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Happy holidays to you all, and may you find much to be grateful for in the new year. ♥
Last month, brilliant Monique shared another of her beautiful creations, a decorated Ikea lantern scene, and I was so charmed by it, I was soon emailing her to tell her I was copying the idea for my parents for Christmas. ♥ I found the same lantern online, began ordering tree, lights, and blue gingham dollhouse furniture for it, and then was flummoxed when the lantern arrived in pieces-needing-to-be-assembled and emailed Monique again to ask how she'd put hers together, sigh. :) Eventually, I got it together--the story of my life, ha ha--and I finished it the day before taking it home for an early Christmas with my family. :) It's such a sweet idea, and it's not one I'd have ever thought of, filling the inside of a lantern like this. More thanks to Monique for sharing, as she always does. ♥
I began mine with what became the living room carpet, :) an old hand-towel in Mom and Dad's shade of gray-blue. A small snowflake doily-ornament came off my tree to become a miniature tree skirt. After I'd gotten the decorating done, Mike figured out the lights.
A heart appeared while we worked on it. ♥
I had bought a miniature Beagle for Dad, as he's aching to have another one but Mom's not keen on the idea. I crafted a mini newspaper out of folded-up/glued-together newspaper snippets and made a mini country decorating magazine for Mom. I'm not happy with the collar-and-red-heart-tag that ended up looking like a bandana--Dad would never have a bandana-wearing dog--but I'd already hot-glued it into place before I realized how oversized it was.
Part of a stained blue holiday towel that we no longer used but that I hadn't wanted to throw out found a new life as an afghan for the back of the couch. I unraveled more of its yarn loops to make tiny ornaments, and I made a few little wrapped gift-bundles for under the tree.
A snowflake-patterned scrap of the same towel became a pillow, although the snowflake design isn't obvious. The basket and shiny bow-wrapped gift beside it were little bits I'd saved from other projects over the years--and I'm glad I did. :)
I ordered a miniature Swedish tea ring from an online artisan, since that's what Mom always bakes for Christmas morning's breakfast. ♥ I cut out paper napkins to go with that and the tea cups.
The tree has its own built-in string of lights, and I draped the other strand around the couch for a little more glow on that side of the "room."
When it was all put together and lit up, it looked full enough--and very much like Mom and Dad's actual living room at Christmas, which is what I was going for, of course. ♥ (Again, how fun is this idea! I want to make them for baby showers and birthdays and garden parties and weddings and kids' rooms and other holidays and! and! and. . . !) :)
I took a final picture in full sunshine right before wrapping it--
--and Mike and I gave it to Mom and Dad on the 21st. Mom was as delighted as expected, and Dad was just happy to see a Beagle in his living room finally. ;) Here's to the fun and love of Christmas, and here's to the sharing of sweet ideas. ♥
Julietta's first Christmastime. Darling girl. ♥ While family eats and watches a Christmas movie together back home, Mike, Stuffed, and I are cozy in our little apartment, our cards all taped to the door, our favorite movies playing one after the other, and Stuffed napping here, there, and everywhere around us. 'A strangely foggy Christmas Eve here too, so much so that we can hardly see our neighbors' apartment next door, and the fog after a day with temperatures in the forties and our windows open most of the day while holiday baking was in full-swing. My favorite day of the year, this. ♥
It's been an easy-peasy day here, and this entire season's been the most-organized of every holiday season so far for me. We have been washing dishes as we go all day, so we're even caught up in the kitchen, and unlike every past year, I have the cinnamon rolls baked and waiting to be frosted and it's earlier than midnight! ;)
Yay for progress!
Mom reminded me this past weekend that Mike and I did Sloppy Joes for Christmas Eve a few years back, and yes, that sounded good this time too, so after baking sugar cookies and cinnamon rolls today, supper was an easy affair. Mom, of course, with big meals for more than ten both tonight and tomorrow, has been much busier, and it's been sweet to be able to cheer each other on today.
Happy holidays to you all. Tonight and all the days ahead, may you find sweetness, love, and wonder.
