Some Christmas Favorites

Each year when I bring all of the bins that hold the family Christmas Treasures down from the room over the garage there are always a few items that I love to re-discover when I come across them.  In particular, there are certain items that were from Lovey's childhood; decorations that Faye always displayed in their home when Lovey was a little one.  These are some of my favorites:

Mr. and Mrs. Santa add a little spice to the holiday.  I love these salt and pepper shakers and we use them on the table when we actually have Christmas dinner at our home.

 

I love tea towels and these have held up over the years.  They are linen with felt decor on them and the writing is hand stitched.

 This little plastic Frosty is carrying a bag on his back that gets filled each year with mini candy canes.  This was Lovey's when he was a wee lad.

I, personally love these two cups.  They are about 4 inches wide and high.  The plastic greenery has been in them since the fifties.  I haven't had the nerve to pull it out and change it.  Maybe Char and Chris will make them fabulous when they get them.

 These turtle doves are actually off of a package from the 50's and I guess Faye adored them so much for what they stand for that she always kept them to re-decorate packages.  However, she made sure they were packages that stayed in the family so she would not lose them.  After Faye passed away  I started using them on the Christmas Tree, prominently posing them on the same branch.

This sweet angel looked like it came from a package too.  It is labeled as 'made in Occupied Japan" which tells me the age .  The Occupied Japan period was from 1945 (after World War II) through April 25, 1952; it was during this time that the Allies "occupied" Japan. 


 
 These NOEL Angels are one of my favorites and remind me so much of Faye.  They are so sweet and innocent.

 Look at that sweet face.  See her halo?  She is the only one of the four angels whose halo has had the gold rubbed off of the front of it.  It's a sign of affection on this sweet item that makes me believe that my mother-in-law rubbed this little angels' halo each time she walked past her.

I love our Christmas treasures from the past.  Do you have specific decorations or ornaments that are special to you?

Is it Officialy Winter? I have a Puzzle

This was a fun puzzle.  Let there be Winter!!!!

The Fair and Butterflies

We spent a lot of time walking around the Texas Discovery Gardens at the Texas State Fair this weekend.  I particularly spent more time in the butterfly house.

The only downside to the butterfly house is that I don't think many of these butterflies would naturally show up in my back yard.  They live in very tropical climates.

But they sure are pretty.

I couldn't match this one up with their photos to identify it.

Pitcher Plants

Don't have a clue what these are

Tiger Longwing

Now this one was what I spent most of my time running around trying to get it to open its wings.



Because on the inside he looked like this.  He is the Common Blue Morpho

Sarah's Longwing

Green Banded Swallowtail - he blended right in with the mossy bench he perched himself on.

I think these are pineapple lilies

Here's another Common Blue Morpho

These two went unidentified

Scenes from the Holidays

The Twelfth Day of Christmas is rapidly approaching which means the ornaments will soon be taken off the tree, carefully wrapped and packed away for another year.
 

 I'm an ornament person and I can sit and stare at them on the tree for hours

I'll miss the sparkle and the sweetness of them

I'll miss these too

 The Kitchen Witch

 the kitchen carolers

the Kindels Bakerkins.  This little fellow's name is Batter

 and the house lights.  I wouldn't mind keeping lights up all year but my neighbors would label me as the weirdo in the neighborhood (although there is a house that's had a giant Christmas gingerbread house in their front garden for over a year now).

Here are some things from the Christmas season that I enjoyed.

My Jesse Tree - Out of the stump of David's Family will grow a shoot - Isaiah 1:1

Instead of an Advent Wreath this year I had a Jesse Tree


 A Jesse Tree is similar to an Advent wreath in that you are celebrating the coming of Jesus.  For the 25 days prior to Christmas you will discover and celebrate Jesus' lineage as well as Jesus himself

There's all sorts of ways to make your Jesse Tree.  I cut down a little scrub juniper in my woods.

I put it in a small vase and set that inside a larger vase with lights around it







I decorated it with some ornaments I made when I was in Junior High School


Each day there was an ornament to add as I had my quiet time.  These beautiful ornaments came as a gift with a very special devotional book.



"The Greatest Gift" by Ann Voskamp was a beautiful book that lead me on a daily journey during the Advent season, the coming of Christ.

 

 

 

 Jim and Amy sent us this sweet wreath

 It's a Partridge Berry Wreath.  It's the prettiest little thing and I have never seen one before.  You set it in a little water and every few days spritz the leaves with cold water.  Mine has lasted since before Thanksgiving and it still looks great.

It would be perfect to set a red candle in the middle of it but I thought it looked cute all by itself on this old cake stand.


Office Christmas Decorations

Hunt Oil always does a knock-out job on decorating our building during the holiday

 

 giant toy soldiers welcome us at the door

 

 

 
the wreath on the parking garage

 the wreath in the lobby

 flower arrangements in the Commons (where we eat)

 

and these icicle balls, bursts, what ever you choose to call them are all over the building; and they are ginormous

The first week in December brought us an ice storm

looks like a pretty snow but it was solid ice

 our driveway was an ice rink

 we were iced in for four days

I loved every minute of it.