A Vintage Mechanical Santa

Today I wrapped the Christmas presents for my granddaughter Tiffany and her family and took them to the post office where they will be delivered to them in California.

The Christmases Past Shutterfly album that was supposed to be a gift never happened due to a technical issue with Shutterfly, but Tiffany will get it eventually.  Instead, she and her husband got a gift card to Outback Steak House.  Evie got LEGO Gingerbread ornaments and a DVD of the The Best Christmas Pageant Ever from the 1983 TV movie.  And Juliette got her first watch - a Disney time teacher featuring Elsa from the movie Frozen.

When my daughter was recently in California for Thanksgiving, Tiffany reminisced about the vintage mechanical Santa I used to put under the Christmas tree when she and her siblings were younger.  She asked her mom if she thought I would give her the Santa.  The Santa is over 60 years old because my mom used to put him under her Christmas tree before passing him on to me. When he's wound up he rings the bell in his hand.  He's still in his original box and looks pretty good for his age.

Here's a picture of grandson, Brandon, [Tiffany's older brother] holding the Santa in 2002. All the kids loved him.

When my daughter told me about Tiffany's wish to have the Santa, I said, of course.  He's been tucked away in a tote of old ornaments and decorations and hasn't been under my Christmas tree for a few years now.  I figured it was time to pass him on to a new generation, and retrieved him from the tote in the basement and packed him in the box with their gifts today. It will be a nice surprise when she opens the postal box.

Here's to many more years of Santa ringing his bell in his new home!

Do you have vintage Christmas toys or decorations that have been in your family for many years?   My hubby gave his childhood train set to our youngest son who now displays it under his Christmas tree.

The train was a Christmas present to my hubby and his younger brother when they were kids.  They made an agreement that the first one to have a son would get the train, so my hubby got it.  We displayed it under our Christmas tree for several years and my hubby told our two boys the first one to have a son would get it.  So the train went to Jeremy and it's still in good working condition after all these years.

[Jerry and Jeremy]

Christmas Happenings

Children make Christmas special.  Yesterday was our Children's Christmas program at church which was enjoyed by all.  Granddaughter Brooke was one of the readers.

After church a group of long-time friends went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch.  My girlfriend, Lori, was the photographer so she's not in the picture.

One of the sweet ladies at the end of the table [left side], gave each of us a jar of her homemade Strawberry Jam beautifully decorated for Christmas.

When we got home, my hubby put up the Christmas tree.  It's not decorated yet, but at least it's up!

Today he and I went to The Whitney to wrap teacup favors for the December 21st Christmas Tea.   He cut the pieces of cellophane, then I wrapped the teacups with them.  We got one case done [24].  Four more cases to go!

Each guest will get a half oz. package of our signature Mistletoe Kiss black tea tucked inside their teacup favor.

A Great Movie

I had been hearing great things about the movie, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, so Wednesday afternoon [at a 3:30 showing], my hubby and I went to see it.

The 2024 family comedy is rated PG and opened in theaters on November 8th.  It's a faith-based film made from the classic children's book [of the same name] written by Barbara Robinson, published in 1972, and now enjoying a #1 rating on the New York Times Bestseller. Without giving away any spoilers I'll just say the rowdy six Herdman siblings have a reputation for being the worst kids in the world, and chaos erupts when they take over the local church Christmas pageant.

The film is 1 hour and 39 minutes long and was directed by Dallas Jenkins, director of The Chosen series.  It was made into an hour-long TV movie in 1983 and I ordered that DVD for one of my great-grandaughter's Christmas presents.

If you go watch it, take Kleenex as it will tug on your heartstrings.  It's SO good and I highly recommend it because it's a powerful reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.

If you go watch it, or if you already have, please leave a comment.

First Christmas Luncheon of 2024

This post was almost finished [with the exception of the last photo] last Tuesday night [Dec. 3rd] when my computer froze and wouldn't allow me to finish. Ug!!!  I thought my computer had died - or was in very critical condition - so I called my IT guy.  He had me take the tower to his house, and thankfully he called this afternoon saying he was able to repair it.  Somehow, the Google program became corrupted.  Go figure!  Anyway, I immediately picked up the tower, and I'm up and running again.  Here is the post, better late than never.