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And as with her gift last year, I could not be more charmed. She handed it to me Saturday night covered in crushed and crumpled wrapping paper, and my brother explained, "She's had this made and wrapped since ohhhhhhhh, October maybe!?" :) Sweet Bee. ♥ I will treasure her and her artwork all my days.
'Off to Mom and Dad's soon for Early Christmas. ♥ Above is Bianca experiencing New York City for the first time this past week, photo from my brother. This shot just captures all the wonder for me.
'Wisdom below from dear Marie's blog. ♥ And with it, my warmest wishes to you all. See you in a few.
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The bus I took home from work late last night was decorated to the hilt for the holidays. The fare-box was wrapped like a brick fireplace, there were wrapped packages and other decorations secured to the storage spaces in front of the driver and behind the driver, the windows were coated in spray snow, and sparkling tinsel garlands and ball ornaments were hanging the entire length of the bus. O' that I could have asked the driver to stop the bus just for more picture-taking! In almost thirteen years of using public transportation here, this was the single most charming trip I've yet had. I told the driver her bus was wonderful, and she just laughed, so I don't know that this was her doing. I assume she has a more whimsical coworker. :) As with the kites in Ocean City this summer, I love seeing that there are people out there who do things like this just to bring some joy to the lives of complete strangers. Bless all the magic-making elves!
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Mike washed the bedding with his laundry Sunday night and surprised me by replacing our everyday pillowcases with our Christmas ones a couple weeks early. I usually wait until Christmas Eve to put them on, but seeing these in bed has been surprisingly sweet this week. I'll add the sheets one of these days. Yes, why not enjoy them all month. ♥ I've mentioned before my dream of setting up my dining room--I don't HAVE a dining room, so this is very much a dream, you see--with an assortment of mismatched tables and chairs for holiday family dinners. . .a kids table with seasonal decorations and activities to keep little ones busy, a table for two in a window, a round table with overstuffed armchairs around it, etc., and I've always had the same dream of hosting family overnight around holidays. 'Different bedding in every room,
seasonal pillowcases and sheets no matter the season,
extra touches of throw pillows and stuffed toys that add a little fun and whimsy to guests' quarters,
no matter the occasion or holiday--
--no matter the guests' ages, since we're never too old for sweetness and silliness, and methinks we need those things as we get older at least as much as we did when we were kids, if not even more-so--
and that make them stop and think, "Ah! That's right! It's [Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Beach Week, Valentine's Day, whatever]!"
And just to make them feel special. ♥ That's no small thing.
We have no extra bedroom here, nor even a couch, so this remains a "someday" dream, but I so enjoy daydreaming about these sweet little spaces I have yet to own. Mom and Dad's guest room at Christmas would sport its share of red gingham, I'm sure, and likely some pillows of their children and grandchildren made from old Christmas photos. 'Their own tiny Christmas tree beside the bed. (Mike laughs because Mom still does this for me every Christmas when I come home. ♥) Wherever all the kids would camp out, in beds and sleeping bags and chairs pushed together, a stocking filled with little treats would greet each of them in their spot in the morning. . . .Star pillows and star-patterned sheets for New Year's Eve sleepovers, gardening and bird-watching magazines fanned out on Aunt Laurie and Uncle Warren's bed during a springtime visit. . . .For various reasons, these visits and gatherings are unlikely to happen, but a dream is a precious thing, so I dream on and enjoy each one--and thank Mr. Mike for the taste of it we get here in reality in our own little apartment with each other. ♥
I spent some time last night looking through twelve years' worth of my photo albums on flickr, and it struck me that all those years--every year of the past twelve except this one--seemed to have been [easier? more creative? less of a blur?] than this one, but then it further struck me that this year was just not as well-documented as past years. :) I keep a journal as always, and I take pictures almost every day, but since I haven't sorted them all into an album labeled 2019 yet, and since there are only thirteen blog posts before this one to tell 2019's story in images and words here, this year just somehow seemed "less." (A-ha!) 'Funny how memory works. This year really has been a blur, though, as every year anymore seems to speed by faster than the ones before.
