Slow going

Ack..I hate shopping.  We split the list and attacked and came home with four more gifts..well five if you count “The Dove” gift.  Gifts that go to Nursing Home Residents.

I have wrapping paper now and Christmas letter paper that is kinda summery with butterflies…it was either that or clouds or Happy Birthday..so butterflies won.

Chance is a little under the weather.  I think he has a touch of pancreatitis cause he threw up his morning biscuit yesterday with lots of bile.  He had a quiet day resting at home and seemed better by last evening.  Possibly someone shared some salami with the poor begging dog. Someone will not do that again. 

In the sub zero wind chills Chance and his friend with the salami didn’t make it to the mailbox on their walk…the three legged dog hopped back home to warm up.  Just as well as there were some packages waiting at the mailbox.

Town was a little busy.  Wal-Mart had six checkouts open that is three more than normal.

  This was just before sunset at about 4:20.  The days are getting shorter and shorter.

I am hoping for a very productive day today…we shall see.

Gift count: eight bought and seven ordered.  Gifts wrapped: none.  Cookies made: none. Christmas letters: Complete!  Homemade ornaments: Complete!  Homemade gifts: in progress.  Decorations…none except the snow outside and a pine cone wreath.  15 days and counting.

Cold Days and Parties

We have had some sub zero days.  It was –13 F or -25 C yesterday morning.  The winds will cause dangerous windchill factors of –20 to –40 F or –28 to –40 C all day Monday.

Two Christmas Parties went on as planned over the weekend.

My Cousins met at the Nursing Home and brought homemade soups…I brought bread and cheese and a few cookies from the freezer…nothing has been baked yet around here.  Aunt Lila, Aunt Grace, Aunt Sharon, Aunt Anna and my parents were the special guests from the oldest generation.  They are the remnant.

The Historical Society’s Christmas party was held at a Pizza Shop in town.  Not a great turnout…just the regulars.  Not exactly a partying bunch…were were home by 9PM.

We are working on the Christmas letter it will be mailed soon.  We ran out of pretty paper for the letters and stamps.  The homemade ornaments will all be in the mail except for two that will be hand delivered.  We ordered a bunch of gifts online…delivery will start in a few days. I am still working on some homemade gifts.  I discovered I have very little wrapping paper..so I couldn’t very well wrap the one gift I have hidden.

A long, long time ago I was gifted this wreath by old North Dakota neighbors Harvey and Joyce…it now has a bow. I hung it next to the outside door.  It is old and has seen better days..but will be enjoyed one last Christmas.

Working on the Christmas Card list was an eye opener.   I didn’t realize so many friends and relatives had died until I updated the list.  What a sad time of year it must be for their loved ones.  I wrote notes on most of their letters.

Looking at that photo the bow might be a tad wonky.  It was way too cold to mess around with it outside in the dark.  I was happy to have used an entire spool of ribbon with no leftovers.

Gift count: two bought and nine ordered.  Gifts wrapped: none.  Cookies made: none. Christmas letters written: in progress.  Home made ornaments: Complete!  Homemade gifts: in progress.  Decorations…none except the snow outside and a pine cone wreath.  16 days and counting.

A Winter Formal

Maddie asked me to come up and take some photos.   The occasion was The Winter Formal.

We took some photos inside but I liked the outside ones the best.  It was a fun session..even if the temperatures were subzero.  Maddie said she was going to freeze to death…I said it would take quite a while to freeze solid.

Maddie has always been my photogenic grandchild..she rarely takes a bad photo.  The camera loves her.  I do too.

It seems like she should spend a Saturday night making popcorn and cutting up apples with me and going to bed at 7:30 instead of going out on a DATE.

I had a blast and I think we got some excellent shots..thanks Maddie for asking your old Granny to take photos

The 2013 Ornament Revealed

Big drumroll.  Here it is finally.

They began like this.

This is a Milkweed Pod…those fluffy things are seeds and in the Fall of the year the pods split open and disperse their seeds.