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I drove to the area where I grew up today to have our annual Christmas lunch with six girls that I went to high school with.  We've been doing this a long time - I have pictures going back to 2011.  Things change over the years - one of the girls moved to Florida, another passed away but we're all grateful we've maintained our friendship for over 60 years.  Three of the gals have become widowed - one as recently as this year so Christmas for her is bittersweet.

[Deidre, Linda & Birdie]

[Sandy, Charlene & Peggy]

We exchanged small gifts after we ate.

I left home with a shopping bag of gifts to exchange and returned home with a shopping bag of gifts received.

My gift to each of the girls was a tin of seven-layer bar cookies and a gift package of hand sanitizer and handcream fom Bath & Body Works.  In return I received an assortment of edible goodies, a candle, a bottle of White Barn foaming hand soap and Lavender & Vanilla body mist, but the best gift of all is their friendship.

Thanksgivng Day Review

It's been a busy few days around my house and I haven't had a chance to write a blog post until now.  I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

I cooked and baked all day Wednesday and part of Thursday until it was time to take everything to our son Steve's house.  My daughter-in-law, Sharon, made some yummy side dishes [corn pudding, cheesy potatoes and strawberry pretzel jello salad] to go with the turkey, dressing, homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and rolls that I made.  We sat down to eat around 3:00 p.m.  As you can see, there was a bounty of food and no body left the table hungry.

We had a smaller group this year.  Our daughter and son-in-law were in California visiting our grandaughter Tiffany and family, and granddaughter Brianna just started a new job in Nashville so she couldn't make it home for Thanksgiving this year.  Steve invited a young man from church to have dinner with us since he didn't have any family to share Thanksgiving with.

Our son Jeremy and family joined us shortly after we ate.  They came from our daughter-in-law's family's gathering.  While the guys watched football, Sharon got out two totes of family pictures for us to look at.  You don't realize how quickly time has passed until you look at photographs.  My hubby likes to take impromptu shots, hence the 'deer in the headlights' expression on my face!

~ Daughter-in-law Samantha and granddaughter Izzy ~

~ Daughter-in-law Sharon and mother, Sheena ~ 

~ Steve and Jeremy ~

~ Grandson Landon and Jeremy ~

Granddaughter Ellie - Another one of Jerrys impromptu shots!

~ Granddaughter, Brooke, with her cat, Gus ~

After we looked at pictures and allowed our dinner to settle, it was time for dessert.  Our daughter is usually the pie maker but since she was in California the dessert making fell to me.  I made an Apple Crisp in a 9 x 13 dish and Pumpkin Squares [pumpkin pie filling on a baked crust also in a 9 x 13 dish].  

My family loves to play games, so after dessert the games began.  My hubby and I were the first to leave around 8:30 p.m. because I had to get up early yesterday morning to go to work. It was a very enjoyable day with much to be thankful for.

Today was a work day for me as well, so I'm enjoying a quiet evening at home with no work or responsibilities tomorrow except for church.

How did you spend Thanksgiving?

Toy Soldiers and Nutcrackers

My hubby and I took our daughter and son-in-law to Detroit Metro Airport on Sunday for their trip to California.  The passenger drop-off area for departing flights at McNamara Terminal was decorated with Toy Soldiers.  So cute for the Christmas Season.  

I made a quick stop in a Dollar General store looking for candy/cookie tins for Christmas gift giving, and saw the cutest cloth Nutcracker napkins - a package of 4 for only $3 made in India. I couldn't resist and bought three packages.  

I love toy soldiers, nutcrackers and anything associated with the Nutcracker Ballet.  

Harney & Sons have a Nutcracker Blend that's a black tea with chocolate, almond and hazelnut flavors for $16.96 plus shipping.  It's their newest holiday blend and it comes in the cutest tin filled with 30 sachets. I've just ordered two tins - one for me and one for a gift.

And I just discovered Reese's has peanut butter Nutcracker candy.  How fun!

Tomorrow will be a food prep day for me getting ready for our family's Thanksgiving dinner.  I wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving as we reflect on our many blessings.

