• Still frigid here. Between the massive amount of snow we got on December 1-2, the snowfalls that have turned into sleet and ice, and the now frigid weather, we feel like we’ve been through a long winter already, yet winter doesn’t even start until today! It’s surreal. Tomorrow is the day we’re looking forward to. 45 degrees. The ice that has been here all week will finally start to melt. The good news is that the predicted sleet and freezing rain for Monday has disappeared from the forecast. Thank goodness!
• I felt much better yesterday. Today, not so good. And so it goes with a cold, right? I just have to be patient (not my strong point.)
• We watched White Christmas last night. I love that movie. It was the first of our list of holiday movies that will take us through Christmas Eve. That scene in the inn when Dean Jagger comes into the room in his old uniform and we hear “Ten-hut!” and all of the soldiers start to sing “We’ll follow the old man, wherever he wants to go…” makes me cry every time I see it.
• In the mail yesterday:
Starbush Santa – the Vintage by Crystal creation that I snagged in her latest blog sale. As always, her work is exquisite. How she comes up with so many different creations every year, every holiday, I don’t know. But I am and will always be a huge fan of her work.
• And a screenshot from a Little Z video sent to us this week. He likes to tell us jokes and was just about to launch into one when I inadvertently took this shot (I’m glad I did.)
He’s so beautiful. And funny, and incredibly smart, and a pistol! We are in love with that boy.
• I’ve started reading The Seine; the River that Made Paris. I’ve been missing Paris lately so it seemed like the perfect time to read it.
Happy Saturday.
I think when we choose to live in this area of the country we need to do our best to enjoy each season
There is a joy in every season we just need to look for it
I thank God every day I am now retired and he meets my needs
We are two people who express gratitude daily. For our life, for our home, for our blessings and for the seasons.
That being said, navigating winter is hard, especially where we live. And that’s just a fact! Especially when we’re sick.
Thanks, Linda.
I hope the weather turns soon and your cold melts away too! Never easy to deal with Winter when you’re not feeling 100%.
Yesterday as we drove in the Big City, I was wishing vocally that we would get more white stuff for Christmas. We had snow a few weeks ago, then it warmed up, so it all turned to slush and mud and it’s very dirty looking. Not Christmacy at all! But we just woke up and outside our window is big fluffy flakes falling from the sky. Now it’s the season!
Wishing you a warm day .
X Chy
So glad you’re getting big beautiful snow flakes. My favorite kind of snow, Chy. Our Christmas will not be a white Christmas as the snow and ice will have melted. But I’m not complaining! Thanks, Chy.
Chy, our bookkeeper at work remarked only yesterday that it would be nice to have some fresh snow in time for Christmas. With all the messy slush and ice melt, it seemed like endless floor washing this past week! Right now it looks like a snow globe outside here in St AB – so pretty. Happy holidays to you!
Barbara, I was so happy to wake up to fresh snow out here in Strathcona County. And today waking up to blue sky and sun is even better. Now it feels more mike Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you!
X Chy
I have that book in my stack. Will I ever get through the stack?
Lucky you, snagging that Father Christmas. By the time I got home from the dentist pretty much everything was gone. I was lucky to get a Christmas girl early (TG sale) so thanks for introducing me to Crystal. I now have six of her creations. By the time we get to Valentine’s Day I might be able to get through the year!
White Christmas is hands-down my favorite Christmas movie and I cry in that exact same spot. A few years ago we saw he Broadway tour and while it was fun and good, they messed things up, changed some characters and all and it messed with my mind so much I had to have an attitude adjustment to fully enjoy it. I view messing with White Christmas akin to what you feel about your new dollhouse. You can make a few upgrades but don’t destroy the original!
Glad you have seen a bit of light in the tunnel of The COLD. Hope that continues!
My biggest complaint about musicals that are remakes of movie musicals is that they don’t get it right more often than not. Why they feel they can improve on a classic, I don’t know. But I’ve seen it happen time and again!
Thanks, Jeanie!
Good name for that ‘Starbush’ guy from Crystal – how charming! Love that Santa face she puts on her Santas.
Speaking of charming – young boys with beautiful eyelashes. Certainly a beautiful boy is your nephew.
May you get a reprieve soon from all that ails you.
Best-
That boy is just gorgeous. Everyone who meets him falls in love with him. Thanks, Martha!
I’m happy to hear your weather is going to change for you…for the better. It was 40 something here yesterday, and it felt like Spring! We are not going to have a white Christmas…but it will be better road conditions for holiday travelers. Guess I’ll have to get my White Christmas on dvd.
I like Starbush Santa…he’ll fit in nicely with your others from Crystal. Perhaps, it’s time for you and Don to start planning your next trip to Paris?
I hope you feel better as the day wears on! ;)
Yes, we aren’t going to have one either. But after this month of snow and ice, I’m fine with that!
We always dream of our next trip to Paris – but we may have to wait a bit. Thanks, Donna!
Hope you’re on the mend soon. Your nephew is such a cutie. Winter Solstice is always a time of reflection for me, my Mother passed away on the 22nd December (and my father three months later) but I do like this time just before Christmas.
It snowed last Saturday but we have had such a wet year. Just a few hot days but probably less than a dozen. Not necessarily cold but certainly damp.
I was lucky enough to go to see the musical Gypsy a few days ago at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. It’s a theatre in the round and such innovative use of space. When the troupe were travelling across America, there was a model train circling the space between the balconies with a background of all the different landscapes of the States! Oh and about forty minutes in, the stage manager halted the show as one poor woman in the audience had passed our with a suspected heart attack in one of aisles where the cast would enter. Fortunately she was okay as staff called an ambulance. I was impressed how the cast and orchestra came back on stage after 15 minutes and took up exactly where they left off!
