What I have been doing

After Christmas and all the holiday decorations are put away I like to move things around in my house. I display some special snow people, but I also like to move furniture from room to room. It is fun and the cost is free. Since my belongings all seem to go together it is easy to mix and match up the rooms.

My biggest rearranging was the bedroom. I am enjoying the warmth of the room for the winter months and come spring and summer I will go back to the lighter look.

I hope everyone is well. We are having dreary weather, cold and rain. My son goes back to school on Saturday and after a few days of adjusting to not having him home I want to start working on my dolls again. The time has flown by during his visit, next time we see him will be in May for graduation, and I not only get to see him I get to go back to Vermont! This spring will more than likely be our last trip up that far North. I will miss that very, very much.

The doll show will be coming up and I want to enter a couple of them there, last year three of them won ribbons, so it is something to look forward to. If they do not win I still have the fun of looking at all the old dolls, and maybe this year the old Volland Raggedy Ann will be there again. I brought my camera last year but the dealer did not bring her, I wanted to take a picture of her! Do you think maybe I can talk my dear hubby into buying her for me if she is there? I doubt it :(, but if she is there it will be fun to hold her again!

This is a photo of one of my snowmen along with a vase my daughter in law gave me a few Christmases back, I sometime float candles in it, or put one large candle in it or else I can add winter greenery and when my daughter brings me my red winter tulips I put them in there. It functions in many fun ways.

Wishing everyone a great day!

Two Little Bears

I found these two little bears at a grocery store about 8 years ago, maybe longer, and I had to buy them! They are handmade and they are from the Mayfaire Bears Collection. They normally live in my antique toys cabinet in the hallway upstairs, but I brought them down to enjoy the holidays with some new friends.

I do not normally display my snowmen in December. I usually bring them out in January, but this year I bought some new ones at my favorite place, Home Goods. So, I broke tradition and I am using some of them now, they are more for Christmas display.

These little bears are displayed in the front hall with a snowman on a sled holding a bear and bringing home the Christmas tree.

What makes these little bears extra special for me is that my father's middle name was Seth and he was in the Navy, the little Sailor Bear is named Seth! My mother's name was Beatrice and the little bear in the red/white nightgown is named Beatrice. As my mother got older she had to wear special support stockings, she had a hard time putting them on and taking them off, she was very independent and did not like to ask for help, I would watch her as she struggled to do it by herself when I cared for her, and she always got them on by herself! The little Beatrice bear is tugging on a white sock, trying to pull it off! When I saw them I could not believe it, so they had to come home with me! They make me smile when I look at them.

Snow*People Fun

Yesterday I told you all about my adventure in mouse-land. This was a big clean up job, I lost count of how many trips up/down the basement steps, out the door and to the dumpster in the driveway I had to make. After all the disinfecting came the cleaning and then the organizing. Now everything has a special "spot", I have Christmas Corner, Halloween/Autumn area, Easter/Spring and an area for my children's old toys, all of those items were spared! I am happy to say that my basement storage area is now completed.

Today I did more organizing, but this time it was fun. I have a large collection of Snow*People and I am happy to say I did not have to throw out too many of them. I also have a large collection of Santas. I do not display all of my collections at one time, I change them out year to year and add to my collection every year. I use my Santas in December and after Christmas I bring out my Snow*People. I do use some of my Snow*People in December. What I did today was bring up the ones I plan on using this year. My fabric Santa sitting on the shelf I made 3 years ago and I leave him in the cabinet all the time, he is the first Santa I bring out. You can see a sparkling Santa, he is new this year, from Home Goods. I hope to bring up my Santas before I leave for Vermont on Wednesday. I want to have everything ready to start my holiday decorating when we come home. For now they are happy to be living in my mother's armoire in my living room. I will enjoy displaying them around my home for the holiday season, I love to decorate for Christmas, heck, I just love to decorate!

Martha