MERRY CHRISTMAS

From our house to yours --- have a joyous Christmas.

DISH ADDICT CHRISTMAS

Today's the day at the Have a Daily Cup blog for a dish addict's Christmas.  Check it out for a plethora of Christmas with dishes.

I'm definitely a dish addict ---- it's in my genes, as I'm the fourth generation of family women that has collected dishware.  And, being the oldest granddaughter, you can imagine the amount I have inherited.  Add to that the damage I have done buying my own collections.

So,  I can't just put the dishes away to bring out the Christmas decorations ---- I have to just incorporate them.

Since we don't have a fireplace, this dish cupboard does double duty as a mantel.  I love some of my brown transferware to serve as a backdrop to the usual Christmas swag.

My theory is fill anything with pine cones and you have Christmas!

My favorite vintage family ornaments look great in my Great Grandmother's wash basin.

Red transferware is also a nice background for Christmas goodness.

What a novel idea --- using dishes for Christmas dinner ---

 Thank you to my mother, Grandmothers Haines and Billingslea, and Great Grandmother DeLong for entrusting me with their dishes.  I never have to look far for vessels when hosting a Christmas party!

If you look very closely in my house, you might even spy some dishes from a mini-world!

Thanks for visiting my Christmas home overrun with dishes.  

Please check out Jann Olson's blog for more fanatics.

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES THROUGH A CHARM BRACELET

For Christmas, when I was a first grader, my parents started a charm bracelet for me.  One of the first charms I received were the scissors -- how did they know I would spend every spare moment in my life sewing with scissors by my side?

On Christmases and birthdays, my folks continued to add charms.

The first Christmas we were married, Bob gave me this Christmas wreath.

On my 24th birthday, we bought our first house and he gave me this charm to go with it!  We spent the whole month refinishing floors, painting, etc. getting the house ready to entertain family for Christmas.

The week before Christmas 1966 we moved, sight unseen, to the wilds of Montana.  It has been the only time in 60 Christmases that it has been just the two of us to celebrate without family around.

Over the years, there have been many more milestones documented on the bracelet --- births of the children, grandchildren, and memorable adventures such as the trip we took to Europe to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.

Yes, my life has been charmed.  God has blessed us abundantly.

And, I'm thankful.

Have a joyous Christmas.

I'm joining Ceceila from My Thrift Store Addiction to celebrate a romantic Christmas, a part of Jann Olsen's "Creating Christmas" series.

HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS

One of my favorite bloggers is hosting with her friends a week long party of Christmas goodness.  Check out Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson for the schedule of "Creating Christmas".  Tuesday, December 12 has been designated 'Homemade Christmas'.

I've always been a sewer and a wanna-be crafter, so homemade is a natural.  Back in my day in my small hometown, we didn't have kindergarten so I've never been very proficient with glue and glitter even though I try.  But, I can sew up most anything.

Several years ago my friend, Jan, and I teamed up together to make about a dozen of these homemade Santas as gifts for our friends in our Wednesday Morning coffee/quilting group.

Jan made the faces and bodies and I made the clothes.  This is still one of my favorites, as he just looks like the Santas of my childhood.

Handmade projects with memories attached are special.  This is an elf that I made using buttons from three of my grandmothers' button boxes.

Another handmade project for me has been the knitted stockings ---- started in 1958 on our first married Christmas.  I knitted the one on the far right for Bob that Christmas, and continued as family members were added.  The last one I did was for grandson, Wyatt (on the far left), who was born in 2002.  

  Now, I'm just waiting for those great grandchildren to come along!!

And what is Christmas without those wonderful handmade Christmas projects of preschoolers?  They are the best!

Homes filled with handmade Christmas are real blessings to visit, and are just meant to be shared!

Go over to Carol's Art and Sand and share your favorite handmade Christmas on Tuesday.