A December to Remember: The Last Giveaways

The month is over, and what a fun month it has been! Baking, cooking, family, cleaning, and giveaways.

Today I am announcing the winner of the "Blue on Blue" giveaway. I am also selecting the winner of a teacup and saucer and Earl Grey tea from among those who commented on the last giveaway post. First, the winner of Blue on Blue.

The winner is:

ANGELA! Angela, send me your mailing address to susannaholstein@yahoo.com and I will mail your package to you. Congratulations!

Thank you, everyone, for participating in this giveaway.

And for the last giveaway of December, the teacup and Earl Grey tea goes to:

RONDA! This cup was made in Germany and is part of Schumann china's "Orchard" series. I hope you like it.

Congratulations to all the winners this month. It's been a pleasure for me to put these together, and a pleasure to get to know you all a little better.

Wishing everyone a perfect New Year's Eve and the best of years to come.

Writing My Way Home Again

Fiona and Robyn are once again requesting small stones: small, mindful writings that capture the small things that make up our lives and our world. I accepted the challenge last year and wrote a poem each day in January, and I will be participating again this year in the River of Stones project.

How can we write our way home? Fiona and Robyn's e-book explains the process clearly, framed in a story that might describe many people's lives. It is awareness, mindfulness, attention, and senses that are alive and receptive. How often do you find yourself traveling on automatic pilot, unable to describe the places you have passed? How often do you go through your day accomplishing the routine but unaware of the extraordinary that surrounds you? We all do these things, and we lose some of life's richness each time we are too absorbed to notice.

Perhaps you would like to join me, Granny Kate and many others in writing small stones in January. To learn more, and to sign on, visit Writing Our Way Home. You will find a warm welcome awaits you.

New Year's Bonfire: Time to Burn Your Troubles

I can hardly believe it is already time for our annual bonfire! Each year we build a bonfire to light in the New Year, and in that fire we toss our troubles. You are invited to burn your troubles too--just send me an email to grannysueholstein@yahoo.com with the word BONFIRE in the subject and I will print it and make sure your worries get burned in our fire. This has been a tradition for us for over ten years, and we've burned countless worries. You do not need to tell me what your worry is--a simple "burn this" message will do.

This year we are having the fire at our son's house once again. There are several reasons, the main one being he has a great location for the fire--level, with easy access to the house. At my house, everything is on a slant and it can get tricky to get back and forth to the fire. Access can be tricky too, if it snows or rains heavily.

I'm cooking a big pot of chili to bring to the fire, along with some cornbread and some cookies. My son has taken care of all the other food, so we're set for a good time.

Last year's fire was a big one--this year, we won't have all that scrap from the old cabin like we did last year, but I know that whatever we have will be enough, and the fire will be memorable.

A Nice Surprise in the Mail

Jack the Mailman comes to my door almost every day to pick up packages I am mailing to my eBay customers. Tuesday, however, he was bringing a package to me! I opened it right away, and what did I find?

Goodies! Straight from Ronda at the Pauley Principle! She had a giveaway on her blog, and I won. What a neat turnabout, isn't it? In this package, which was so prettily wrapped, was:

Bacon, already cooked and ready to eat!  And

a box of Bisquick to make pancakes fast and easy. But the best thing in the package--

Homemade maple syrup from Ronda's own farm! Her syrup is cooked outside over a wood fire so it has a unique, smoky flavor. I had to taste a little on my finger and oh my! It's delicious and quite a remove from the "maple" syrup we buy at the store.

Thank you, Ronda! Your gift will make a special New Year's Day breakfast for us! And what a lovely way to start the new year, with a meal provided by a friend made through blogging!

Thank you, Ronda!

A December to Remember: Beat the Blues and Another Winner

Time for another giveaway! I got overwhelmed with Christmas so I'm a little behind--again. Remember, in those dark mists of time before red and green overtook us? Before we get into that one, though, here's a way to beat the winter blues:

"Blue on Blue" this time around! This giveaway includes a blue gingham handmade apron, 2 pretty handmade (but not perfect) doilies, 2 hand-crocheted hotpads,

a pepper grinder with a blue farm scene, cobalt votive in a silver holder (not a great item believe me but it's cute), a Japan-made lusterware creamer in pearly blue with a soft orange interior, a blue willow patter trinket box, two handmade navy blue napkins,

 and a vintage Totes "rainproof" scarf that is big enough to be an awesome table cover.

