Easter Parade

Whatever else is going on, I always seem to have time for a post about Easter decorations!  In 2009, I shared my Grandma's beautiful Easter eggs.  In 2010, it was my egg-tastic wreath and an Easter bunny band.  Last year, a pack of silly chicks.  This year, it looks like the theme is ducks and chicks again! 

 I bought this wee, dapper fellow at a yard sale.  I especially like the tiny little homemade hook they added for hanging.  I could never remove that, because it's part of his story!

I didn't realize how many chicks I had until I started unpacking my Easter crate.  This is just one group!

My brothers and I have many of these Lefton figures.  Grams was good about dating them! 

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

A Poem for St. Patrick's Day

Irishmen! once more our day has come round.

This day our people greet where'er they're found,
Whether in the palace, or the humblest cot,
To them 'tis all the same. It matters not.
To-day ; they ne'er feel weary, sad or faint,
For 'tis the birthday of our patron saint !

To read more, just click here!

Twas the Night Before...

Ready for St. Patrick's Day?



Happy Valentine's Day!

Care for a chocolate?

For our Valentine's celebration, Gerry and I took a trip to a nearby town to buy some of our favorite chocolates.  Pierre's Chocolates in New Hope, PA makes some absolutely outstanding stuff--doesn't it look delicious?  This is our custom 1.5 pound box, containing all of our favorites.  Mine are mostly on the right, with the salt on top, and Gerry's are the nougats, peanut butters, and nut clusters to the left. 

We figured this was a good way to handle Valentine's Day during the No-Thing New project.  No need for cards, flowers, or gifts.  Just a really good box of chocolates.  And if we each eat one piece a day, this will last the rest of the month!

Which piece would you choose?



Chicks

Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

Ornament Infirmary

A few casualties of the decorating process.

A little bit of glue and some gold thread will fix these right up!

Christmas Couples

We have a few couples on our tree, and I think they have distinct personalities.

What do you think each couple would be like in real life?

To My Fellow Thrift Shop Shopper

I stopped in at the thrift shop the other day to see if there were any new Christmas goodies, and this little cutie immediately caught my eye. Soon I found the same ornament in red, and then another in green, this chap's twin. As I was standing there, comparing the two green ones, I remarked to a fellow shopper that I was just trying to decide which one was in better condition.

Do you chat with people while you're shopping? I do. Now, I have to say, more often than not, it falls flat. People are in their own little worlds, I guess, and are surprised when someone, a STRANGER, talks to them in a store. But every so often, it turns into a nice exchange.

So how did the person react when at the thrift shop? She said, "Oh, you can't leave one behind just because he's not perfect!" Sounds like something I would say! I bought all three. My only regret? That I didn't extend an invitation for coffee or something to my fellow shopper. It's rare that I run into someone who shares some of my quirks, and I'll bet we could have been friends.

I'll just have to keep my eyes open at the thrift shop. You never know what you might find there!

Faux Fir

The tree is up, and I've started decorating.

I typed that really big, like a royal proclamation, because it seems like such a big deal this year. Note to self: Leaving the country right after Thanksgiving leads to some serious anxiety about Christmas preparations upon return.

So anyway, Gerry dragged the tree inside, and I decided to get things rolling. Now about that tree...I am not a fan of artificial trees. When I was growing up, no matter what was going on at Christmastime, we had a real tree. There was the year my mom and I went out and bought a big, full, robust tree. The guy ran it through the baler and carried it to...our little red Volkswagen. My mom still remembers him saying, "Lady, you're crazy if you think this tree is going to fit in that car." She tried to talk him into lashing it on top, because we didn't have far to go, but he wouldn't do it.

Mom also remembers me gunning it up the hill to White's Tree Farm in my first car, a 1976 Volvo station wagon. We had no problems fitting a tree into THAT beast, but making it up the hill was another question.

Or how about the year I contracted a terrible case of poison ivy from the tree? We were so mad, we called the tree lot and made them give us another tree. We picked out a scrawny Charlie Brown tree and put it in the kitchen, and I gave the poison tree a wide berth the rest of the season.

Getting the tree into the stand was always an adventure. My father died when I was eleven, so for many years it was just my mom and me and anyone who happened to pass by trying to saw off branches and get the tree to stand straight. One year, a friend of my brother's was pressed into service. As he was Jewish, this was his first experience with a Christmas tree. Another year, one of my friends helped with the sawing. I think all three of us came close to peeing our pants that year, we were laughing so hard.

Getting back to fake trees, my dad once showed up with an artificial tree and expected us to use it. This was the Seventies, and technology had not yet perfected the art of faux fir. I remember a wooden pole with holes drilled in it and a pile of "branches" that looked like radiator brushes. Everything was color coded, and you were supposed to stick the branches into the pole to assemble the tree. Well, I have my suspicions that my father found this tree somewhere, and it was missing parts, because it was a fright. No one was happy, but my father was not going to spend good money on a tree when we already had one. I guess my mom talked to her friends about it, and the next thing we knew, there was a gorgeous, perfect tree on our porch. One of her friends happened to own a nursery and cut down a tree from her stock so we wouldn't have to use the radiator brushes.

So how did I end up with an artificial tree? Well, my husband was the manager of a store. A few years ago, after Christmas, he bought the tree they had used as a floor model, I suspect just to get it out of his store. Now this is not a high end tree. It's the kind of tree they'd sell at a grocery store for $39.99. And it had been on display, decorated with curly ribbon and gift cards. I didn't care how cheap it was, I really didn't want it, but we stashed it in the garage anyway. Somehow, the next year, we ended up using it, and it wasn't too bad after all. I liked all the space for ornaments, and it was pretty nice not having to water a tree or deal with the shower of needles when we took it down.

But, man, that tree is homely. I use it more like a framework, cramming on ornaments until it hardly shows, but I keep thinking, "How many more years can it last?" Remember, this tree was plugged in constantly while it was on display at the store. Wouldn't you think the lights would have burned out by now? Nope, it just keeps going and going and going.

What will I do when the lights burn out? I'm sure I'll have a fling with fresh trees for a few years. But the advantages of faux have started to grow on me. Hey, no poison ivy!

Give Thanks...With Wax

I have very few Thanksgiving decorations,

but it wouldn't be Thanksgiving dinner without a few pilgrim candles.

Mr. Pilgrim is aging well!

Mrs. Pilgrim has fallen victim to some melting.
I think I might light her this year and work on finding a replacement.

Wouldn't you love to go back in time and visit the store where these were for sale?
I love how the label warns about drips.
Nevermind burning your house down--PROTECT THE TABLE!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!