Books

My posts are few and far between these days, but I wanted to let you know I'm alive and well. I've been busy scanning photos for another Shutterfly photo book for my married granddaughter's Christmas present.  She's 33 years old and it wasn't until 2006 that I began taking digital pictures, so that's 15 years of pictures to scan and edit after sorting through all my pictures deciding which ones to use.  It's been a huge, time consuming project, but a wonderful nostalgic walk down memory lane and I know she will appreciate it.

Below is a screen shot of the cover taken from my Shutterfly project page.  I'm hoping I can finish the book tonight.  She was born in 1991 but we only took movies that Christmas. ;-(  I'm going to see if photo prints can be made from movies, but even if it's possible they won't be done in time to go in this book.  

I went into Walgreens this afternoon to have some photo prints made and a book in the photo department caught my eye.  I'm a sucker for books especially ones pertaining to history, so this $23.99 book came home with me.  I can hardly wait to sit down with it with a cup of tea in hand.

It has a chapter on Shopping in Detroit [which, of course, includes J.L. Hudson's], The Thanksgiving Parade, Christmas Cards [before emails, texts and the high cost of postage], Holiday Food and Cooking in Detroit, and so much more.

It almost takes my breath away to realize Christmas is only 35 days away.  So far I've only purchased two gifts so I need to get busy.  Have you started you Christmas shopping yet?

Mediterranean Dining

Yesterday I drove to the area where I grew up to have lunch with some of the gals I went to high school with.  They choose a different restaurant each month and this month was Olga's Kitchen [a Mediterranean chain restaurant].  I like Shawarma Chicken so ordered that in a pita wrap with curly fries. Yum!  It was enjoyable visiting with them and getting caught up on their news and other classmates.  We are at the age where deaths among classmates is more frequent.  So grateful for the blessing of health.

When I left there I made my hour-long journey back home and stopped at the bakery to pick up a birthday cake for my hubby.  His odometer officially rolled over to #78 today and our grandson turned 16.

We met our daughter and son-in-law at another Mediterranean restaurant [Ike's] at 5:30 for Lebanese food.  They serve the best warm rolls with hummus. I ate the lemon lentil soup and Greek salad that came with my entree but brought a take-out container home with the rest of the meal and had it for lunch today.   I did, however, save room for cake!  ;-)

He declared it was a good birthday with much to be thankful for and now he begins a new year.  We were sorry we couldn't celebrate with Landon but we will see him at Thanksgiving.

A Busy Weekend

Happy Veteran's Day! 

Yesterday, following morning worship service at church, we went with our son to Veterans Tribute Park in Oakland Township for a ceremony honoring veterans.  It's a beautiful park established in 2018. The rain stopped long enough for the observance ceremony that began at 1:00 p.m.

We arrived early so were able to get some pictures.  Below is my hubby standing in front of the Air Force monument, the branch of armed forces he served in from 1966-1969.

Dave Sokol, who serves on the Board of Directors for the park, attends our church.  A West Point alumni, he opened the ceremony by welcoming everyone.

A soloist sang "God Bless America."

Our son, Steve, said a few words about the significance of Veterans Day and offered a prayer of gratitude and God's protection.

The event was well attended in spite of the inclement weather.

After the ceremony, we joined Steve's family at P.F. Chang's for a birthday dinner for my hubby.   His birthday is actually tomorrow, the 12th, but we celebrated early with them.

Last Friday night was a gathering of a different nature with four of my maternal first cousins. I'm the oldest surviving female cousin [two are deceased] and several of the younger cousins couldn't make it.  Two who share my birth year but are a few months younger live in California - a bit too far to attend. I took lots of nostalgic pictures to look at and we had lots of fun reminiscing.  My mother was one of seven children, all deceased now.

The two gals standing next to me are sisters, and the two gals seated are also sisters.  I hadn't seen my cousin, Sylvia [bottom right], since 1989 - 35 years, yikes, that was a long time!  We said we wouldn't wait that long in the future!  ;-)

[Tammy, Mary Lou & Sylvia]

[Cindy and Me]

They felt I resembled my mom, and the older I get the more I can see my mom in my pictures.

It was a very enjoyable weekend.