To get in the drawing, comment on any post this month and become a follower of this blog. If you win, please email me at susannaholstein@yahoo.com with your mailing address, and it sure would be nice if your wrote a post on your blog about your winnings with a link back to me too :) I will be drawing for this one on December 31st, to end the year on a happy note! So continue to comment because each time you do I add your name again to the drawing.

It has been fun to do these giveaways. I will be doing one or two more in January so stay tuned!

This is the "Chicken" giveaway, remember?

And the winner is: Carolyn!

Carolyn, please send me your snail mail address and I'll mail this out to ASAP. Congratulations!

All in a Dog's Day

Our new puppy, Willie Ray, had quite a Christmas and Boxing Day. First, he was overjoyed at all the young people visiting. Poor guy, most of the time he just has Larry and me, so when our youngest son Tommy came in Willie was just beside himself. Then the grandkids came, and oh my, did he have a time!

After much running and eating of scraps, he was tuckered out. He quickly became a fan of Cassidy's singing when she let him on the couch. 

The next day he tried to help Haley at target shooting. I don't think he was much help, actually,

but that didn't stop him from helping Kate

He had to help check the targets too.

It was a rough day for a dog and he needed some relaxation, so

 first he played with Cadyn and Hannah, then

he stole Cadyn's binky! 

Cadyn gave chase but Willie was determined to keep it. They reached a standoff:

Cadyn persevered, however, and the binky was hers! 

 

Don't worry, the pacifier in her mouth was her backup, not the one Willie had!

I think Willie might just turn out to be a pretty good dog. He sure had a big time over Christmas, that's for sure.

Before and After

 Christmas is over for another year, but the memories linger on. I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked because I was so busy cooking and enjoying our company. Here are a few from around the house as we prepared, and some from the holiday itself:

Washing the red glass,

and washing the green;

 

 the table rearranged after your suggestions for improvements. The changes made it exactly what I was looking for. Here's a closer look:

 

 I added a rustic board, as Jason suggested, some greenery as several people suggested, and a little red ribbon. I changed out the linens too, for a rich red, green and ivory scheme.

A not so great photo of how we arranged the green pieces:

I've had the green "mountain" bookends since 1987. I was working as a security guard at the state Capitol building when a conference on tourism was held. I helped with an assortment of tasks--controlling access, finding janitors when needed, picking up, and the final takedown of tables, etc. One of the organizers thanks me for my help and gave me a pair of the bookends, which were made by Blenko especially for this conference. They have been in various places in the house, but I like them here best. The little lights really made this arrangement come alive, I think. I believe the tall green pitcher with its clear handle and base may also be Blenko. It was given to me by my father. I put the tall green vase (which I also think is Blenko but have never seen another like it) inside a tall clear rectangular vase, and added a tall flower-shaped vase/paperweight to balance the round crackle glass vase with the two Anchor Hocking green vases to the right.

The tree continued to look like a Charlie Brown tree, but it seemed quite at home in the log room. I caught granddaughter Kate in a thoughtful moment:

as Cassidy played and Hannah, and Willie our new puppy listened:

Later we went to our son's to help put together Hannah's new bed. What a puzzle that was! After a little while it became apparent that Kate has a real knack for such mind games so we stood back and let her and Derek get it done. The girls all tested the bed, and I guess it's strong enough!

Hannah is in the midst of a room re-do. She chose the paint, bed and bedding for her Christmas gift. It will look great when she's done, I think. She has a good sense of style.

Long-legged volleyball player Ally is now almost 5'10", I believe, while her cousin Hannah, who is a few month older, just reached 5'. The height certainly never came from me! Hannah and 9-year-old Michaela are the only granddaughters shorter than me and I expect both of them will be taller in the end.

Great-granddaughter Cadyn came too. Here she snuggles with Daddy. She looks so much like her mother, our granddaughter Jordan.


