What a Couple of Weeks it has Been

 

Although Christmas is merely days away, it seems like this month has been 36 weeks long already. Or is it just me?

And with that many weeks in a month, one would think I'd have managed to post before now.

One would think...but one would think wrong, as you already know.

Let me explain (as briefly as I can as that is not what this post is intended to be about):

Just so far this month (which, I would point out, is not yet over) several things have gone awry. These are just a few of the most-recent "highlights:"

~My knee completely gave out resulting in a few days of crutches and requiring a steroid injection;

~An attempt to save a kitten on the way to an out-of-town specialist appointment (more on that later) left me drenched in coffee, scratched and swelling, and smelling of ugly smells by the time I arrived (despite best efforts, sadly, kitten didn't make it);

~A (very) bad reaction to my initial infusion of Reclast (for osteoporosis) left me unexpectedly incapacitated,

~My order for the bed and nightstand for the lake finally completely blew up. It started deteriorating months ago but I still had some, albeit frustrated, hope. All for naught... I could write a book about all that went wrong. (PS..NEVER, EVER, purchase furniture online from Perigold (or its affiliated companies - i.e., Joss and Main, Wayfair, etc.),

~The outdoor Christmas lights I had put up once again went out after less than 2 weeks (after years of this, it doesn't come as a surprise, but it still comes as a disappointment),

~Every gift I ordered online within the last month except one has been delayed and now won't arrive until sometime in January, and

~Months after they were to be installed, the overhead garage doors (note, doors as in plural) were installed at the lakehouse earlier this week. They are not the right ones (and no resolution/remediation in sight).

And these are just the things that stand out.

Anyway...moving right along.

Christmas!!

I took a different approach to decorating this year. Instead of rushing to pull everything out and get it up in a few days, I decided I was going to take out a few things at a time and truly appreciate and enjoy them for themselves and the memories they bear before moving on.

I found I like doing it this way. I might not get everything out by Christmas, but I don't care. It's only me who will see them anyway.  

I feel like I get to appreciate each piece - or collection - fully before moving on to the next. Kinda of like spending time with old friends I haven't seen since last Christmas.

But my new methodology means I won't be able to show you things as I hoped I would - certainly not the curated home tour version like Janice @ Prims by the Water, or

the perfectly gathered collections like Lauren @ Rugs and Pugs.

What you get instead is a very un-curated and very random bunch of photos.

No rhyme, no reason although I tried to avoid views and things I've showed previously.

Most are dark because...well, it's been very dark in Nod of late.

I'll shut up now.

On to the photos.

{Entry sidetable - Putz, old bibles, flower frog tree and crooked lampshade 😉)

An old clockface serves as a star atop the flower frog tree:

{Handmade spun cotton snowman candy container (hat removes) on top of vintage cash register rolls on top of vintage tape tin}

{Old desk in the bedroom}

Close-up of desk:

{Some of my Santa chocolate molds. The photo is terrible, but they look wonderful at night with the little white lights reflecting off their metal and the mercury bead garland.}

{Vintage Santa mugs...the more stained and crazed the better...and, yeah...there's more...I'll spare you.}

The fellas in red:

{Papier mache and pulp/pressed paper Santas, etc.)

Not to play favorites or anything, but the fella second from the right with his original pipe is pretty special:

...as is the little putz deer sitting between the two Santas in the center:

The boys in blue:

{Vintage saltglaze Santas....difficult to photograph no matter the time of day due to the windows...but this is where they hang out.}

{Very old candy box from Montgomery Ward & Co. I have a special connection to it as I worked on the initial phases of the class action lawsuit against the company when it shut down all its franchises.}

{Vintage bottle brush trees, papier mache Santa boots and cast/pot metal deer atop the spice cabinet in the kitchen}

{Vintage bottle brush trees in pounce pots/sanders}

Christmas of a different than most of yours I'm sure but Christmas nonetheless...and someone is on high alert for Santa. 

May you all find some quiet moments of anticipation and be touched, in some measure, by the spirit of the season in these precious days before Christmas. 

 

Happy Christmastide

Not only two posts within a week of each other, but three posts in a month.

Shocking, I know.

It is, however, Christmastide after all .... something that is rarely observed in recent decades and all but forgotten.

Recent generations rush to get Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving and, in many cases, rush to pack them up the day after Christmas.

But, in my world, Christmas Day is just the beginning...the beginning of Christmastide.

