Sepia Christmas week 208 Dec 21--27, 2013

A very Merry Christmas and  Happy blessed New Year to all Sepian colleagues wherever you are in the world this season..finally a prompt that I just could not allow to go unanswered....

Every year with the postage increases, now at 46 cents, I consider "this year fewer Christmas cards to send out."  All the old folks who most enjoyed them are all gone now and today the people who keep in contact with us do so by text, email, Facebook or by cell phone. Sure the total number is down, yet annually, there are some with whom I  am compelled to exchange cards and this year a total 59 recipients indicates the number is growing again adding folks we meet on our travels and well, we live across the country from our many friends who have also moved around.  We are mobile in retirement. 

I have fully realized this year that our treasured friends are really our family.  This year we had a photo card pulled together to commemorate our Alaska adventure and our 46th year of marriage; really could not have done it without the expertise and software of a local friend, Ann who was able to crop out, edit and fix our photos to display just the two of us.  In every photo we took in Alaska, no matter how hard we tried to avoid it,  someone would be there, I suppose that happens on tours.  Fortunately, Ann has professional skills and software so she performed magic making our 2013 card just the two of us.  Because we only bought 40 of these at 90 cents each, some received another annual greeting card.  But here, Sepians is our 2013 greeting, which I share with you.   

Left to right starting on top, first  Jerry next to an Alaskan moose carved and assembled from trees, the two of us at the sign entering Alaska after a trip deep into the Yukon (Ann cropped 30+ others out of this), bottom it was raining in Anchorage when we arrived, middle is somewhere near Fairbanks (again Ann deleted all the extra people) and last is in Syracuse New York in May at the Good Sam Rally on our way to the rehitching ceremony where despite the thousands of couples renewing vows in a mass ceremony, we did not beat the Guinness records...ah well, this was 46 years for us and time to renew vows.  Here's my little secret, at our 1967 ceremony I was so fraught that I never said "I do"  and here in May, a potty call which was far from the seating was uppermost in my mind, so I did not say "I do" again..Jerry laughs and reminds me that the third time is the charm..

But there you have it a Very happy holiday season however  and whatever you do or don't celebrate, warm wishes....until 2014 Sepians.  The following is the link to our community of Sepians....warmest wishes, bloggers all.  http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2013/12/sepia-saturday-208-christmas-new-year.html

Merry Happy and all that Jazz

Holy Cow it's almost Christmas

I don't know where the time goes but it does.  The calendar reveals tomorrow is December 24, Christmas Eve and here I am still have not posted all the Christmas array in the home and am I ready?  Nah, well yes.  Jerry reminds me it is just us and so what.  And so that meant I was free to take it easy and not  overly concern myself about  things.  I have always been someone who operates at maximum when there is a deadline, otherwise I meander and this is just the perfect word for this holiday season.  It is just  the two of us, Jerry & me.  We have no family around here other than his mother whom we have determined is better left in the nursing home than being here with us Christmas Day or Eve.  I made one last trip to the grocery store today awaiting inspiration for what to have for ourselves for Christmas Day dinner. While I did get inspiration at the Festival seafood counter, I have never seen so many Grinches at one place since I left CA.  Oh all the faces with such downturned mouths. People, hey remember it's Christmas!  One woman and I pulled our carts aside and breathed deeply commenting, "what are we doing here?"  We both had  only a few things to do and wished each other Merry Christmas and went along our ways, amongst them. 

Sometimes in CA when we were not hosting family  gatherings, we'd go out to brunch with another couple or two, enjoyed bloody Mary's and then later for dinner had grilled cheese sandwiches.  Well that worked, but around here the people we know are all with families and hunkered in.  Really we should have moved to a Sun City retirement villa amongst other empty nesters and enjoying it!  But bah humbug here we are. Tomorrow, Christmas eve after early candlelight church service, (no way can I make it to midnight mass!, well not and enjoy a glass of wine or two with dinner!)  we will have my famous Polish mushroom soup (Grandma Rose's recipe) and shrimp cocktails and sauerkraut pierogies.  This will link back to my Polish childhood traditional Christmas Eve  meatless suppers with a twist.  We never had shrimp cocktails then.  But it's a new  world with new and different  traditions in the making.  Christmas Day looks like New York steaks and lobster tails!  These are good quality meals for two people.  Meantime, before the holiday has totally run by I share the rest of my 2010 limited Christmas decor. 

Brocade Santa with Kitty Musical
Notice the little girl hiding beneath Santa's beard...




