our first real snow of the season

How wonderful the world looks around me, in the first snow to stick for this season! 

The trees look like they are carefully frosted. 

The night time is brighter in the white glow.

THINGS I AM LIKING TODAY:

• the fireplace heating up the brick kitchen wall
• watching old vhs movie favorites under a down-filled quilt
• ham leftovers for lunch and dinner
• all the glow of the Christmas tree lights  
• planning for bowling and ice skating with the kids
• my car which gets me safely around and stops well in the snow
• a warm bed to curl up in with soft blankets and cozy flowered pillow case
• a connection to a dear friend at just the right times 
• the newly organized pantry

THINGS I WANT TO DO:

• switch to my new computer desk area set-up
• continue weeding out Christmas decor
• sort more magazines that were hand-me-downs
• hear from a long not seen friend I have reached out to
• set up some clearance sale item listings in my Etsy shop

Christmas greeting

Merry Happy Christmas

May your new year be filled with 

health

joy

friendship

love

Holiday Cheer

What Have I Been Up To?

• Trying to secure a job that fits. (failing miserably)
• Trying to tidy (3 kids, remember) and decorate the house. (failing miserably)
• Trying to maintain a smile so everyone can see the me they want to see. (failing?)
• Trying to put myself first on the list for a change. (or anywhere on the list, number 1,001 would be even acceptable)

What Do I Need To Do?

• Prepare, serve and hostess a dinner for family and friends.
• Be a wonderful wife, mother, and all the rest.
• Make it through another holiday season.

What do I Want To Do?

• Bask in the joy of observing anyone other than me, today, clean a toilet (or anything else) around here.
• Disappear for 24 hrs and see if anyone notices.
• Relax for any amount of time, do nothing for more than 30 seconds, not look at a calendar for a day, have no appointments for 24 hours...... in other words, BE SELFISH.

season of vintage fun

I'll say it again.... The colors of these old images get me every time. Soft, yet vivid. I am a girl who notices the little things, how 'bout you? The crisp red and white (my two favorites together no matter what they grace), the sharp green around his shoulder, the yellow of his pants cuff, the subtle pink of the bricks. *sigh*

Have fun with Mr. Jolly if you print him.
Here are some suggestions:

1. gift tag by just sticking some tape on it, or better yet, punch a hole and add some recycled twine

2. twin images glued back to back with a special ribbon scrap loop sandwiched between the glued pieces and dangled from a special spot to make you smile when you see his smile

3. have an old piece of styrofoam hanging around somewhere?.... put it in the bottom of any deep bowl, vase, or whatever strikes your fancy, add some pine sprigs or holly (or both!) to stand upright... add to that an old tarnished fork (or new one), standing upright as well, and use the tines to hold the image.... place your creation on a mantle, entrance table, or as a dinner centerpiece

On to the new year...

Soon we are on to the new year.
Hope your holiday was a merry happy Christmas time.
Ours was nice with lots of shared love, laughter with the kids, and blessings.

We built a big puzzle and watched old favorite movies on VHS and DVD together last night.
Tonight maybe some old 8mm and super 8 movies of our family shown on a projector against a pull down tripod screen.
Memories -new- are fun to make, memories -old- are fun to revisit.

Christmas was held together by Mom

I find I miss my Mom a lot at different times of the year like Christmas... and Sunday through Saturday and January through December. She has been gone from Earth for 12 years now even though she is ever present in my mind and heart.

Any of you that have lost a Mom can attest that Christmases are not the same anymore. Mom's are the glue that hold it all together.

I never realized how she did it every year. Making it all come off so well. Making it all seem so easy. Now that I am grown up {I feel like I never was grown up until I had no more Mom. Sometimes I wonder if I am grown up YET!} I wish she were here to tell me the secrets.

The house was always decorated. The traditions always carried out. Dinner always just right. Santa always magic.

I feel like I don't have the "knack". I hold on to the selfish thought that maybe it was all smoke and mirrors and I am not a big loser in the Mom Department.

Whatever the answer is- she was always the wizard behind the curtain at Christmastime and I never was able to get a really good peek behind the curtain so I could be the wizard heir.

I do know one thing for certain- She must have spiked the egg nog and tested it well when she came up with the idea of dressing my big brothers alike each year. Is that child abuse???!!!!

winter song

A sweet image that is about 70 years old. The colors in these old illustrations are just different somehow and they warm my soul. Hope it warms yours too, and maybe ignites a spark for a great craft idea in which to use it. Have fun.

