Christmas memories of my dad

 

 Today, July 8, is my dad's birthday.  He would be 101 years old if he was still in this life, but he passed away a few years back at 94.  In the photo above, he is the handsome gent at far right.  I have mentioned him many times in my Christmas memories, for he played a large part in all that went on in that jolly season.  But I thought I would do another short post about him, since this is his birthday.

My kids remember my dad at Christmas sitting in his recliner, and reading a newspaper, or a new book he'd received as a Christmas gift.  He didn't seem to enter into the excitement of gifts given and received, but was just a little removed from it.  

The above photo is from 1979 and he has obviously just laid aside his reading material (I think I can see a book in the chair beside him).  He wore glasses only for reading, so it's pretty clear that's what he had just been doing.

In my younger years, though, my dad took a pretty active part at Christmas.  He and my mother often worked on handmade gifts together, and one of the best-loved, and most-used gifts of my childhood was a little plywood room made especially for Barbie or Jill dolls.  They covered the walls with floral contact paper, put a carpet scrap on the floor, added trim pieces to the windows, and so on.   

I also remember how he used to cheerfully make rounds on Christmas Eve in the family station wagon, usually with one or two children in tow, to deliver homemade goodies to our neighbors.  I've shared countless times about my mother's fabulous kitchen gifts for neighbors and friends: Christmas cookies, cinnamon swirl bread, maple fudge, and more.  Of course I'm sure that my dad came into his fair share of samples of all these goodies!

For many years he patiently waited while my mother examined the Christmas trees he and my brother cut from our family's wooded property.  Often they didn't make the grade and it was back to the woods to try again!

I've written an entire post concerning my dad's red Christmas vest.   I'm sort of surprised he's not wearing it in the 1979 photo, but maybe it didn't fit at that point.  But that was always a festive touch that he usually made sure to add.  In the photo below he added another festive touch by placing a just-opened gift -- a handmade tea cozy -- on his head.  I promise he had had nothing stronger than coffee to drink when he did this!

And of course there was my dad's famed appetite for Christmas dinner at my grandmother's house.  All of my uncles (these would be my mother's brothers and brothers-in-law, most of whom shared my dad's sense of humor) teased him a good bit about how much he could eat.  It was a running joke that resulted one year in the Thanksgiving turkey being placed in front of him, not to carve, but as if it was just for him to eat.

Just a few Christmas memories of my wonderful dad.

Mrs. Santa's Recipes

 

 I grabbed a vintage international cookbook out of my stash to share with my daughter back in June (it had some Scandinavian recipes I thought she might like to try) and found something very unexpected tucked in the front of it.

I guess it had probably been a school project of mine way, way, back in the day.  It was three index cards stapled together, with the title "Mrs. Santa's Recipes".  I'm assuming it was a project that one of my teachers had us do during December, serving the dual purpose of practicing neat printing and creating a Christmas gift for our moms.  

 
As you see,  the first recipe was for Christmas Sand Tarts, which are actually a cutout sugar cookie flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg.  My mother didn't really make very many cutout cookies that I remember, and I don't recall her ever making these.  But I might try them!

The next recipe was for Spicy Punch, made with cranberry juice, whole spices,  plus citrus juices.  It can be served either hot or cold -- and I think the hot version would be quite delicious.

Lastly,  there's a recipe for Ice Cream Flowerpots.  Ice cream is served in paper cups and decorated with gumdrop leaves and flowers on lollipop stick stems.  This sounds like a fanciful treat straight out of a North Pole kitchen, for sure!

What do you think?  Would you try one of Mrs. Santa's special recipes?

 

The Christmas Bazaar

 

What do handmade aprons,

festive crocheted hot mats,

delicate spritz cookies,

star shaped dishcloths,

decorations crafted from old Christmas cards,

 seasonal pot holders,

and fudge have in common?  These are all things one might find at a Christmas bazaar.

 Back in the day many funds were raised for good or charitable causes by way of Christmas bazaars.  One of the definitions for the noun "bazaar" in my dictionary is " a fundraising sale of goods, typically for charity".

Nowadays, bazaars are often called craft fairs or Christmas fairs (in fact, my childhood memories are of a church Christmas fair, rather than a bazaar). These events are often held in October or November with the idea that shoppers can find Christmas gifts or decorations to purchase.  I'm sure the one I remember was held in December, and people would often buy fudge, cookies, etc. to serve their holiday guests.