Cooking dinner on Christmas day was such fun. I had the turkey in the oven early; it was 23 pounds so it needed some time. I started cooking the rest just before the first arrivals of the morning. Everyone jumped in to help: Jordan helped make the rice with mushrooms, onions and rosemary; Derek put together a cheese and cracker tray for before dinner snacking. Cassidy, Kate Ally, Haley, and Hannah made the salad--it was a mix of Romaine lettuce with dried cranberries, pecan pieces, chopped Granny Smith apples, and white beans. I made a mustard vinaigrette to put on it. I made the stir-fried fresh green beans with peanut-almond sauce, a recipe that my family said was a Thai recipe. I found it somewhere and just thought it sounded good. It was delicious. I also made the corn and the gravy for the turkey. Derek carved the turkey for us and Jennifer helped with setting the table and getting things organized. Larry, Tommy, Ethan and Jared stayed out of the way; they decided to go target shooting instead, a wise choice given the commotion in the kitchen!


Desserts were pumpkin pie, mincemeat tarts, pineapple-coconut balls, and a variety of cookies. I was very pleased that we had enough sweets but not too many; no one ate pie but everything else was pretty much gone at the end of the day. A blessing, that; usually we have tons of cookies left over and that's not good for our diets.

My gifts for family this year were all homemade. Each son received pretty much the same thing: a tin of homemade cookies, some white chocolate and chocolate dipped pretzels rolled in a variety of decorations, some lavender sachets and mulling spice mix that I put in resealable tea bags so they can be easily used and a sewing kit in a Mason jar with a pincushion top (I saw this in a magazine and loved the idea. The pincushion is two circles of fabric with cotton balls for filling, hot-glued together and put in the lid). Some got peppermint tea, rosemary oil or an Italian herb mix. Aaron didn't get the sewing kit because Jaime is a great seamstress and I figured they were well-stocked in that area so they got a couple other things instead. I loved making these gifts and plan to do the same next year--now to start looking for new ideas!


I'll have more photos tomorrow. It was a very good time for all of us, and I'm sorry to see it end. But isn't that always the way with holidays and family gatherings?

Busy as Can Be

I'm sure everyone else is doing the same things I am doing: cleaning, cooking, getting gifts ready. So here's a quick hello, and a hope that you will stop a moment in your day to savor the goodness of the season and the results of all your effort.

A Christmas Carol

by George Wither, 1588-1667

So now is come our joyful feast,
Let every man be jolly;
Each room with ivy leaves is dressed,
And every post with holly.
Though some churls at our mirth repine,
Round your foreheads garlands twine,
Drown sorrow in a cup of wine,
And let us all be merry.

Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke,
And Christmas blocks are burning;
Their ovens they with baked meats choke,
And all their spits are turning.
Without the door let sorrow lie,
And if for cold it hap to die,
We'll bury it in a Christmas pie,
And evermore be merry.

The Tree is Up!

The tree is finally up, and a true Charlie Brown tree it is! We love it anyway, and the price was certainly right (free). I prefer the wild trees with their open shape because the ornaments are so much easier to hang and more visible. We decided to put the tree on the big table in the log room this year. That way no furniture had to be moved!

On the small red shelf in the log room is crystal, red, silver, brass and lace. The dreary rainy day outside makes it look even cozier. All of these items are flea market or thrift shop finds--even the shelf itself. The silver creamer and sugar I found this week, for less than $2.00. A little cleaning was all they needed. I'll add some greenery to them tomorrow.

On the fireplace mantel, I only changed out a few things to give a little Christmas-y feel. I bought the zinc bucket arrangements at a consignment shop, to use during our carols program; the brush tree cost a quarter at a thrift shop. The other items were already on the mantel. So easy! The washboard is the one I used when we first moved up here, before we had electricity. The kerosene lamps, cow bell and butter churn are from that time also, reminders of those early days at this place. Back then, of course, these weren't display items--they were tools!