Hope your weather improves!
Happy Saturday
Actors are troopers, Dee Dee! We’ve all had to deal with stopping a performance. Glad to hear that woman is okay, as it must have been scary for her and for everyone around her. I love Gypsy. It’s a classic American musical with a great score. Happy you got a chance to see it! Thanks, Dee Dee!
I’m so glad you had a change in your forecast!! It is to be 48* here today and 50* tomorrow. It feels like the 1st day of Spring, and not the 1st day of Winter. It is the “shortest” day (light) of the year, but tomorrow begins the creep to the longest day in June. That part does make me quite happy.
Take care and have a nap, or at least a nice rest, today to help in the healing process. Reading is always a fine idea!!
Thank you, Chris!
Feel better, Claudia! White Christmas is in our stable of holiday movies. Has been for years. When my younger daughter was 3 or 4, she delighted in copying Donald O’Connor dance with the “lady pillow”, as she dubbed it. That mannequin with which he danced to “Make ‘me Laugh” has been known as the lady pillow ever since! Both daughters know the words to all the songs, and especially like re-enacting “Sisters” to much laughter as they swat each other with whatever they substituted for the ostrich fans!
Yes, I know many of us ‘sisters’ who love to sing that song! I hope your daughters still do that, Wendy. xo
Little Z steals the heart from just the very look of him; those beautiful eyes! He’s precious. What a wonderful thing for you both to have him in your lives.
OMG, so LOVE your new Crystal figure; he’s incredible; her work is incredible. Does he have a name? They’re so storybook!
Ah, the cold; the 3rd day seemed to always be my worst.
Can’t talk about my SoCalif weather when hearing about weather like yours; we’re to be rain all day tomorrow but, at the moment, we’re almost 70 degrees with partial sun; beautiful pink sunrise (“red sky at morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night is sailor’s delight”). Darn Santa Anas blew all day yesterday, all during the night and quite fierce around 7am although seem to now be SLOWLY dying in intensity.
We’re off to place Christmas flowers on the graves of our loved ones at the local cemetery. Five big bouquets. Dropping off the last of the holiday cards at the post office (which probably won’t make it to anybody by Tues.). Then we have to finish emptying an outdoor shed (a nice one, with two windows for cross-ventilation and light)…for a cat. Stray, not feral. He’s wormed his way into our hearts; took two years to get to the point where we could even pet or hold him; obviously long-time traumatized but certainly, at some younger point in his life, he belonged to a human. He’s old now. Can’t bear to think of him out at night, in cold and rain and what could still be a frost/freeze event even though I have multiple outdoor shelters for the others/ferals. So, it’s a lot back and forth to the car with all the boxes from the shed to the offsite storage facility although one good thing happened yesterday: My husband pulled out a box which should never have been in an outdoor space, which is a lot of decorations, just Christmas stuff in general and not particularly tree decorations, from my first family (childhood), some of which are handmade fabric dolls created by my mother. Believe me, I shed a tear. Putting it all out around me tomorrow when I’m inside, thru with errands, and cozy at home in the rain. Maybe I’ll finally finish decorating my tree tomorrow.
Is your pink-white bottlebrush tree in the photo a vintage one or a repro? Its pearl ornaments are so pretty! I love all the colors of a Christmas vignette. The pastels. I have enough for six trees and six themes, not kidding. A ridiculous amount of Christmas decor I need to keep whittling. But then also a ‘traditional’ theme with red & green; all so magical and fun.
Get better! Do you like Miracle on 34th Street with a young Natalie Wood? It remains my all-time fave. Black & white only; no colorized version!!
Also, were you ever into Little Women? I strangely never was, which I don’t admit to too many people! Have seen advertised all the versions on the channel line-up/TV upcoming but I’ve decided to just wait for Greta Gerwig’s new film which is getting rave reviews. I couldn’t ever really even get into the book, which was required reading. I don’t quite ‘get’ my disconnect.
His name was in the post – Starbush Santa. He’s lovely, isn’t he?
That tree is one I bought in an antique shop but I’m pretty sure it’s newer.
I like Miracle on 34th St, though I don’t think Don will want to watch it – but who knows?
I never read Little Women, nor have I seen any of the movie versions. I don’t know why, but I just wasn’t interested in the book or the movie. I’m not really interested in the new version either…
Thanks, Vicki!
Wow, glad to know it’s not just me who never read Little Women.
I say again, I’ve never watched It’s A Wonderful Life, Claudia. I see it on the channel line-up but I can’t make myself watch it. What’s wrong with me? Definitely childhood influence: Mother did NOT like this film; every time it would come on TV when I was growing up, she’d switch channels and say, “No, you don’t want to watch this.” It must have reminded her of something bad. Tell me why you like it so much? Give me an abbreviated version of one of your spot-on reviews.
You need to watch the movie. All I will say is the cast is brilliant – down to the extras – the story is timeless and powerful. There’s a lot of humor as well. And it’s directed by Frank Capra. FRANK CAPRA – my favorite director, who understood the human spirit. This movie is the Christmas favorite of millions and is on the AFI top 100 movies of all time list.
WATCH IT.
It looks like we will be having a warming trend next week I saw through Wednesday it will be in the forties. Enjoy your Christmas movies. We watched Christmas In Connecticut, The Bishop’s Wife and Its A wonderful Life. Next up is A Christmas Carol. We also like to watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. Wishing you and Don a Blessed and Merry Christmas and a Happy,Healthy 2020.
Marilyn ,Joan and Marion [my two sisters]
Merry Christmas to you, Marilyn, and to Joan and Marion as well. Enjoy your holiday! xoxo
Z’s dark brown eyes remind me of yours.
I think his are darker than mine – and those lashes!! I covet those lashes. Thanks, Kay!