What got me thinking about this again was an article by Leathea Marie Jones in Decorating & Craft Ideas September 1978 featuring ideas for simple crafts one could sell at a Christmas bazaar.  It began, “Everyone loves a bazaar and half the fun of planning or attending is browsing for ideas.  So, browse away in our Christmas Bazaar to find those ‘just right’ gifts for  friends and family and take note of fund-raising items for your own bazaar.”  

This brought a memory back to me of how I always made one or more homemade ornaments for my aunt Dot for her December birthday — and how she often borrowed my ideas for her and her friends to make for their church Christmas bazaar the following year. I have a few thank-you notes from her in which she thanked me for sharing craft ideas and patterns with her.   It was all such fun — and one time, that I remember, my mother and I, and maybe one or both of my daughters, ventured up to that bazaar, about an hour away from us.  We had such a good time.

All of this prompted an idea for me for my Christmas blog, maybe a monthly or a month-long feature of bazaar type ideas.  I could feature small sewed or crochet items, along with recipes for fudge and cookies and other salable baked goods.

Who knows if I will go anywhere with this idea, but it sounds fun to me.  We will see!

A lovely Christmas poem -- "Going Home"

 

Here is a lovely poem -- "Going Home", by LaVerne P. Larson.  I found it in a Christmas Ideals from 2000, but I believe the poem to be a vintage one.  

GOING HOME

I'm going home for Christmas,
To that lovely place aglow
With a special magic splendor
I have always treasured so.

I'm going home for Christmas,
Where love waits at the door
And my heart is ever welcome
To share happiness in store.

I'm going home for Christmas,
Across the sparkling snow
To hear stories, bells, and carols
And bask in candleglow.

I'm going home for Christmas
To help trim the Christmas tree
And give gifts to all my loved ones
Who mean so much to me.

I'm going home for Christmas
Because I love it there;
Its open arms envelop me
With blessings I may share.

-- LaVerne P. Larson

This just conjures for me a picture of my grandmother's farm and how so many of the aunts, uncles and cousins would come "home for Christmas".  It seems to me that this poem describes how we all felt about coming to the farm for Christmas.  If you would like, you can read about those midcentury memories here: Christmas on the Farm.  

How blessed I am to have such memories of Christmases past!

Aunt Mabel's pot holders

 

 My great-aunt Mabel had a wonderful idea that made bonus gifts out of scraps from other sewing projects.  She used to make flannel pajamas (maybe nightgowns for the girls, I'm not sure) for her grandchildren at Christmas time.  And then, from the flannel scraps plus other odds and ends for filling, she made sets of crazy-quilted pot holders to have on hand for small gifts.  Above you see a set of them.  I found maybe a half dozen sets of unused pot holders in my mother's linen closet.  What a find!

Here's another set:

And here is a very well-used pot holder which I finally brought myself to throw away:

 It helped to realize that I now have several unused sets to choose from!

She usually crazy-quilted the front of the holder and used a solid piece of flannel for the back.

Would you like to create some of these from your own flannel scraps?  I'm thinking that I would.  I found a great-looking tutorial here: Simple DIY Quilted Pot Holder from Scraps.

Happy sewing!

A nostalgic find

 

This past fall, I was sorting through some of the vintage cards I'm listing on Etsy when I came upon this gem.  You can't really tell from the photo, but the edges of the chalk tray area are die-cut to make it look a little bit three-dimensional.  And Santa's red outfit is flocked, making it soft and touchable!  (The answer to the math problem is incorrect, but no matter.  It's right in style.)

 Even more fun was when I saw that the card was one that had been sent to me as a child.

We had a family friend, an older gentleman named Bill.  He often brought us kids unusual, fun gifts.  Sometimes these came from a store, things like special coloring books or paper dolls.  Sometimes they were things he had acquired, like a stack of travel magazines filled with fascinating destinations.

Bill often sent us cards on holidays as well.  Invariably, instead of signing his name, he made a little drawing of a bird's bill.  Just like the one on this card.  Bill was a special man indeed, and I'm happy to have this fun Christmas card to remember him by.

Hope you've enjoyed this fun look back at a vintage midcentury Christmas card!

A faded Polaroid

 

 I've written before about the Methodist Church Christmas fair which was such a part of my childhood Christmas seasons.  It seemed to get our family into the Christmas spirit.

There was time for photo ops throughout the fair, when kids could have their Polaroid photo taken with various Christmas props.  The photo at the top of the post is one of these.  I've posted others in the past, but this is one I found more recently.  It's faded and scratched.  I'm not sure what story it tells.  

My brother Mike is on the left and my brother Tim is at the right.  In the middle is my cousin Diane.  I find it interesting that only Diane is looking at the camera.  Both boys look rather sad and although they are holding props -- Tim has a Santa doll and I'm thinking Mike is holding a book -- they don't seem to be paying attention.  I'll never know what thoughts were going through their heads, as both have left this life some years ago.  