Brocade Carolers

 





Only one of our many churches out this year
with one of  hundreds of angels

 
The carolers were a new acquisition in 2004, the year I kind of retired but was still on the books for 5 months, running all that time out I had accumulated and could never use by taking vacations while working.  We were here in MN for part of the holiday and then headed south to Louisiana to be with friends. Oh that was the kind of winter we envisioned from now on, being on the go!  What happened to that vision, life interfered with all the obligations and duties. From La. our first Christmas in the south, where they had record freezing temperatures, we went back to California to continue to clear out.  When I was back in January the Department of Health called me and begged my help running interview panels to replace the likes of so many of us who had retired at high levels, leaving the place lacking for top management replacements.  Well being a sucker I agreed, but after one week and  3 days of early 4:30 AM risings to catch that commuter bus into downtown Sacramento, I got good hold of myself. This was  why I wanted to retire!  I would do no more.  I wanted to be done with the curtain calls, it was not fun and I was no way amused.  It was not my problem the state had imposed perpetual hiring freezes and now did not have talent to fill behind us.  In the words of a long time ago auditee who knew his organization was in deep doo doo as we departed, "Good luck, Beeill!" You had to be there to  know about this one.  Ahh  this makes me shudder just thinking about it.  Onto more holiday decor today.  The tiny bear couple on the floor have been with us for 20 Christmases.  Little did we expect to have the preponderance of  bears among us, though this couple appears only for Christmas.

The scene in front of the living room window
looks something like this.  More there now
but this  photo was taken  weeks ago.



Randy the Reindeer Ranch Elf



You saw the elves on a previous post. One you did not see was Randy, the dude from Reindeer Ranch, Newcastle, CA.  He lives outside the Christmas closet all year long and mingles with the teddy bears, but the Patriots in the Americana room have been bending his ears all year and encouraging him to be with "his own kind"  taunting him that  elves don't usually associate with bears.  Randy was created by a Newcastle friend  down to the bells on his toes in about 1991.  She taught special education children and made  similar creatures to tell tales to the kids.  I considered  not bringing him to MN but he insisted that this was Nordic territory something to which he was more accustomed, so along he came.  Generally he is content to sit on the rocking chair in the Patriotic room, but this year he  became anxious.  He reminds me of the trolls in stories I grew up hearing, the trolls who lived beneath bridges and preyed on unsuspecting wandering children.  Well Randy got gumption from listening to those Patriot Bears this year and while I was busy elsewhere he began to instigate the elves to insist on an elfin Christmas here in the home, I was in the doldrums, the blahs or the humbugs and Randy insisted I shake it.  Little by little I put out some decorations and tried to set the festivities of the season in order.  Randy figured it was time for an elfin reunion and so that is how they came to congregate for 2010.  Randy is feeling quite smug, but what he does not know is that he may be relegated to the Christmas closet now with his elfin pals when the holidays are done.  After all if he can let the bears influence him, perhaps it's best if he joins the elves who do good deeds.  Than Randy can perhaps shed some of his trollness.   


Rockin' musical Reoindeer,  1940's Red  Elf and new MN Elf

Fritz and Floyd Elves










1940's Elf

  

1950's Elf Band

This is my excuse for a tree upstairs on our hearth, silver tinsel wreath adorns  coat hangers clipped together and adorned with white lights and golden pieces.  Dorothy Wiedeman, an elderly local lady made this five years ago and donated it to  the church's 's white elephant sale.  No one was bidding and so trying to get something started I bid $5, you can see I won.  I think this is the last year I will store it.  The  Jack Frost Scarecrow/ snowman next to the tree also plugs in and lights. He was made in CA by an elderly lady who sold her ceramics every year at the Auburn Christmas Fair. Each year I purchased something from her.  One year it was a lovely ceramic tree adorned with animals of all sorts and tiny lights.  I gave that to the grandkids and hope their mother did not discard it, because it was quite lovely.   I loved  Jack Frost Scarecrow  at first sight and have enjoyed bringing him out occasionally on holiday time.  He is holding a small tree and I love his golden touches with the creamy glaze all over. He reminds me of the tales of Jack Frost but is far more elegant. 





The old lamp lighter of long long ago,,,,,he made the world a little brighter,
wherever he would go,,,,,Remember that song?

 

One of our French Bronze with brass container of greenery and candle.

Pointsettia platter with sleigh riders 
 and lamplighter

  

Our newest Nativity set, on upstairs mantel. It is  Royal Doulton, which I  understand is now being made in China.  Jerry picked this one up in  2005 at my  urging and it may be one of the last non Chinese made.  Regardless of the theme of my decor, I always have at least two nativity sets on display, commemorating the real reason why we celebrate.

This year I decided to spread some more holiday cheer downstairs over Jerry's objections.  If I had the blahs this year he had a double dose.  So I thought that some tinsel would tackle the darkness and proceeded.  If one tinsel tree was good surely two more  on the window sill would be better to reflect the sunshine off the white snow banks outside.  And what good is a little tinsel without more glamour.  Jerry used to ice skate when he grew up here, so I thought a bit of reminder by way of a  small village p;anaroma on a side immediately downstairs would be just the thing. 

1980's hand crafted Santa



New England Panorama

Blogspot is resisting adjustments, realignments and  further posting so this will be the holiday cheer from  our home and holiday greeting to all of you.  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night, good weekend, and all that jazz!

Time wasters, minute chasers....