Are you going to be ready for the happy Christmas holiday or are you going to say enough is good enough? Don't be too hard on yourself.

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!!

time

As a holiday treat to myself, and the family too, I decided it was time to have the clock repaired with some money I earned by cleaning at a friend's house (maybe I should find someone who will help clean mine! ). The clock once belonged to my mom and it was in disrepair, in need of a new spring for the pendulum. Everyone missed hearing it chime.
It was serendipity that school had a 2 hour snow delay the morning when the repairman was scheduled to come to the house. N. loved watching the repairman as he worked. He looked like he could have made a great Santa, no fake whiskers required!!
They talked and enjoyed each other's company, the older: about how he got started repairing clocks as a boy along side a neighbor... and the younger: about how he likes to build motors and other inventions with Legos and Tinker Toys.

After the repairman left, N. was anxious to decorate the clock. A no-no I am sure after he carefully balanced it and all, but we couldn't resist. First try was to use these snowball looking lights. It came together nicely and then...no light when we plugged in the string. I hate that, don't you? The next thing was to start again and this is what we ended up with.

N. has been collecting nutcrackers since he was a baby so he has amassed a surprising group in 10 years, mostly as gifts and a few found here and there from garage sales. He can spy one on a table of hundreds of miscellaneous thrifty things in 2 seconds flat!

N. did the display of books in front on the floor and was very excited to have them be a part of the whole grouping. I am sure the clock repair man did not have this in mind when he was doing his precision work. Don't tell him, ok?!

When Christmas is here...

{Click to enlarge then right click and save.

Use for your crafting pleasure.}

 I have been snapping a few pics around our place. N. has even been capturing some Christmas spirit around the house with the camera too. He is pretty excited about his Christmas house. What do you remember about Christmas at your house as a youth? I remember my mom always seeming so calm and organized. I can't find that calm mom costume to put on right now. Maybe it is hiding in the back of that closet I have not had time to get to. Hmmm. Yeah, that's probably it.

candy ribbons

Image is found here.

I am still here. Just busy with life's things that happen

.. you know "the things"...

Lately, just trying to keep up has been like when you're a kid and you run beside the spinning merry go round and try to desperately jump solidly on. If you just kind of jump on you have to hold on for dear life so you won't fall off. Sometimes you get dragged along for the ride until you finally get a good hold

and succeeded to climb on for the ride.

Here's to not getting dragged along for the holiday hubbub ride!!

PS= I had some holiday cheer the day I found ribbon candy in the store again this year. Actually my eagle eye boy N. spied it.

Wanted? and Wanted...

FIRST-THE WANTED?

I have these 2 pink adorable Pyrex bowls and have had them displayed rather than using them. I don't bake, you see. I know, I know...I could use them for other purposes as well. I have chosen to just use them for display with my other pink thrifty things on my hutch. It was time to change the display {and besides it was wayyy past time to dust!} so I have moved these into a box. I wonder if anyone out there would like to buy them and have them at their home? As you can see, the larger of the 2 is more faded and has some less than perfect areas. Must have been used more by the owner before me than was the smaller sized bowl which is brighter and in better condition.
Let me know if you have any interest.
Update: they have been sold and have found a new home!

NEXT-THE WANTED
Now on to the next photo below... every year about this time I become nostalgic to the point of frantically surfing the internet to find a few of these elves that I can actually afford. 

My mom had a set of them -maybe 6 or 8 when the set was new- from the 1950's. They were made in Japan by Napco or Napcoware and are called spaghetti trim figurines. I grew up in the 1960's and 70's seeing these decorate our home every Christmas time. I loved to unwrap them from their newspaper cocoon one by one out of the big carton box and try to guess or be surprised by which one it would be based on the shape inside the paper. Then I would spend the next few weeks rearranging them {probably to the point of my mom wanting to tie my hands behind my back!}.
I have found them but not in my price range and when they are in my price range I do not win the bid. Amazing how nostalgia can drive up prices of dime-store Japan stuff that seemed cheesy when new long ago. Just sayin'. I search and search. So I have also put the word out on my blog several times over the past few years to see if anyone has any they would like to sell, one piece or a whole set.
Let me know.
Do you ever long to replace something you grew up with? Tell me what it is...maybe I have it sitting unloved in a box and it would be happier at your place.
Stranger things have happened!!

clock as an enemy

Lately the clock has been my enemy. It ticks much too quickly each day. I need more tick tocks in an hour and in a day to do everything. Most people say that means things are simply over scheduled.

Simplify.

I like that word.

I have yet to master it.

