Thrift store fines and snow...

Hello, dear friends, after whining like a big baby this morning about not being able to find what I wanted at Wally World, I decided to pull on my big girl pants and just go out there and hurt for what I needed some where else...after all Wally World isn't the only store in the world..well... around here it almost is. But I dressed in my warmest clothes, after all this is Mississippi in Dec and we can expect any kind of weather..hey I'm not crazy, it's snowing right now as I type..of course it will probably be melted by noon tomorrow and temps back up to the 60-70s. what can I say, nothing is what it used to be.

 looking out my back door...

Dear Hubby and I decided to go find a nice Christmas tree, but first we went to his favorite BBQ House and ate lunch..I actually got to eat a nice green salad and 1 piece of smoked chicken...it was so good..hummm, boy do I miss food like that, wonder if I could....oh, anyhow I digress...after we finished eating we stopped by the Market Basket, a nice fresh Fruit and Veggie store that also has pumpkins at Halloween and CHRISTMAS trees at Christmas, we picked out a nice 6 1/2 ft. Blue Spruce.. Sorry I didn't think to take my camera, after all it was cold and looked like rain or snow any minute.
I took DH and tree home and headed to the Beauty shop after which I hit town, I just knew Venders, would have Nativity scenes since it is a store for handcrafted items...well doodoo, wrong, no Nativity sets there...oh man, this is not looking good. So back to the car and headed 4 blocks all the way across town to the Thrift Store ...Jack pot...well almost, no barn, but I did find several great items to use in my Christmas decorations....
This first picture is of a figurine of Mary Joseph and the baby Jesus lamp...I got this for $2.00 and it works perfectly...I thought it was so elegant and sheek...

I set DH's first Bible on a plate stand open to the Christmas story in Matthew, I just love the beautiful pictures in this old Bible, the picture of the Nativity is just amazing...

Next I found this pretty white, candle/candy holder it looks like fine china but it really isn't, but I loved the Angels in the round on it...I got this for only $1.00....I have a feeling it will be in my Christmas decorations for years to come....

I am going to use it to hold candy canes, my Grands love these and I can't keep them, I used to put them on the tree, but they were constantly knocking ornies off trying to get one...so into a dish they go...

I placed it on the coffee table...I am always tweeking my arrangements...I have added one of my favorite Stanas in the silver tray with Mom's glass jar of ornies.. The little Chior boy in front is the last one left out of a set of 12 Mom had since the early 40's.  The snowman gourd was painted by a dear friend in North MS. Tammy...also under the tiny glass dome is a Santa figurine holding a baseball bat that I bought for Keifer the first year he played T-Ball.

better view of the little Chior Boy and Santa under glass....

Well, I was just as happy as I could be finding the first 2 treasures so I paid, wished everyone a Merry CHRISTmas and headed to the door, as I was passing a cabinet full of cut glass dishes I spied a glass dome sticking up and lordy look what I found.. I just had to have it and at a meer $4.00 for both pieces I think I got a bargin, I think my Christmas Santa mice salt and pepper shakers look so good displayed inside it...

still need to add some pine or holly to give it that extra opffff and maybe even a bow...well, laying right beside the dome and it's plate was another fabulous cut glass plate with a tiny little handle on it, I had never seen one like it, so of course I had to have it...not sure yet what I'm going to do with it, but for $2.00, I'm sure I'll find a good use for it some where...

OK, after all my looking I still didn't find a barn for my set, but DH told me if I'd stop whining like a spoiled brat he'd make me one, well now why didn't he say that in the first place and he would have save me and him alot of misery...lol..But it still doesn't change the fact that in our small town finding a nativity scene is like finding hens teeth, impossible and it is such a shame....

Hope you all have a happy, blessed and snow free week-end... Brrr, baby it's cold outside...

Get R Done Friday

It's time again for Get-R-Done Friday over at ClassyChassy, so be sure and go by and check out the other great projects and tell Classy thanks for hosting this for us.

As you know this is the first week of Dec and most everyone is decorating for our special Holiday coming up on the 25th. Christmas means different things to different people, some celebrate the Reason for the Season, the birth of Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior and some simply enjoy the fun and festivities of the Jolly Fat Man who slides down the Chimney and leaves toys for all good little girls and boy. 

I love Christmas, Christmas holds alot of good memories and a lot of sad memories for me, my Momma gave us the best Christmas she could every year, it was filled with love and we were always taught that the reason for the season was to Celebrate Jesus' Birthday. We didn't recieve tons of expensive gifts like the kids do today....I have been guilty of over doing also, wanting my kids to have more than I did, but now as I look back I see I actually had more than they do, money can't buy everything, like joy and understanding...the knowledge of what the season is really about.

Many believe that it is wrong to let children believe the "lie" that there is a Santa, that he takes away from the real meaning, but we were always taught that first and foremost it is to remember Jesus' birth, but just as the Wise Men brought gifts to our Lord, so Santa is God's way of sending gifts to his Children...as a child it made good sense to me and even now I love having both, do I believe in Santa, yes, I believe in the spirit of love and sharing. I believe in God's love for us, didn't he give us the greatest gift of all, that first Christmas over 2000, years ago.