We collected the pods and dried them in the workshop.  Yes I helped some of them to fling their seeds in the air…and in my hair.

I had to bring some of them into the house to dry.  Some got moldy instead of drying.  Some curled up as they dried and were unusable.  Since we had never used pods before we had no idea what would work and what would fail.

Some were dark looking, would the darkness bleed through?

Here they are painted and looking like they will be okay.

Now for the “snow” for the cap and the beard.  Uffda.  I wanted them shiny.  I used a latex tub sealer..it took days to dry…several bit the dust when a pan was tipped over.  I tried a commercial snow product.  That worked better.  I had lots of time, so some of each were made.

I was seeing santas in my sleep.  Instead of counting sheep I was counting santas.

The dining room table was my workshop.  Every time we wanted to eat I had to shove everything off to the side.  I had santas drying and curing all over.  I put a sealer(Modge Podge) on the front and on the back where I added names and the year.  I used a Dremel tool to drill a hole for the string…and managed to totally destroy only one when the tool went wild and grabbed the whole pod and flung it violently around and stripped off the backing and everything.

Finally they had eyes and a nose and a mouth and a string. Each one is a bit different.  Some are big and some are small.

Most have been mailed out and I will mail four more on Monday.

Big drumroll…and ..and are you ready!

The winners are:

Karen of Wyndson Farm

Marlu of Marylourambles

Cynthia of I’m retired..Wisdom for a simpler life

Kari Lucin  of Oh Look, A Shiny Thing! (the Area Voices winner)

Please contact me if I have not contacted you for your snail mail address.  I hope you will enjoy them on your tree!

Gifts from a friend

I collect Shiny Brites.  Shiny Brites are a very breakable blown glass Christmas ornament that was produced in New Jersey from 1937 to the 1950’s.  I remember these ornaments on our Christmas Tree when I was a child.  I love how the light catches them on a tree..it looks like you have a tree all lit up with lights when it is just the ornaments catching the light.

Some similar ornaments; Indents and different shapes etc..were made in Poland and Germany and imported  since 1907 by Max Eckardt the founder of Shiny Brites.…I collect those too!  Those ornament are always marked Germany or Poland but you might need a magnifying glass to see the imprint on the top of the metal cap.

First I collected just a few ornaments here and there, then a box here and a box there.  Then friends gifted me some…Rae, JoLynn, Susan and her Mother Lillian’s ornaments.  Then there is my husband and Chance who scour garage sales all summer for ornaments. 

A few weeks ago a neighbor Edie brought me a box of ornaments.  She found these in an antique shop and thought of me!

The two ornaments on the right are not marked as Shiny Brites.  Someone could have switched the metal caps…it is easy enough to do.  When I get out my entire collection I will compare them to known Shiny Brites.  The blue stripe ball is not marked Shiny Brite either but it is a classic design they used in the 1950’s.

Edie also gifted me an ornament that belonged to her Grandparents.

It is a ornament made in Germany and is marked as such. Isn’t it beautiful?  Edie gifted me another special ornament last year..but it is put away with the Shiny Brites and has a story all it’s own that I will share someday…rest assured I will not forget.

The Shiny Brite tree is not up yet.  I still have time.  I have been going through boxes and  making a huge mess organizing a few things upstairs.  Once I get everything in it’s proper place I can bring out the Shiny Brites that are stored in the tree coffin and an old trunk and elsewhere up there.  Those ornaments sure do take up lots of space.

It is cold here now, way below zero and the wind chills are horrid.  We got about 11 inches of snow from Winter Storm Cleon. It will be too cold to snow for awhile.

I am getting nowhere fast on that list of mine.

Gift count: two bought and two ordered.  Gifts wrapped: none.  Cookies made: none. Cards written: none.  Home made ornaments: Complete!  Homemade gifts: in progress.  Decorations…none except the snow outside.  19 days and counting.