It's a little slice of life in a faded Polaroid.  I wish I knew more about it.  Have you ever come across a mystery photo like this?

A few more favorite ornaments

The Christmas tree is still up and decorated at our house, at least through Sunday when we will exchange gifts with our two oldest granddaughters.  Illness kept them from coming on Christmas Eve as is our usual custom.

I took a few photos the other day of ornaments that are new to our tree this year.

 You can't see it very well, but this photo shows a red felt cardinal with holly leaves.  A metal hair clip is hidden under the leaves to clip the cardinal to a tree branch.  I LOVE this and want to make more.  I am sure this is handmade and that no doubt I have the pattern for it in one of my vintage Christmas magazines!  Below is another view.

 The sheet music star above came from one of my friends at the Christmas Friends craft forum in 2018's card swap.  Pretty sure I need to make some of these.

 This is a sweet and tiny hand-knitted stocking.  Think my aunt Dot may have made this.  There's a mitten to match but I couldn't get a good picture of it.  These are adorable and if I could find a crochet version I might be tempted to make some.

Lastly is another ball that was in with my parents' ornaments.  It is tarnished and spotted, but I love it because of the sweet stenciled scene.  If you look just below the heel in the stocking photo above, you will see another similar ornament, sort of a magenta color with a stenciled church and falling snow on it.  That one says "Silent Night" and it, too, is one of my favorites.

Hope you've enjoyed this look at just a few of our ornaments!

My December hutch

Just a couple of photos of my December hutch.  I used what I had stashed inside the hutch and corner cupboard to decorate it.  I did not take time to get anything out of the attic, for I wanted to complete this just after Thanksgiving.  I kept it simple.  At the tippety-top is my vintage Christmas shadow box that I created out of a red-painted wooden silverware tray.  You can read how I did it here: Making a Christmas shadow box.

Here's a closer look at the other shelves.

I just had to use a good bit of my small collection of jadeite.  The plates with the pretty crimped edges, the tea cups, and the mug are all dishes that we used at our little summer cottage.  The ironstone soup tureen on the bottom shelf is a family heirloom from my grandfather's family, and the small green-rimmed cup holding the peppermint sticks is one that my mother treasured.

The little green pickup truck is a find from my childhood toybox, and the tiny teacup salt shaker (in front of the milk bottle) is from the Colonial Homestead line -- a set of which is still being used at my extended family's summer camp on Ellsworth Pond.  I have collected bits and pieces of this line on my own and am a long way from having a complete set, but love the ones I have. 

On the top shelf, the small cardinal teapot is from Yankee Candle, the middle plate is from Gooseberry Patch, and the poinsettia mug is a find from Marshalls a couple of years ago.  The small jar candle in the middle, in front of the colorful plate, is a balsam candle from Tall Timber Lodge in  the Great North Woods.

The three plates on the middle shelf are Walmart finds.  On this shelf there's also a small round container which holds a Christmas game.

The little cardinals were a gift from a friend and the milk bottle held eggnog from a local dairy in 1994.  The place mat under the soup tureen was found in some things a friend was getting rid of.

All very simple, but it suits me this year.  

The Christmas Vest

It's long been on my list to write a post about my dad's Christmas vest, so I'm trying to put one together.  It had to have been the early 1950s (they were married in 1949) when my mother sewed him a special vest to wear at Christmas.  I'm guessing it might have even been the first Christmas they were married that she stitched this up.  The fabric was a red corduroy with a black window pane check.  I'm thinking that maybe the photo above was taken on the first Christmas that he owned the vest.

I am pretty sure some of that fabric still exists -- some small scraps.  I've done a brief search but haven't found it. 

He wore that vest at Christmas time ever since I can remember.  We usually went to my grandmother's for Christmas dinner and gifts.  During most of my growing-up years, my mother's siblings and their spouses and kids would be there as well.  It was a festive time and my dad and uncles were all exceptionally jolly.  In the Christmas memory book I put together for my kids, I wrote:

One special memory of Christmas for me is the red corduroy vest that my Dad would always wear when we went to Gram's for Christmas dinner and the tree. He and my uncles would all be particularly jovial on that special day, joking with all of the kids and with one another. I had forgotten this, but it seems there was always a lot of joking about how much food my dad was able to eat. One year someone took a picture of him with the turkey directly in front of him, as if the whole thing was for him to eat!

