weeks back, before I decorated the hutch with vintage Christmas stuff. My kitty was inspecting the area for me. This is also what it looked like again last night, after all the vintage Christmas was packed away for another year.
How 'bout a look around at what it was like for the holiday here when all the vintage nostalgia was in full force.











So much of this stuff takes me back to the days of visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house. I have great memories of those times.... visual reminders and certain scents-- like ham baking in the oven, or fruitcake in a tin, can make me feel like a kid in their house like it was yesterday.






Some of these items will be sold off and new (or old) things will come in to replace them. The circle of collections and thrifting.








We had a good Christmas together as a family. Good food, good memories made, the warmth of a crackling fire in the fireplace and the promise of what our faith brings us.


I love the photo above and am thinking I will offer it for sale as a print. Don't you love those old Christmas bulbs?







We did end up having a real tree once again this year, vs. an artificial one, after a lapse of several years. Boy did I miss a real tree. Love the scent! Our tradition each year was to go to a tree farm the second weekend of December and cut one as a family outing. I miss that tradition, but the tree farms all became more pricey than our budget would easily allow, so sadly there have been no recent trips to the tree farm. This year we headed to the big box home store to buy a tree that was probably cut back in Sept. or something crazy like that. Anyway, we could afford it as it was cheap enough, with the help of our rebate coupon we were redeeming from a previous purchase for a much needed home repair- (adventures in home ownership, as we like to refer to it)-and it really was a cute, tiny tree, after all.... even if it had been cut months ago and struggled to hold its needles.


On top of the table by the window it looked like a tall proud tree from outside. We did fool the neighbors, until they came inside and our secret was revealed. Look closer and you will see one of our traditions...






We always put my stuffed animal squirrel from my childhood tucked in among the branches.
Some of you may know of a movie that has a squirrel in the Christmas tree!!



We ended up having to take down the tree early as it was very dry and we did not want to burn down the house. You know, since it was probably cut back in Sept. or something and all the drinks we gave it were not enough to refresh it for long. We would ordinarily leave it up until Epiphany. Since I had to take the tree down I disassembled the rest of the decor while I was on a roll. On to the new year!!


Where did the time go?

Do you ever get incredibly bored with my tiresome theme running through this blog? Time...or lack there of, or the swiftness if time. Here we go again! Where has the time gotten to?
Christmas vacation from school for my 3 kids has flown by before our very eyes on the calendar. In a few more days it's back to the old routine and getting everyone up at 5:45 a.m.
{On a side note, we are not allowed to call it Christmas break or Christmas vacation at school anymore. Not politically correct it seems. We have to call it the winter celebration. Don't get me started!!!!}
(Image source: The Feathered Nest blog, free images)


My kids desperately wanted to go sledding. We had snow and plenty of cold. Wind chill ratings of single digits. I was tied up with this and that and thought we could do our sledding this weekend as we don't really plan much for New Year's Eve and the weekend in general. I love to sled right along with the kids. I'm sure they think it is lame to have their mom trying to act like she is young, but heck, I don't much care. I love sledding.
Nope. It is not to be, and I have sad children. We have 50 degrees today and guess what else. Pouring rain and thunder!!!!
In Ohio.
In December!!