People say to wait until you have grown kids. Then you have too much time and you wonder what you will do with all your time. Problem is, by the time my kids are all grown I will be too old to care. I thought having kids later instead of sooner was smart. It was smart for when I was younger. When I am older, not so much!

So here are some activities and thoughts that have been occupying my tick tocks of life.

1. We all survived a 12 week stretch of high school football season, which at our house means marching band season for my 14 year old daughter. Before that, we all lived to tell about 4 weeks of marching band camp. I have to say it went by super quick overall, and I actually had lots of fun. Wish I could have been at 2 places at once so I could have gotten all the other things done while also sitting in the bleachers being very proud and giving support. I somehow found the tick tock time to sew a fleece backed school colors patchwork quilt to use at the games. It will be an investment in the 3 more years of bleacher sitting that are in my future. I'll hint of frustration and let you stew about the stories of camera batteries that went dead at just the worst times or when the battery was charged all day long----- but left at home!! Maybe I can master the battery thing now that we are on to Symphonic Band for the rest of the year.

2. My oldest daughter E. (18) who has OCD and Asperger's at the high functioning end of the Autism spectrum is now a paid employee at 2 (yep, two!) places. It all happened in a short 3 week time period, after months and months of filling out piles of applications. I was so worried that she would not find a niche in the working world of people who actually get a paycheck (she has infinite volunteer hours under her belt). Let me be more specific--I knew she could but I was worried the world would not think so. Besides bursting with a universe size feeling of pride, I also now have added responsibility. *tick tock* Essentially it is like I am the one with 2 paying jobs (on top of my own paying job which can flex anywhere from 25-50 hours a week, and on call 24/7 assisting an elderly relative with Parkinson's and dementia). I am the transportation for my daughter. There's that need for cloning myself, again. Oh, and my wonderful reliable almost 15 year old car is still chugging along and has stopped counting how many trillions of times it has gone in and out of the driveway!

3. I am trying to pack away the Halloween decor and look forward to dragging out the Thanksgiving decor and on to Christmas. Here is how it goes at my house. The kids want it out. They dig and randomly succeed in making a mess of the decor by pulling favorites from the storage tubs. The rest just sits until mom takes over to do the rest. Thus, this is the year I am paring down and saving ONLY the favorites to be packed away for future seasons. The rest just takes up space -- and time! Here's a secret revealed=We have not had a Christmas tree in the house for about 4 years now. I was just on strike and didn't want to repeat the many years before when the kids wanted it ALL dragged out. They dug through stuff making a jumble of red, green and metallic but nothing really got accomplished as far as decorating the tree...and don't even get me started on the way everyone disappears when it comes time to take it all down and pack it away!! Soooo...I just didn't do a tree. It was guilt ridden tick tock time for a while but liberating too. The other day I announced casually that I want to have a Christmas tree. My daughter said, "Who are you and where is MY mother?" Stay tuned for the tick tock result of that promise on my part. Maybe my clone can do it for me. Oh, that's right, I don't have one. I need to sign up for a text alert to know when that is available....only I don't text. *Geeez*

4. I am threatening to pack away all the glass dishes, plates, bowls and cups and buy the cheapest paper products I can get my hands on. Maybe we'll get at least a month's worth supply of tick tock time saving on washing dishes. Sorry I won't be very "green" about saving trees and all, but it could be looked at it like this= I would be saving my septic tank/leach field from all the dish soap that is usually going into it in the "gray water" and I could put the used paper products on my compost pile to rot and be tilled into feeding my Victory Garden next summer. That's green. Now if I could just get my clone to do the weeding while I spend my tick tock time transporting a daughter who may, by then, be earning more than me because I am not at my job because I am using my tick tock time taking her or picking her up from her jobs in a, by then, full 15 years old car.

But...I may end up with even more pride in my pay employed daughter, some great photo memories of my musical daughter, less holiday storage tubs overall, free of dishes to be washed, a healthy organically grown garden, and maybe some extra tick tock minutes added to this old mother's days.

I hope my clone has a nice personality.

party

(vintage milk glass dishes and aromatic White Pine cuttings from the yard -there are more pine cones but they didn't show in this pic )

The teenagers were here again the other evening, and so the snacks were set out. Snacks never last long with 6 hungry kids- they're always hungry. This was just the center piece and small sweets- white chocolate covered pretzel balls, Snowcaps, inside out Junior Mints, and Tootsie Rolls-, thank goodness for the dollar store! There were bigger bowls of other salty goodies too. Minutes before the party started, 2 huge trays of homemade cookies were sent over from the neighbors..."We heard you were having the teenagers over again!"
Remember when you could eat anything you wanted and never worry about calories?

