CHRISTMAS: SIMPLY DONE, PART ONE...

 

While writing my last post,

I was thinking about the Garland's Christmases

and imagining them to be a little on the simpler side.

Maybe I'm wrong

as the Victorians were known for their excesses,

but in this little Cottage

I don't think that was the case.

WELCOME ONE AND ALL 
to our Christmas Cottage.

We are humbled that you are here

and hope you enjoy and experience

the same happiness

that we always feel whenever

we step over the threshold.

Listen carefully,

and you might hear long ago voices

from Christmases that

have come and gone.

THE ENTRY

Mr. T. Bear is the official greeter

this Christmas.  He is at the ready

with his Christmas book of facts

in case you might have

any questions.

  

Our guardian angels are in place

to assure that you have a

pleasant experience during

your time here.

THE PARLOR

After I got the tree up and decorated

with the red ornaments, strands of

popcorn and gold beads,

red velvet and satin ribbons

and the white anniversary roses,

the parlor walls practically screamed 

at me to stop.  That was when I

started to see the forest for the trees.

Of course, as you might expect,

that only stopped me for awhile.

After Christmas last year, 

I bought some copper ornaments

for the sitting room as I

wasn't too fond of red with

the new sofa.  I didn't know

exactly how I would use them

but thought I would give them a try.

I actually put one on the tree 

with all the red and was

pleasantly surprised at how

well it all went together.

It just gives a little more

warmth and depth to the over

all appearance. 

I just love the size and shape

of this little tree that

we got last year.  What

started out as an ugly

duckling turned into the

proverbial swan.

Perfection for this small

Cottage parlor.

A simple faux garland is hung 

by the chimney with care.

I added sprigs of real cedar

so it looks more realistic.

A small wreath with a red

velvet bow hangs in the center...

...boughs of cedar and holly

are placed on the mantel shelf

surrounding the quilt square

painting and three vintage carolers.

I added stenciled snowflakes

to the painting...

...that seem to reflect in the milkglass

 plates that belonged to my

 grandmother.  The white tapers 

are from Amazon and are the

most realistic battery operated 

candles that I have seen.

I pulled this little house out of the

cupboard and surrounded by tiny 

trees, it looks warm and welcoming

tucked back in the corner.

A small tea table is set before the

hearth.  This is a whimsical set

that I found in a catalog years ago

and never have taken it out to

show it off.  I did, and do,

think it is the cutest thing and finally

found a place for it.  It is

made of cardboard and perfect

for a simple Christmas setting...

...up close you can see how realistic

it is in every detail.

...in Victorian days the fireside

was so important as a symbol

of family life that magazine editors

were almost poetic in writing

about it.  The romance of the

hearth was a perfect place

for a cozy chat and exchange

of confidences or even a setting for

"eloquent silences" among those

gathered there, where castles

were built and half formed

plans were perfected.  To the

private home life of a family,

the hearth was almost a shrine.

Cherished fireside moments

were more than material comfort

for the Victorian family.

As one editor wrote, 

"charm for the spirit" that in

time became sacred memories.

Excerpts from Victorian Magazine, December 2001

  We were sitting in the parlor one

evening and dreaming outloud (me)

that maybe it would be nice to

get another heater stove like the

little red one in the kitchen

for the parlor.  Then we (me)

thought about the one in the

guest room that didn't heat up

any more but the flames still

worked.  The Captain very

graciously (??) said he would move

the stove and now it feels

so cozy in here...

 

...and even though the stove produces

no heat, the ambiance it adds

is warm indeed.

 

Next time will be the rest of the decorated

rooms.  Because of my computer 

problems I lost a lot of time so will

fit everything in when I can.  Check

your inboxes, if interested, because

I probably will post more than

once until then.  

In the meantime try to figure out

how reindeer can fly through

a field of orchids and butterflies.

It is possible if you believe

in the magic.

Hope everyone is enjoying

the holiday season.

...xxoJudy...

Sharing today at:

Love Your Creativity at Life and Linda

156 YEARS OF CHRISTMAS...

 

There is a celebration of great magnitude coming this year.

  A Grand Old Lady 

has picked herself up, brushed herself off, put her best face on 

and is getting ready to party 

and, no, it isn't me!

It is our sweet little Cottage. 

It is almost impossible to think back to how it must have been 

all those Christmases ago. 

 To my knowledge there is little known about how things were 

but just knowing this little house after living here so long, 

I can almost see it for real.

Here the Garland family lived and played. 

 The father, a hard working miner,

 the mother,  the keeper of the home, 

two daughters who grew up 

to become a nurse and a teacher, 

and a son who became a banker.  

They tended a beautiful garden that was

 the talk of the neighborhood,

 and from the broken shards of china

 and glass that were found 
buried in that garden, 

it would appear that Mrs. Garland 

set a very pretty table. 

Obviously,  love and good manners 

were plentiful.

I can almost hear

 the creaking of the old rocking chairs 

as the two of them,

 dressed in their Sunday best,

 greeted neighbors as they passed by

 on a weekend stroll.

As I am decorating for this

 156th  Christmas celebration, 

I feel all those facts to be true.

If these walls could talk.

Oh, but they do!

 

 After having lived within these walls

 for 34 of those years, 

we have had some 

enlightening conversations.

There are two

 large holly trees

 in the garden 

that were planted by Mr. Garland. 

 I would imagine that Mrs. Garland 

 gathered many armloads of branches 

for their Christmas celebrations 

over the years, 

as I have continued to do for ours.

This little Cottage has always been 
full of good feelings.  
We were aware of that,
 even before we owned her. 

 From the first moment

 that we stepped through the front door

 we felt it. 
 

