It's that Merry Time of Year Again!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The holiday season is upon us and I want to share some of the special memories I have of  years gone by as I hang the decorations upon my Christmas Tree this year.

My newest Ornament. my daughter Elizabeth sent it to me for my 1st Christmas in Tennessee so I could remember what a REAL winter looks like. LOL like I could ever forget. I love it! it has a opening in the back that I can put a light thru. I choose a blue light and I think it does it justice. — @ My New home in East Tennessee

This little Santa hat is an Ornament a  made by my son Raymond Jr. when he was in kindergarten. It originally topped a baby food jar that had Santa's face painted on it. The Jar broke long ago but the hat has survived. I have replaced the white cotton on the hat over the years and it looks that it needs to be replaced again.

This is one of my oldest Ornaments. A filigree Star that was purchased in the early 1960's at Gimbles in downtown NYC were my husband and I bought our 1st Artificial Tree there. It was in a set of 3 or more, the star, a box, and elongated Ornament that has lost half of itself.. ( you can see it by the Santa Hat in the Picture above.)

This Angel was given to me as a gift for mother's day from my daughter Nancy, Over the years her hands broke off and I did keep them but they seem to get misplaced, (one day I do plan to glue them back on the angel but I haven't found them yet!) Eventually the Angel became an ornament on my Christmas tree.

The Ballerina was bought in Minnesota at the Minneapolis Theater when I took the kids to see the "Nutcracker Ballet", the Blown Glass Ornament I bought at the Glass Factory downtown Hudson WI the Christmas after I had moved there and the White Angel is another of my older Ornaments from the Gimbles Era.  I love seeing these on my tree.  

the Royal Dalton Ceramic Santa I bought at an outlet mall in Florida when I spent a week there with my friend Deb in 2010  It is one of 3 Ornaments I have that matches my China

Earl gave me this Carved Santa with Toys the year he moved back up to Minnesota from Iowa.  I reminds me of my father who loved this time of year and spent his retirement playing Santa at Playtogs in Middletown NY and for the Mall in St Paul MN when he moved there to live with us... 

Christmas Eve 2013

It is Christmas Eve.  I am sitting here at my computer writing this blog, drinking hot chocolate & listening to Christmas Carols.  The weather outside is Frightful a full 10 degrees, windy and snowing.  A winter storm has started and should last all night with wind chill in the - 0's.  Brrrrrr. I tried to lay down for a short nap earlier but had to get up because my hands were so cold.  I put the electric heater on in my home because it was getting a bit cold inside because of the - 0 wind chills here today.  I have been finishing up so last minuet projects and decorating my tree then I
plan to watch more Christmas shows on TV for the Evening.  Earlier in the day it was sunny but very cold, now it is grey and snowy.  tomorrow is Christmas day and I can't wait to see my family.  We are meeting at Nancy's for Dinner.  The weather will be a bit warmer and the snow should stop around midnight tonight.  Merry Christmas all. 

My Pintrest Morning

I awoke early this am and was checking my e-mails on my tablet as I usually do before getting out of bed.  I pursued over to my Pintrest emails of new people following my boards an repining from them and came across some cleaning ideas for my home.  Intriguing  as it was, cleaning my home with green products - making febreze, windex and orange spray for cleaning.  Wow TOTALY cool and inexpensive.  So my next trip to the store will have some new ingredients on it for helping me keep my home clean and smelling fresh and keeping some $ in my pocket doing it.  Saving $ is always a bonus for me since I am now retired and on a limited budget.  I pinned some of these Ideas on my Pintrest Board, "For The Home" to share with my readers and especially with my grown kids.  Boy where was Pintrest when I was a young housewife. 

OK now I am going grab some cereal and coffee to start my day.  Maybe do a little Christmas Decorating or fixing Cookies for the Holidays. and then to quilt and finish up some blocks I have been working on.
 
My Shopping List:
Baking Soda, White Vinegar - (I already keep a gallon on hand), White Ammonia, Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol, Hydrogen Peroxide, Biz, Borax, Dawn Dishwashing Liquid, ect.

I also came across some nifty blogs all about cleaning;

• The Quick and the Hungry
• Fake it Frugal
• Apartment Therapy 

These are just a few so if you head over to my Pintrest board you can find more.  Enjoy!