Karaoke and Rock Band and of all things....they all curled up on the furniture under warm quilts near the crackling fire for a showing of Mary Poppins on video until about 1:30 am !! There was a loud sing along for each and every song. This is a very musical group.

Food and music and they are set!

another year

(My collection of vintage record album covers with wonderful happy idyllic family scenes)

Another year of Christmas hullabaloo is done. Don't get me wrong, I am sure many new memories were made and all had fun. It's just that since I have been a grown up, and even more so since I've been a mom, it is all so different at Christmas time. Now I am the one in charge of the magic making. The one behind the curtain, like the great Oz. I admit sometimes it's tough. I want to be the kid again, observing the magic and believing.

I long for the feeling of being a child at Christmas time to rush over me again. That feeling is worth more than gold. When you're a kid you take it for granted or you do not even know you have it. But you do!


Yes, I enjoy the process of making memories for my own kids. I just miss the old days. That's allowed. That is why I surround myself with things and images that make me feel comfort, like these silly record album covers. They just speak to me.

(N.'s collection of nutcrackers, and E.'s hand made Mandela type snowflakes)

N. has always had a fascination with nutcrackers. He has received all these as gifts throughout the years. On Christmas day I took my Santas out of my red cupboard and put his collection and the little tree with his nutcracker ornaments on it up on top. He was so thrilled to see his collection displayed in a new place and the smile on his face as he stood there, and each time he walked by, said it all. I had just made a memory for him!! That's what it's all about.

(Japan elves, my hand quilled snowflakes, and a silk hankie with a perfect winter couple)

My Grandma had made in Japan elves like these. To look at them in my home makes me recall the cozy days at her house during the holidays. She did not decorate every inch of the house as many people seem to do in my generation. She decorated the living room. The room where it all happened. Everything. She had no family room or den. The living room was the place. It was decorated with an aluminum tree and color wheel, items along the fireplace mantle and on top of the big console TV cabinet. The cabinet was big, not the TV itself.

The decorations were perfect. Perfectly enough. I never thought to question, "Why isn't there more?"

(my kids decorate the doll house each year)

This December involves weeding out many of the decor items as we sort through it all --giving some away and donating some. I have decided to have the kids do more of the decorating next year, not just being in charge of the doll house. They will decide what is enough. The kids will make it their own and decide what to love.

( the kitchen window sill )

I also changed the window sill display on Christmas day. I do a lot of thinking at the sink in the kitchen in front of this window. I needed a change. I get bored with it quickly and easily. I was suddenly struck by the fact that I needed it to be Winter instead of Christmas in that spot. So some milk glass was moved here from another area. It feels better now. I can't explain why.

(vintage game boxes)

I am a big fan of games that families play together that require no batteries or electricity to enjoy, thus the fascination I have always held for vintage games. That and the fact that the color on the packaging and game boards is just different, bright and fun. The photo is a group that's sitting atop my corner cupboard. But I keep some of my kids' board games out of the game closet at all times, sitting ready for play, often rotating some out for new choices. A spontaneous game of Chutes and Ladders can bring a smile to me any time. I have found that if I open the box they will come!! They, meaning one of my kids or 2 or 3. More memory making and laughter.

( house ornaments)

My Mom was a collector of these house ornaments. Each one has the year marked somewhere on the house. On the back you can look inside to the 3 dimensional rooms. After she died I continued to buy one each year, often going without something in order to fit it's purchase into the budget. They are not horribly expensive but still a luxury, in my opinion. I did not buy one this year. Maybe someday I will be able to find one on line, since this is the first year I have missed one. N. looks forward to unpacking them and carefully taking the protective box inserts apart to reveal each one. He put them on the window sill in the living room this year. And yes, those are all my paper snowflakes I have cut by hand with no patterns. Some have been hung on the windows every year for 17 years!!

So another year of Christmas has come and gone. We have new memories and the comfort of decor from years before. We had a Christmas without spending money. B was off work for 8 weeks and we were without his regular pay. Every dollar I had squirreled away for emergency times like this had to be spent just before his surgery to put a new engine in my car. Talk about an unexpected expense! We make every penny count at our house and to be without regular pay you find ways to survive somehow. We were blessed to have many good friends and neighbors who helped to make the Christmas season one of fun for the kids. They brought gifts from Santa and seemingly unending deliveries of trays of home baked sweets and other food. We were even given a turkey for Christmas dinner.

