Advent Christmas Calendar-Outdoor Decorations

I don't remember our family decorating the out side of the house until my parents were able to purchase their own home. The home was in a small development on the edge of town and it consisted of one small street. Everyone on both sides of the street decorated their homes and yards. So, the first Christmas in the the new house, my mom purchased a set of flat crinkly plastic Santa and Reindeer decorations for my dad to put on the roof. They were bright and cheery and I think they all had a Rudolph nose! They made you smile just looking at them, however, I don't think my dad was smiling when he was climbing the roof to put them up!

To go with the figures, mom bought a Santa door panel for outside and lights for the roof and trees. After that, they decorated outside wherever they lived. A few years ago, after my dad passed away, we lost track of Santa and the reindeer, I didn't give it much thought until my daughter asked to use them for her home and was sad that her kids would not get to enjoy them while they were growing up. I have looked many places trying to find another set but I haven't ever seen any like them, they were unique.

Maybe my family can add some comments about what they liked best about Santa and Reindeer?

Until tomorrow, make sure your Santa and Reindeer stay on the roof!

Mary Ellen

Advent Christmas Calendar-Christmas Cards

My parents and grandparents both sent and saved Christmas cards over the years.

One of my priceless family history treasures is a red tin cigar box that's filled with post cards and cards that my maternal grandmother saved.

She passed away before I was born so I never got to meet her. The messages in the cards from her children and her sisters back in Indiana were the only clues I really had to find out how her family felt about her. Through the information in the cards,


I was finally able to identify my mother's "long lost relatives". The cards are from the early 1900's through the early 1950's and are very quaint. My favorite part of looking at the cards every year is reading how much my mom loved and missed her mom and looked forward to their visits.

Advent Christmas Calendar-Ornaments

Let me start by saying SOME of our family NEVER throws any ornaments away so technically all of our ornaments become heirlooms, however there are some memorable treasures that always bring back Christmas memories. I had three favorites, the Nativity, the small cardboard village houses with the hole in the back and the original colored bubble lights that were both an ornament and a light! (In case you can't tell from my previous blogs I was born in the '50's).

My parents bought the simple nativity set when they had my oldest brother (15 years older than me). Both of my brothers, Doug and Willard were in charge of it until I came along. It had a young looking Joseph and Mary and the Baby Jesus had a manger made from a strange brown piece of organic material with small sticks glued on the side for legs (by the time I came along, rubber bands were added). My favorite Shepherd was tall and kind looking and carried a lamb over his shoulders. The camels were very heavy and for some reason, the donkey's horns had springs sticking out them. The barn that Joseph, Mary and the baby stayed in was made out of such rough old wood that I believed that it actually came from Bethlehem! All these years later only a few of the plaster pieces remain.

The Christmas before my brother Doug passed away, he found a complete set just like the original at an antique store and purchased it for me since I was so attached to it. It now is lovingly displayed each year with the remaining original pieces AND the organic brown manger.

I still have the cardboard village houses as well. "Back in the Day" I spent hours putting the fat Christmas lights through the hole in the back. The windows all were covered in colored cellophane and when the lights were shining, all the houses looked like families were home, warm and safe in the snow sheets.

I hope that you and your families are all able to sleep tight tonight like the families in the little cottages.

Happy Birthday Jazzy

Today, Dec 2nd is Jazzie's birthday. She celebrated by singing Christmas music for everyone. Tomorrow she will bust out for a party serving her fave food. CHICKEN NUGGETS. Best wishes Jazzie, we love you!

Advent Christmas Calendar-Holiday foods

My dad's mother was born in England and at Christmas time, there were always special foods we did not normally see throughout the year. One of the dishes was suet pudding. I might have been able to try it if I had not watched my mother make it. I could not ever get it past my chin, and I could not understand why you would eat something with FAT in it and think it was so yummy. The next treat, bread pudding, was another matter entirely. It was made and served with the best thick lemon sauce to put over it. It was very mysterious, as it was always kept wrapped in wax paper in a tin and kept in the refrigerator. This was the treat my dad always coveted, hid, and snuck out to the kitchen for in the middle of the night. The other two foods that seemed to be very popular were the mince meat pie and the fruitcake. You never had to worry about me taking any one's share of those! I did not find out until much later that every Christmas was a test of sorts for my mother, who was not from England, but was required to prepare the special menu items perfectly so that they would pass my grandmother's inspection. Maybe that was why she didn't really care for the traditional foods???

Advent Calendar for Christmas-Holiday Trees

I wanted to blog using this very neat Advent Idea Calendar for my first Christmas of blogging.
I grew up in Colorado so there was never a shortage of available Christmas trees and all of them were very beautiful. The only problem was, every year when we brought the tree home I became sick and was sick all through the holiday until the tree was disposed of. Eventually, my parents discovered I had pine allergies. There was only one type of tree I wasn't allergic to so for a few years, we tried to get that type of tree. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, the type of tree was forgotten and the cycle started over. About the time I was in 3rd grade, a new type of tree showed up in the house. It was of an alien species....Aluminum! It even came with accessories, a COLOR wheel. For those of you not familiar with this retro phenom, the tree had sparse shiny silver branches. The wheel had a high powered spot light with a plastic waffle type disc attached with red, yellow, green and blue sections. When the wheel was set up pointed towards the tree, the tree magically lit up with the colors in sequence as it rotated. I was fascinated by it and spend endless hours going back and forth from inside to out to see the colors changed. This tree lasted several years as a tradition until the color wheel bulb burned out. When my parents found out how much the bulb was, out went the tree (the branches made great magic wands) and we went back to what I lovingly refer to as tree roulette. In the past few years, I think the tree has made a comeback. Hmmm....wonder how much thee light bulb costs now??????

Black Friday

Hope everyone had a great holiday and was succesful at shopping, I have heard 2 reports at least that all Items were found with no casualties reported. This was my first year of non participation, and like Trick or Treat, it was not something I plan to miss again it just isn't right!
I HAVE A CORRECTION to my previous post, Raven's Birthday is NOVEMBER 2nd which is what I was thinking of when my brain was typing the 7th. SORRY! We will be celebrating her birthday on this Sunday, whoo hoooo!

Has anyone got any good stories to share from this Holiday? Please let me know so we can all enjoy.

Blessings to all, Mary Ellen