Christmastide (also known as Christide or Twelvetide) is the 12-day period beginning December 25th and ending January 5th.  (Start singing - in your head please - The Twelve Days of Christmas.) 

While it is, technically, a season of the liturgical year in most Christian churches, it was also, historically, a period of hospitality and celebration with Christmas Day being Day One.

There were religious services, yes, but it was also a secular matter as well with parties and feasts, gift-giving and general merry-making.

Perhaps due to my father's strong evangelical Lutheran background, our family followed the old ways growing up.

Our tree was not put up until Christmas Eve (or Christmas "Adam" - the day before Christmas Eve) and gifts were opened on Christmas Eve after the evening Christmas Eve service.

Christmas Day was a morning church service and then a more formal dinner.

And then...then the round robins began.

We would visit my great grandmother and great aunts on my father's side, then all the aunts and uncles on my mother's side, and a few close family friends - and they, in turn, would come to visit us. 

Each day saw a new visit or new visitors.

Those days are long gone, but I still think of Christmas as a season rather than a day and I (stubbornly) refuse to give in to the notion that Christmas is over and done with on the 25th. 

My decorations and lights will stay up for several weeks yet and, yes, on occasion, I will listen to Christmas music or indulge in a favorite Christmas movie.

I also continue with a few Christmas projects.

This year, I finally pinned and laced "Merry Olde Christmas," a design by Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm which I stitched two years ago.

I finished it in this metal ornament frame because it was on hand.

Jury's still out on whether it will stay there but, for now, I'm calling it done.

I also stitched and finished a new seasonal insert for my hanging clock:

This is called "November Ornament" (I think?) and is a free design from Birgit Tolman of The Wishing Thorn.

I had wanted to do a Santa for it but haven't settled on a design that will work well with the dimensions of the clock case.

I also finished hooking my Stag rug - a pattern by Lori Rippey of Primitives by Lori.

It took me a ridiculous amount of time to finish hooking it, and I am not thrilled with my color plan/wool choices.  I suspect Mummy D. was expecting a photo of the completely finished rug but it has been commandeered by Liza Bean and has not even made it through the steaming process.

I also treated myself to a Christmas read.

This book was outside of my typical genres but a fellow blogger (who no longer blogs unfortunately) recommended it to me. 

Her recommendation turned out to be a beautiful gift.

Ms. Silva imaginatively recreates the inspiration behind Dickens' beloved A Christmas Carol.  Although fiction, Silva seems to channel Dickens himself and uncannily recreates 19th-century London and the streets Dickens perambulated during the six-week period of the writing of his famous tale. (Well, not that I would actually know what 19th-century London or the streets of London looked like but, in my head I think I do. 😉).

Whimsical and charming - and utterly believable...I definitely recommend for a heart-warming holiday read.

And, finally, for "Sissy"...because you asked.

I hope 2025 brings renewal, sees your hopes fulfilled, and makes your heart glad.

Merry Christmas...

Wherever this day finds you on your life's journey, my wish for you is that your day was filled with warmth, your night filled with light, and your heart filled with a bit of Christmas magic.

Diddling

 No... Not that kind of diddling.

I mean the aimless, unproductive, kind of diddling.

It's been almost a month since my last post, and it is only 10 days until Christmas and I... well, I am wholly and completely unprepared for it.

I've gotten a bit of decorating done. Not as much as I used to do by far, but definitely more than the past several years. Other than that, though, nothing much in the way of shopping, wrapping, baking, preparing.  😳

{Vintage Christmas ornaments on my mantel.  How I wish they were all vintage/antique Kugels but, alas, Lauren has all of those.}

Procrastination is a curse I am most familiar with.

I could post daily about things I have left undone.

Finding things I've done to post about takes a considerable bit more effort.

There are just so many squirrels to chase and rabbit holes waiting for me to fall into.

 So what have I been doing? 

Like I said, decorating. 

I haven't changed things up much so you've seen most everything before.  But I don't think I have posted these before.  

I got them last year on a (rare) antiquing jaunt with the hooker down the road.

Of course, when I first saw them, I immediately thought "Santa and Mrs. Claus!"

But actually, they aren't.

They are The Contented Man and The Old Woman of Capri.

Two vintage prints of works done by two different artists at two different times.

The Contented Man was painted by the Italian artist, Eduardo Forlenza (1864-1931).  The Old Woman of Capri was painted by Sydney Bell (1888 - 1964).