Friends, family and memories. That's what it's all about.

the cupboard and more

Still need to photograph my red corner cupboard. Truth be told, it isn't finished yet. Until then, here are some other vignettes to view...
My computer area...

My red cupboard (found in the neighbor's trash, read about it here) filled with my Santas. The newspaper border is the stock market pages...

Inspiration basket of back issues of various December issues of several different kinds of magazines. The red and white doilies in a pile on the floor were waiting for a new home after being taken out of the cupboard before the Santa's took over....

N. collects nutcrackers and has received them as gifts over the years. From the time he was a baby he had an attraction to nutcracker soldiers. It's funny, the specific things that "click" with kids...

Here is N. posing near his favorite nutcracker- This is not in our house!- it is in the lobby of the location where his Daddy's company Christmas dinner is held each year...

holiday decor

The kitchen window sill is sporting red and white. Can you believe these candles were from the dollar store a few years ago? I can't bring myself to burn them. Isn't that silly?! I made the red paper ball. They are so fun to make and can be done in any size or color or patterned paper. You just cut a lot of circles, fold them so they have triangle centers and glue them together to form a ball. My friend, Sharon, taught me how to make them. The greeting cards are from the 1940's and the one with the tree sticking out of the car was signed from my Mom to my Dad in 1947.

This snowman candy jar is a treasured item that I grew up with each year for as long as I can remember. I couldn't wait for it to be unwrapped from the newspaper that protected it inside the box of Christmas decorations stored away since the Christmas before. I have continued to fill it each holiday season with peppermint nougats, like my mom did. Sometimes when I was little I remember my mom would fill it with ribbon candy, but I can't always seem to find ribbon candy in the stores. When I do, I get very excited. I love Mr. Snowman, dirty Styrofoam face and all.

I have been looking for my felt elves with the plastic faces. They are still packed up somewhere with the other Christmas stuff. I love Christmas elves because my Grandma's house was decorated with the same little felt ones from Japan, called knee huggers. She also had an aluminum tree in the corner of her living room with the color wheel that would spin and cast a different colorful glow against the tree as it turned.

I tucked this folding snowman card on the porch of the doll house. The kids have not yet decorated it this year and I thought it looked a little bare and neglected. Click here-the doll house decorated in the past.

N. commented, "A Snowman on a porch???Oh Mom!!!!"

holiday decorating with old books

The Santa book is from the 1950's and has flocking on the cover for Santa's mittens and hat. The open book is one of a series from the 1940's about three girls named Flicka, Dicka and Ricka. I love the colors of the illustrations. The book, A String of Blue Beads, was given to my Great Aunt in the 1950's. It is one of my favorite stories and is a twist on The Gift of the Magi story.
I read it over and over again as a child.


I really love these big old books. They are very tattered on their leather covers. The photo in the frame is of my Dad opening one of his Christmas gifts in 1967. I made the 3 dimensional Carolina snowflake. The book, The Shiniest Star, is one that Santa brought to me when I was in about kindergarten or so. It has wonderful illustrations and pop up pages. I remember holding it in my lap and running my finger over the embossed metallic star on the cover. I was always careful handling it and the plastic spiral binding is still very sound. The little pamphlet near the photo frame was featured on a previous blog post (here) and is just a hoot of fun vintage ephemera.

This is a great book. I like the ratty dust cover because it shows it was well loved. It holds significance for me as, when I was a child, my Mom sold personally engraved Christmas cards and wedding invitations in our home or other people's homes for several major greeting card companies. I would often go with her on her outings before Christmas time and many of her regular customers would sit me down with home made cookies and a glass of milk while they looked through the sample books and chatted away for what seemed like hours.

This Snowbound book is on display in different areas in my home until sometime in February each year. I love winter and being snowbound. I remember as a child how people would stock up on bread and milk when a storm was on its way to the point of emptying the grocery store shelves in a panic. I always thought it was exciting to anticipate a big snowed in storm. We often cooked in our big fireplace, while keeping warm when snowstorms downed tree branches, heavy with the weight of snow, knocking the power out-- for sometimes days. These days that happens less frequently in our heavily wooded area. Once the leaves fall each year, some crazy tree trimmers, hired by the town, come and trim (butcher) the trees that surround power lines to the point of ugliness.

The green books are from the 1920's and were my Grandfather's. A red taffeta ribbon dresses them for the holidays. I see from looking at this photo that I need to add some pine sprigs from the yard to the silver berries so it looks more full and complete. Do you ever see things after you take a photo that you didn't notice before?

Look through your own books and see if you can add them to your seasonal decor.