Found in the box of  buttons read on

I'm caught in time wasters today although I have accomplished several things including another trip to our town  post office, which is becoming a daily trek for me.  I vowed to not send Christmas cards this year, 44 cents  for postage for each seems  exorbitant, especially when I can keep up with most folks by Facebook, this blog, email, and cell phone calls.  I recalled how in the past when we lived in CA I would have stacks of 200  and more cards to mail and that did not bother me, many of those went to elderly relatives across the country, folks who looked forward to those greetings and  with each card I'd enclose a handwritten letter.  I loved their responses about how they appreciated the cards and letters. Aunt Ruth (Jerry's) always complimented me on my letters. How times have changed!  Well most of those folks have passed on and then came one of those bolts from beyond:  I realized that we, I and my friends and cousins have become the "old folks."  I full well knew this, especially as I began to  bury cousins and contemporaries, but this reminder  gave me pause that maybe I could not just give up the annual Christmas card drill.  Besides cards began to arrive and I started to feel like Mrs. Scrooge. It's that Catholic upbringing with the trappings of guilt raising up, a lamentable thing that will turn on me  just when I think it's been conquered! So I  engaged again, not with the annual one size fits all card/letter but instead  wrote a "Merry and Happy" to most folks and even hand addressed the cards this year instead of using my dandy label computerized list. But it has been a tedious daily task which I believe I have now completed, however we will see what tomorrow's mail brings!  Next year I will not try to fool myself into believing I won't send cards, I will just plan to do so recalling my 8ball experience of 2010.

I had to hem another pair  of sweat pants which I bought for MIL yesterday,  a sewing task that  is not too daunting, so I  accomplished that.  And then  the diversion began.  While I am known to  waste hours on the computer roaming from blog to sites yet unknown and on that biggest  minute chaser, Facebook,   I can also get diverted by physical things. 

From old Mrs Irwin, Needle packets

Taunting me from a shelf  inside the sewing room was the  big cardboard box that I'd taken from Aunt Jinx' stash last year and not yet fully rummaged through.  Today was the day as this box holds all sorts of sewing accoutrement's, buttons, snaps, buckles, trims, old needle books, a real treasure trove for a junkie like me.  Some like these needle books were from the Irwins, the photos on the covers are entertaining and  certainly speak of a different time and place. 

I have learned some of these old buttons are valuable.   In Lansing, Iowa, one of our favorite places to drive to down the road to spend a day, there is a Button Shop run by an elderly woman in a wheel chair who knows more about buttons than I could ever dream.  Her store has nothing but buttons and threads.   As I told her about these collections, and all the assorted loose buttons I've inherited and gleaned, she has urged me to bring them and spend a day with her, that she will advise me about them.  I learned from her that they used to manufacture the Le Mode shell buttons from the clamshells  dug  from the banks of  the Mississippi right there in Lansing,  those were so many of the pearlized buttons of days gone by.  She had several old shells showing holes where the round circles had been cut out for the buttons and  shells dumped back along the shore from the factory, I wonder if they ate the clams or dropped them back for animals to consume.  She is a fascinating woman and I look forward to going through these buttons, some from Holland, Germany, West Germany, and England.  That is still on my to do list.   Meantime here are just a very few of the collections, look at the prices,  29 cents!  That certainly dates these buttons. .

The red/orange buttons (left) were made in Holland, 29 cents was the price



The two Bon Ton buttons (left) are made of nickel according to the back of the card
The three Le Chick buttons (right)  were made in Germany

Just the other day I was telling Jerry to not pull the snaps loose on  his shirt while he was fiddling with it because I had no way to fix those; I remember saying "they are not like buttons!"  He will only wear shirts, western style and cut trim, with snaps, but that is an entire other post because those are getting harder to find all the time.  Well, he was Aunt Jinx's  favorite and I think today she was taunting me from beyond because there were no less than 5 different packets of snaps of all types and attachment tools in this box  including some strange looking things that resemble manual old paper hole punchers.  So while I was rummaging Jerry came downstairs and became very interested in the box too.  He mentioned,. "Didn't you say you had no way to fix snaps?  Look at all these!"  I can only laugh that Aunt Jinx showing me up again!



Here it is the Match flap, I thought

Besides that little quote above on cardboard, another most interesting item in the box was, I thought a match flap, or match book, you know like matches used to come in when there were complementary matches all over free for the taking.  Do they still give away matches for advertising anywhere?  This one was from Aunt Hannah's Bread, a brand I do not recall but one that must have been in Pennsylvania.  Sorry that it must be Aunt Hannah herself upside down but when I scanned this that's what happened with it opened.  It is a silver color and quite dulled, but you can read in the middle that it says "Matchless Mender."  I was curious why a match book would be in with sewing miscellany and buttons.  However  when I opened it  there were  no matches inside it, but a mini mending kit.  I do remember seeing and having such things which often came from banks or department stores as favors.  This one from Aunt Hannah's went a step further with something resembling matches inside along with the threads and needle, something to mend hose, nylons!  What a throw back to the day when women had concerns over things like "runs."  This was too funny and made me have to  share my time wasters right here on the blog.  And that of course meant more time spent, though I do not consider this a waste no not at all...Here following is the inside of the match book.  Have you ever seen anything like this?  I remember putting clear nail polish on a run in panty hose to prevent a further mess,  but this is  a much more refined/intricate approach...

Read the instructions

Well so there you have my time waster, minutes of memory chaser for today....