Prints of the paintings became popular as a pair, and they were commonly given as wedding/housewarming gift in the 1950's. (Hence, they are actually quite easy to find.)

My prints are in rough shape - and I paid far more for them than I should have - but I found them quirky and fun.

And I like quirky and fun.

As for the rabbit holes and squirrels, I've been making spun cotton candy canes.

Tedious, yes...but addicting.

...and kringles...

I haven't stitched at all as I've been having some hand issues, but I did get this little tuck finished...finally.

I think I finished stitching it 2 years ago...and just now have it completely done. 

Yikes.

{Love & Joy by Heartstring Samplery.  Stitched on 36ct "Tea Set" by Graham Cracker Fabrics.}

It has been a month of gloom here in Nod so true colors are difficult to catch in photos, but it is stitched in WDW Tarragon - a beautiful green and one of my favorites.

And, I have been wreath wrestling....

It is larger and heavier than it may appear in this photo and, no matter what type of hanging mechanism I've tried, it will not stay on my glass storm door (and I don't have any other place for it).

I cannot use the over the door hanger as my door has a "lip" at the top to open and close the glass and screen.

At this point it has lost so many greens, berries and pinecones I could probably   make another smaller wreath.

As of today:  Wreath 7; Crow 0.

So, as you can see, if one diddles, one ends up with diddly squat.

I have some rustic artisan carrot bread proofing that needs shaping, another rise, and baking, so the diddling continues.

I hope all is well with each of you. I know I owe a few of you a reply to messages. I promise I will get there....

Merry Christmas to You

Time again slipped through my hands and here it is Christmas night.

I had such good intentions but, as Augusten Burroughs said, "I, myself, am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions."

So, in lieu of the posts I intended to do this month, you get this one.

Just a few random photos around the house this holiday season.

{The entry way cupboard}

{A close-up of one of the old Kentucky Bourbon pulp papier mache snowmen snowpeeps that hang out on the entryway cupboard above}

{"Jailhouse" cabinet in the dining room}

{My (humble compared to Lauren's) collection of saltglaze Santas - sorry for the poor photo; it is very difficult to photograph them where they are displayed}

{The saltglaze Santas hang out on the butter churn behind my kitchen sink}

★★★★★★★

My wish for you this Christmas is for peace - peace within your heart and within your soul as that is where I firmly believe all peace truly must first begin.

I hope your Christmas was filled with unending joy that will last not just a day but a season.

Merry, Merry, Christmas my friends.

Christmas Molds

I know I have shared (much of) my Christmas before...

and I have showed (many of) my molds before...

But, I don't think I've done (just) Christmas molds before.

So, why not?

(Blame it on the Reese's peanut butter cups left over from Halloween I was eating..)

I promise the post will be short and sweet (sorry) as for all the chocolate molds I have, I don't have particularly many Christmas ones.  I started collecting chocolate molds long before they were a "thing" and, therefore, still (somewhat) affordable, but, even then, the holiday - and especially Christmas - molds were very spendy.

(In fact, I have so few I am "supplementing" this post with some non-chocolate molds....)

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This first mold is a Santa and sleigh "gang" mold by Eppelsheimer. They are called "gang" molds because they are capable of molding several of the same design simultaneously and are connected together like a chain gang.  (Ok, I made that last part up, but it makes sense, no?) 

Eppelsheimer was the largest manufacturer of chocolate (and ice cream) molds in the United States from 1880 - 1947.

You can see the details of the individual bars in this close up:

Another, newer, unmarked, Santa gang mold.

Below are several individual chocolate molds depicting Father Christmas, Santa, Saint Nicholas, etc. - some marked, some not, all old.  The fellow on the far right is Zwarte Piet or "Black Pete" who is Saint Nicholas's companion or helper in the Netherlands.

This mold (hanging above my cook top) is a cake or pudding mold:

This fellow is technically not a mold at all (but don't tell him).  He's actually a nutcracker (literally and virtually).  He was made by the Godinger Silver Co. and is vintage, but not "old."

A Nordic Ware cake mold:

A tree "gang" mold (lower center of the photo in front of the snowfella - sorry, this is an old photo and wasn't taken for the mold.) (I'm not certain but I am thinking it was used for small/individual cakes?)

And lastly, a very old reindeer cookie mold:

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It's a mold thing.  What can I say?

Carry on with your merry!

🎅🎄🎅