Take a Moment

Take a moment for yourself during all the last minute craziness.

It's early in the morning, the house is quiet, time for a little coffee and fruitcake. Yes, I love fruitcake.

Here's my list of things to STILL do:
presents yet to buy
presents to wrap
decorating to finish
baking to do
 house to clean (again!)


What does your list look like?


Also take a moment to remember the "Reason for the Season"

Have a peaceful Christmas!

Winter White Tablescape

A little sparkle, a little white, a little candlelight..........

This table cloth was my Grandmother's. She was married in 1914, and this was a wedding present. It has 11 napkins with it. It is amazing there are no stains on it. My mother says she used all her white tablecloths even when she fed the threshers. (farmers who harvested wheat)  All the farmers helped each other by going farm to farm at threshing time (hot summer in Kansas) and all the farm wives used their best linens and dishes to feed the threshers, noon and evening. It was like an unspoken competition of who could feed the other farmers the best, and by the next morning, all the farm wives knew who served what, how much and what their tables looked like. Can you imagine white tablecloths and dirty, hot, tired threshers?

The Old Christmas Toys Tablescape

A mix of old and newer.

The truck, top, and jack in the box are my toys. The bear is a couple of years old, from Hallmark.

A Fitz and Floyd Santa plate and Santa mugs I made for my daughters when they were little.

 

 I remember getting this tea set at Christmas and I even remember the box it came in.

Green glass sherbet dishes from a thrift store. I don't know the maker of this Santa, it says CR on the back. Christopher Radko? Plates from a garage sale, and flatware is Oneida Venetia given to me by an aunt for my hope chest (!) when I was a teenager. She bought me pieces for every occasion.

The Old Fashioned Christmas Parade

For 17 years, Lawrence, Kansas (home of the Jayhawks!) has hosted an Old Fashioned Christmas Parade. This was the first year I was able to attend. Requirements are that all entries are horse drawn wagons, carriages, or small buggies. Most all entrants dress in 1800’s fashion. There were about 70 entries this year, some from as far away as Minnesota and South Dakota.
Many of the wagons were drawn by draft horses. It was amazing how big they are up close. Their hooves are the size of dinner plates! Thousands of draft horses were imported from Western Europe into the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century. The ones we are most familiar with are the Clydesdales from Scotland and the Belgians from Belgium.

Enjoy this adventure with me, and know...... I am still the little girl who wants a pony. ( my back yard is pretty big, Mama!)

There were the very very big, and the very small!

This little burro was doing some turns and tricks at the intersection which won him some applause!

MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Not Black but Yellow Friday Before and After

I decided there was nothing at the sales I or anyone I buy for wanted, so I decided I needed a project for the rest of this holiday weekend. I have been wanting to add more shelves and paint my little pantry. So I picked up the lumber from Lowe's and drove to my friend's house who cut the lumber for me. Then home to paint and build shelves. I used the yellow that is in the kitchen and laundry room.  It took forever, since everything needed at least 2-3 coats of paint. Here's the before pic, soooo bad I am almost ashamed to show this. Didn't know it looked this bad until it was empty.

This is the top half, oh yeah, check out that contact paper. My mom and I peeled that stuff off for hours. Whoever invented contact paper ought to be shot.......quickly. Below is the bottom half of the pantry.

After empty

AND..... full and organized!

Top half and below is bottom half.