It seems like I was home for a visit with my parents Halloween-week maybe two weeks ago. It stormed almost the entire time I was there, sheets of rain pouring onto the deck's roof and then flooding it. I baked a gluten-free dark chocolate cake for my parents,
helped Mom figure out her first cell phone, and watched game seven of the World Series with Dad. Sometime overnight on Halloween, we lost power. Mom's many candles were put to good use all over their little house the next morning. The top photo is of their kitchen island as November began. It was the most perfect Halloween-week weather.
Mike's mom celebrated her eightieth birthday just as little Bianca was turning six--six?! She was just three! She was just BORN!--and somehow, cards, flowers (mother-in-law), and balloons (niece) made it to them on time. "She was so cute skating with her friends," Mom reported of Bianca's roller rink party a few weeks ago. But look at this dear little face--
--and tell me what she'd NOT be cute doing. 'So adorable. ♥ And still a little imp. :) She began kindergarten this fall. . . bows on her knee socks, stuffed animal on her desk, and answering the question of what she wants to be when she grows up with: "A detective." A detective! Of course, at her preschool graduation ceremony this spring, all the kids had facts about themselves announced to the audience as they walked across the stage. Bianca's? "Bianca likes cats." Bianca likes cats! Ha ha! Sweet girl. I get such a kick out of her. :)
I got this shot of my oldest and youngest nieces from the Thanksgiving table last week. ♥ The mind boggles. And what a rich time for my parents, I have been thinking, to be able to enjoy grandchildren who range from five-month-old to almost-sixteen. My nephew will be old enough to drive soon. Baby Dylan!? Precious times, and precious time.
Mike and I spent Thanksgiving day at my older brother's home and then spent the night at his mom's. 'Such a sweet holiday, and the craziness of my working life being what it is, this was the first Thanksgiving I'd spent with family since 2010. 2010. There are a number of changes I need to make in my life in the next few years, and changing things like that is high on the list. Late last Wednesday night, I finally decided what I wanted to make for dessert to go along with both brothers' pies, and especially given how little planning went into them, I'm so delighted by how both desserts turned out. 'Such a good feeling when a "baking vision" turns out. :) I went with gluten-free yellow cupcakes to have an option Mom could eat, and I tried the all-over-the-internet "pumpkin pie wedge" Rice Krispie Treats. The first batch of the Rice Krispie Treats I made standard pie-slice-size and took to Mike's mom's since there was to be a smaller gathering there. We totaled fourteen at my brother's home, so I made mini pie slices with that batch. 'Dollop of homemade buttercream on each to mimic whipped cream. :)
The tiny pumpkins were crafted out of homemade fondant, one of my favorite little baking/dessert-making/cake-decorating things to play with the past fifteen or so years. Mike is careful with his sugar intake, and I (always anymore, alas) need to lose weight, so I rarely make things like these Thanksgiving desserts, but it is so fun and relaxing, I should make the time more often and just give away all but a couple of whatever I've baked. Or maybe I should play it safe and just buy some poylmer clay to craft desserts for dollhouses. :)
Mike's mom had fall leaf-patterned flannel sheets on the bed for Thanksgiving night--so sweet ♥--and oh my goodness, it was the most comfortable bed and the coziest and most festive way to end the holiday.
We returned home Friday evening to a cuddled-up-on-a-chair Stuffed, still going (relatively) strong at twenty years old. ♥ I remembered just in time last week to get this fall's photo of him with the yellow trees outside the window, and he spent most of today on a nest of blankets beside the space heater while snow fell. Dear sweet Stuffed. ♥
I say life's been a blur, but I will also pat myself on the back here and point out that my Christmas cards have been ready to mail for a week, I'm almost done with my shopping, and I put up the tree a couple Sundays ago. 'Unprecedented holiday organization here, and it's making the entire month ahead feel better. Onward and upward, then, and may it not take me three months to find my way back to my little online space here. Happy December to you all.
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