A quiet corner by the couch. The hanging behind the couch has been there since we built this room 8 years ago. I love its soft red color. Someone put a lot of time into crocheting squares of red wool into this throw. The table by the couch is actually an old treadle sewing machine that used to work. I'd like to get move it and put something else in its place. I've had it for years, but maybe it's time to find it a new home. Behind the table is a screen that is old indeed. It is handpainted on canvas, probably from the late 1700's-early 1800's, and folds out into 3 panels. It has some bad places but it's just beautiful with its soft golds and reds. One day I'll need to look into restoring it. We use it to screen the doorway if we have visitors staying in the log room.

I've kept decorating simple this year; most of the things I usually put out were put back in their totes and not used. I'm not sure why, but I am happy with less this year. Next year, who knows? All of it might be out! One of the fun parts of decorating for this season is that each year it's a little different, and I don't know until I get started just what I'm going to do. I wonder if it's like that for everyone. Do you plan in advance what your decorating will be?

Time to get back to cleaning. A lot left to do and not much time to do it!

Solstice

The sun set amid grayness of cloud and rain;
autumn passed with no whimper of color.
In darkness the clouds vanished like the smoke
of burning leaves,
leaving silver stars to pierce the black;
the longest night begins.

This is the day, the shortest day,
when earth finally sleeps.
Let us sleep too,
and rejoice in the darkness
that will bring to us, so soon,
the glory and light of birth, and joy.

Red and Red and Red

I'm slowly getting things together for Christmas. Dusting, waxing and finishing touches are all that's left--oh, and silver cleaning! This is what I did on the table. I pulled together crystal, red and green glass to create a seasonal display. I'm not 100% satisfied with it; it looks like too much to me.

Here's a closer look at the elements. What should I add or remove? I just feel like something is missing here.

Ruby Red saucer and cup and small angel candle holder with a red metallic spiral candle;

Horsehead bookend, red controlled-bubble paperweight, green glass tree candy jar, Ruby Red vase with sparkly twigs, small deer candle holder with a red ball in it instead of a candle, red decanter with crystal stopper.

I used a glass brick that was given to me by a friend to give height and extra crystal shine to the arrangement. Small crystal salt cellar and the small shakers are just everyday use items that snuck into the picture!

I love this sweet little deer with his red ribbon. These are two more of the shakers--I got all 4 for $1.00 a few weeks ago. They're heavy cut glass and I believe they're fairly old. I really like the feel of them.

I used my tall silver candlesticks with gold candles to frame the arrangement. Yes, I know, the candlesticks still need to be cleaned!

So, what would you change? One problem with the stuff I have on the table is that I have to move a lot of it to serve dinner if we have company. I will probably put a new tablecloth on the table and some Christmas placemats before Christmas--I have a red cloth, and also one that is tan with a holly pattern. I'm still deciding which one to use; I also have two choices of placemats. Decisions, decisions!

Here is more red glass around the house:

These are on a high shelf in the living room, and my picture is a little crooked!

I love the tall red jars at the back of this shelf. They have brass lids and the glass is very thin, and quite possibly just painted red glass but they really make a statement.

I found this piece at Goodwill and it took me some time to identify it. My instinct said Blenko, but I could find no Blenko vase that looked like this. While looking at Blenko ashtrays, I spotted it: it is the base for a Blenko lighter. There should have been a round cigarette lighter in the top, and the base would have rested in the center of an amberina ashtray. Alone, it's still a striking piece of glass, although its value is greatly diminished by not having the lighter.

In another cabinet there is this collection of glass:

Crackle, Diamond Point, Ruby Flash,

and a cranberry colored sugar and creamer that was my mother's and is quite old, I believe. I found the name of the sugar and creamer--they're blown glass--but cannot recall it now. Mom also collected crackle glass pitchers. The square pitcher was my mother's; I think the tall orange vase and the candle lamp are Fenton. There are two pieces of Amberina Moon and Stars glass in here as well. The copper etched plate was a gift from a friend in 1993--she brought it back from Turkey.

That's most, but not all, of my red glass. If you haven't guessed--yes, red glass is my favorite, followed by crystal, amber and green.

Linking today to: Her Library Adventures, Colorado Lady's Vintage Thingies Thursday, and Apron Thrift Girl.