I guess you are saying what has all of this got to do with my Get R Done project this week, well it is more like didn't get her done, I needed to set up my most valued Nativity Scene, it is always the first item to be set up, I have owned this set for over 40 yrs and the manger just fell apart last year so when I stored it I threw the old barn away, planning on buying a new one this year...isn't it beautiful?

How wrong I was, I was just heart broken when I went to our local Wal-Mart to buy a new barn and I discoveried that not only didn't they have a barn, they had no Nativity figurines, I took a walk through the whole Christmas department and there was nothing in the store that let you know it was the holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus, no wraping paper with the beautiful night scenes of the shepards or WiseMen coming to the manger following the Star, no bags, no cards, no nothing...how did this happen, when did it become only Santas day. So DH will have to make me a barn, until then this is one Get R Done project that won't get done, it will set proudly on my buffet as is.

I did get the bow made for the top of my Precious Moments Bear Nativity Scene

This is one of my favorite figurines, I painted it 30 yrs ago and just love the meaning of it, Santa worshipping the Baby Jesus..giving honor to the true meaning of Christmas

I painted this Santa boot in 1978, I have it setting on my kitchen table filled with silk poinsettas.

I arranged just a few of my special Santas on the buffett, I decided not to unpack my 100s of Santas this year. The tall fellow in the back is a cyprus knee I painted in the 80s, I also painted the 2 bottle. I love my picture of the Santa and Dove I did about 15 yrs ago.

 This is my Rolly Polly Santa I paint several years ago when I was into ceramics, I placed it underglass and added a pine wreath around him.

This is a gourd Santa that I painted many years ago for a craft show, it didn't sell so I brought it home added the base that DH made and a fake Cristmas tree and fell in love with it, so I decided to keep it...Santa's making his list and checking it twice...lol...

These are just a few of the Get R Dones I did while decorating this week, next the Christmas tree, got to get DH to go with me to buy it, I decided the fake tree has to go, I want a real one this year.

Vintage Thingie Thursday

This week I am showing more of my silver collection that I bought off EBay several years ago, when I was buying some extra pieces for my Mom's silver set..
The first set is a service of oyster forks, I polished them before taking pictures but left one tarnished so you could get a look at how dirty they were when I got them...you can click on pictures to make them larger...

I bid on these and got them for $5.00, can you believe it...

this is another set of odds and ends that I bid on and won, I believe the whole 12 piece set cost $14.97 plus shipping...I have taken pictures of several of the prettiest ones...

just love the work on this sugar spoon

and this meat fork is so very elegant..

 really like this cheese cutter,,,it works great...

I'm not sure but think this is a grapefruit spoon...

.and last is a set of beautiful silver butter knives I bought as a set and silver saving pouch for only $4.50.

I keep them polished and in the pouch, have never used them...

HOPE YOU ENJOYED MY VINTAGE THINGIES! SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!

FOR MORE WONDERFUL VINTAGE THINGIES VISIT COLORADO LADY

laying up stores for the Winter...another sign of a bad winter

Sat morning while setting at the window drinking coffee and watching the sun rise, this is a little of what I saw, I have a 1 acre front yard and I counted 10 squirrels running around the front at a break neck pace. I have never seen them scurry like this before, it was hard to get pictures....

This little one has an acron in his mouth...

Checking to see if anyone was watching...

Then he buries it...

tried to get more in picture but they kept moving...

got to hide these...hummm, but where

scurrying around

What where they digging for.....

got to get them while they last, hurry, hurry, hurry

I got out after they went away and blow the leaves away and this is what I found..an acorn carpet, always a sign of a bad Winter..

You can click on photo to enlarge them to see better...

Maybe we should copy the Animals and store up food for the winter.

It is cold and wet here this morning, stay warm y'all.

This is my favorite time of year....

Christmas is my favorite time of the year, I love the bright greens, reds and whites...I am a traditional type of Christmas gal...Santas are my favorite...but I always have my Nativity scene to honor our real reason for Christmas...

I have started putting out my decorations this morning, I'd love to get my outside and tree decorated but with the rain here to stay for awhile, looks like those will have to wait. I decided this year to cut my decorations in 1/2, usually I put out so very much, and it seems over cluttered, but this year I decided to do the minimal thing....The first picture is how I display the glass ornaments I got from My Mom...

I placed them in a very large clear covered canister and put an 10" pine wreath around the bottom and then placed the whole thing on a sliver tray...I also added a few picks to give it a little color and put the arrangement on my coffee table...

on each end of the truck/coffee table I placed i Santa item on the left is a small punch bowl I did in ceramics about 14 yrs ago and filled it with candies for the Holidays..on the other side is a clear Santa jar filled with green and red gummy bears.

a view of the small living room from the den end of the room..still have a few little touches to add,

this is a very mini bear Nativity set my SIL got me in Gatlinburg 25 yrs ago..I put it under glass to make it stand out, still need to put bow on top...you can click on pictures for a better look...
Will be showing more as I finish...

MERRY CHRISTMAS