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...

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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.

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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! 

NEW TRADITIONS...

 

Last year we didn't celebrate Christmas until some time in February,

 and we had such a good time

 when it did happen, 

we decided that we might make it

 a new tradition in the family. 

 We had our Thanksgiving dinner and my birthday celebration this passed weekend.  

Seriously, 

it may not become a family tradition 

but when traveling and job related 

time is involved 

we do it when we can

 and it doesn't lose any of the 

significance or happiness

 no matter when it happens.

The kids all supplied the Thanksgiving and birthday staples 

and we provided the table, chairs,

 potatoes and gravy. 

 It was so good to be together.  

The only downside to it all was that

 Jacenda stayed home 

fighting allergies and a bad cold 

and Tami and Tim had 

to take a detour to get home. 

 They left the Cottage around 3 PM 

and didn't get home until 10 PM 

so it turned into a

 very long day for them.

I always try to have 

a little homemade something of Christmas for the girls to take home with them 

and this year I painted 

quilt squares and snowflakes 

in their favorite colors. 

 The snowflakes are sparkly 

but you can't tell in the photo.

Jake and Jacenda gave me 

this pretty coffee table book

 about plants and flowers.  

Did you know that the common sunflower starts out its day facing east 

and as the day progresses 

the stem turns and by sunset

 it is facing west.  

The head of the flower

 and the roots do not move, 

just the stem rotates and follows the sun.  

I did not know that fact

 and find it fascinating.  

See, I didn't just look at the pretty pictures and I'm taking a wild stab 

that this is why it is called a sunflower. 

 It seems like something 

I should have known 

but I had never heard of that. 

 I'm sure those of you 

who are avid gardeners have.

This bright bouquet came with the dinner

 as a birthday surprise

 from Tami and Tim. 

 Its timing was perfect 

as we had a dark, dreary, cold and rainy day.

  I turned 84 years young 

this past Tuesday. 

 It sounds soooo old 

but I have to tell you, 

I am so happy to be celebrating it.

 I have lost a couple of girl friends 

and a few family members 

who weren't so lucky to reach this age. 

I will admit that I am slowing down 

but it has been 

an enjoyable experience so far.  

We all need to slow down a bit 

no matter what the reason.

 Age is just a number

 and I am beginning to treat it

 with the respect it deserves.

I hope you all had a Happy Halloween.  

We had a lot of happy trick or treaters 

and some candy left over

 for the rainy days!

  

I moved the beautiful orchid 

over in front of the mirror. 

 I'm thinking that these old house windows

 might be too drafty during the winter. 

 It seems to be still thriving.

I want to thank Linda at Life and Linda 

for sharing my last post on her party,

 Love Your Creativity.

Until next time...

May your dreams be of all good things...

Joy is on the way.

...xxoJudy...

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A LITTLE FALL IN THE KITCHEN...

 

 I haven't done much fall 

decorating this year. 

 I did happen to find myself in the $ Store for the first time in a couple of years 

and saw these really cute little plates.  

I had the larger dinner plates for some years that happened to be also

 from the $ Store.  

I put them together with 

napkins and place mats

 that I have had for a long while

 and with bits and pieces of 

autumnal fruit and fauna...

 

...it is a charming spot for

 dinner for two.

A couple of other spots

 where fall peeks out 

but that is about the extent of 

autumn in the kitchen.

We had to get a new refrigerator.  

Ours went out a couple of months ago 

and we called a repairman. 

 We had to pay him up front 

for the service call 

and before we could even 

get the appointment, 

the old girl started working again. 

 He said that there was nothing wrong 

but, if there was,

 between the cost of another service call, the part that was defective 

and his wages, 

it would probably be cheaper 

to buy a new one.  

She lasted about another month 

and the same thing happened 

so we took his advice 

and bought a new one. 

 I got rid of the stainless steel 

and just got a plain Jane white one. 

 It is a little smaller than the old one

 but big enough for us 

and I love how it looks 

very old fashioned 

and fits in with the look of the kitchen. 

 The biggest appeal is that

 I don't have to 

clean fingerprints any more.  

I had to share the beautiful orchid

 that the kids sent up for our anniversary.

  It is absolutely gorgeous

 and so far it is doing well.

 Of course, it has only been

 a couple of weeks so fingers crossed. 

 A few new buds have already opened up.

The scale of it is quite large.

I hope you all are enjoying 

this beautiful season so far. 

 Our weather has been wonderful 

but it is steadily getting colder.

What a great transition. 

 The Captain gets mad at me,

 but I can't help feeling 

Christmas in the air.

In between our lovely autumn days 

we had a little rain storm. 

 Just enough to make the garden happy

and to justify a home-made and hot,

 creamy bowl of cauliflower soup

 topped with crushed Ritz crackers 

and cheddar cheese. 

 So good!

Until next time..

...xxoJudy...

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Love Your Creativity at Life and Linda