Throughout some of those long years,

 she had not been 

thoughtfully taken care of

 but she still stood strong. 

 We knew that she could be loved into

 something special once again. 

 It is an amazing experience

 to be able to live surrounded by history. 

 Memories are everywhere 

and are wonderful to have. 

 Some of our most cherished 
Christmas memories 
are from another place and time 
but we feel so grateful and fortunate 
that this Grand Old Lady 

has helped us to make new ones 

and to share in all of hers.

 

"He said, you become.

 It takes a long time. 

 That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, 

or have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept.  

Generally, by the time you are Real, 

most of your hair has been loved off,

 and your eyes drop out 

and you get loose in the joints

 and very shabby. 

 But these things don't matter at all,

 because once you are Real

 you can't be ugly, 

except to people who don't understand."

The Velveteen Rabbit

Margery Williams Bianco

1922

And, isn't that the way it often is?

Christmas:  Coming Soon.

...xxoJudy...

Sharing today with:

Love Your Creativity at Life and Linda

Just got the computer back yesterday.  Still a work in progress.  Can't figure out some aspects yet but not giving up.

CHRISTMAS: THE HARD FACTS...

 

The colors of Christmas are colors of warmth and nature

 - red and green - 

often accented by or grounded in white, the color of peace and light. 

 Rooms decorated in the colors of Christmas 

resonate with energy and sparkle

 and they all perpetuate the spirit of welcome.

Disclaimer: 

 This fact is only true if you live in a Hallmark movie, 

which it sometimes seems that I do. 

 In reality, 

Christmas is wonderfully warm 

and welcoming in any color.

In Tasha Tudor's imaginary world it was always Christmas. 

 It presented the world as it should be.

  All the creatures of the woods living in a sharing harmonious community

 with everyone taking some responsibility for the common good.

 

 Travel is made possible by lantern bearing owls,

 

gnomes slide through the air on white geese, 

rabbits ski through deep snow, carrying apples for grateful deer 

and birds carol by candlelight. 

 In "Forever Christmas" readers are shown the simple appreciation of 

the spirit of Christmas by celebrating it "as it used to be",

 and as it could be again.

In 1500 elaborate sweet-cake molds were being carved from wood. 

 In Germany the idea was taken a bit further and Black Forest wood carvers 

created cookie molds in the shapes of people and animals 

and embellished them with intricate designs.  

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, 

cookies made of gingerbread expressed greetings and affection 

and were a part of the celebration of Christmas.  

By the end of the 19th century cookie cutters were becoming mass produced 

and aluminum ware began in 1913.  

The earliest aluminum cutters made have wooden handles of red or green.

Pretty as well as practical, 

table linens known as "layovers" were used in the Victorian times

 to protect furniture from airborne dust.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert first

 popularized the Christmas tree 

as part of the royal family's yuletide

 celebration in the 1840's. 

 Despite many attempts

 by early conservationists, 

including President Teddy Roosevelt,

 who banned Christmas trees

 from the White House in 1901, 

the Christmas tree, over time, 

became the symbol of the season. 

 

Electric tree lights were first used in 1812. 

 They were prohibitively expensive,

 costing the equivalent of $1,000 today, 

so until the early 1900's 

candles provided that Christmas glow.  

A damp sponge,

 tied to the end of a long stick,

 was kept handy to put out any blaze.

 

 Up until about 1900,

 only one in five families 

had a Christmas tree of their own. 

 Instead, an evergreen was set up

 in the schoolhouse, church, or town hall

 for everyone to decorate and enjoy.

Long before the first Christmas Day boughs of holly 

were brought indoors 

to mark December's celebrations 

and holly branches were exchanged 

by friends as tokens of goodwill.  

When the Romans introduced their

 December traditions 

to the Northern peoples,

 they found that beliefs

 in the powers of holly 

were already long established.  

Holly was brought into the dwellings to

 provide winter refuge for friendly spirits. 

 In Ireland, good fairies were 

thought to reside in holly. 

 Throughout the Old World,

 belief in the protective power 

of holly in winter was wide spread.  

The red of its berries 

was thought to ward off evil 

and the holly boughs 

to defend a house against witchcraft.

As for the inhabitants of this Cottage, 

all we need is a good spot

 in front of the fire

 to ward off anything 

that may be lurking in the shadows. 

 I imagine the presence of

 those little Irish fairies 

in the 100 year old holly trees in the garden 

don't hurt either.

I had picked this candle holder up 

at a yard sale quite some time ago. 

 I just saw something on Pinterest 

that sparked my imagination 

so I hauled it out of hibernation 

and here you have it.

  I just think it turned out so cute.

  If you take away

the holly berries and the pine cones 

 it will have found a permanent spot

in the dining room after Christmas.

I hope you enjoyed learning 

some of the hard facts about Christmas. 

 Mostly they came from Country Living's Holidays magazine, 1992 edition.

  Just one of the many Christmas magazines I have hoarded over the years, 

but some were just
 a figment of my imagination, more or less.
  I hope you found something out 
that will make your holidays
 just a little happier.

The quest continues 

for the perfect Christmas...

don't think I am not hard at work

 to make it happen 

and am hoping to show you soon.

Until then...

...and that is one hard fact!

On with the decorating!

...xxoJudy...

Hope everyone had a
 Happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

Sharing today with:

 

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION: 

The day after I typed up this post, my computer left this world never to be seen again.  I am struggling to master this new machine known as a laptop.  I can only hope to master it before the Christmas holidays are over and done.  I probably will miss another dead line as I can't confer with the professionals until next Thursday.  Wish me luck!