My kids remember him wearing the vest at Christmas during their growing up years.  At that point my parents were the grandparents, and Christmas was at their house rather than at the farm.    It was always a joke how my dad would sit and read while gifts were being opened.  Sometimes it was the newspaper, sometimes a book or magazine.  In the photo below, it looks as if he may be reading a book he has just received as a gift.

In an earlier photo, I had made my parents a tea cozy for Christmas and he had opened it.  As a joke, he promptly placed it on his head.  It gave him sort of a Roman soldier look.

And thanks to the innovation of Skype, some of his great-grandchildren have also seen him wearing the Christmas vest.

You see, one of the last Christmases he celebrated with us at our home, my hubby went to pick him up for dinner and a few hours together, during which we planned to Skype with the Nevada grands.  My dad had many memory issues at that point in his life,  and his short-term memory was particularly bad.  He had forgotten many things, including our phone number, and he often forgot to eat.  But it was Christmas ...

... and he had remembered to wear his Christmas vest.

Best Loved Foods of Christmas

Today's post is hopelessly nostalgic.  During my childhood, this little cookbook made an appearance every year when my mother began her Christmas baking.  When I saw this cookbook on the counter, or stacked atop her Christmas notebook, I knew that the baking was about to commence.  So I was understandably thrilled, a number of years ago, to find a copy of it at a thrift store!

Isn't the front cover mouth-watering?  Starting at top left, the goodies pictured are Norwegian Holiday Bread, Rich Dark Fruitcake, Christmas Pudding, and Eight-Trick Butter Cookies.

Yes, in addition to cookie recipes, this versatile little book also contains recipes for frostings, cakes, yeast breads, quick breads, holiday pies, and festive desserts.

The Land O'Lakes butter ad is on the back cover of my copy of this cookbook.  I have seen another copy of this booklet, apparently from a different year, which has different copy on the back cover, featuring a Holiday Buffet.

This sweet cookbook was put out by Pillsbury.   I can't find a copyright date on it anywhere but it is either from the late 1950s or the early 1960s.  You can click on the photos to enlarge them.  At left above is a very newsy, friendly note from Ann Pillsbury welcoming readers to this booklet.  At right is a color photo of some of the goodies that recipes are provided for.  I love the fun little graphic below the diagram!

  There is a whole page of helpful instructions on freezing cookies.  This advice is still sound today.

The Merry Mincemeaters above are a bar cookie that my mother often made.   I was happy to find this recipe again!  I'm not a huge fan of mincemeat, but these bars are festive and truly delicious.

Hope you've enjoyed this look into a truly vintage cookbook that is still well worth bringing out and baking from every Christmas season!  I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you could find one of these on Etsy or eBay.

A sweet handmade ornament

Yesterday I was thrilled when my order arrived from Marjorie at Treasures with a Twist!  Even though this is a Christmas ornament, it felt like a little Valentine gift to me!

Isn't it beautiful?  This ornament is made from a simple wood circle embellished with a beautiful print, tinsel trim and plenty of glitter.

I love not only the beautiful old red truck and the farm, but the tractor and horse in the field and even the large white farmhouse in the distance.  It reminds me of the farm that's in all my Christmas memories:

 It had a pretty red barn and a big white farmhouse, too!

Marjorie has several other designs available and her prices are very reasonable.  This is a lovely, beautifully made ornament,  and I will be ordering from Treasures with a Twist again.  Go on over and visit ... I think you will enjoy browsing through these pretty Christmas crafts.

Making a Christmas cookie cookbook

I've been thinking for awhile that I would like to utilize a free photo book offer from Shutterfly and make a Christmas cookie cookbook with a number of our family favorite recipes.  As you see above, that thought has become a reality.  For the cover photo, I utilized a photo of some of my felt Christmas cookies.  They were so colorful and fun that I thought it would brighten up the cover ... and it did.

Below is the back cover.  I used some colorful photos of various Christmas kitchen gifts, including cookies of course.

In between are 20 pages.  I used 18 of them as recipe pages with a different cookie recipe on each page.  Some of the recipes are from my childhood; others are as new as Christmas 2018.  Below I will share screenshots of a few of them.

On the first page I wrote out some of my Christmas baking memories from childhood.  I actually had written these out years ago for a Christmas memory book, so I just copied and pasted it into a text box on a page in the Shutterfly book.

Then I made a number of recipe pages (of which these are just a few):

On the last page I shared several photos of grandkids baking.  It seemed like an appropriate way to end a book that began with my childhood memories.  Sort of full circle.

And there's a look at my cookie book!  If anyone is interested in the actual nuts and bolts of how I did this, just mention it in the comments and I'll share the details, okay?