Vintage Christmas Monday

In my theme that happened to develop this year for Christmas decorating, this Raggedy Ann display came about.

I have a vintage Raggedy Ann Christmas book from 1952, a Raggedy Ann doll, and a vintage high chair in red. I paid $1 for the high chair and the other items were each a quarter all at different garage sales this summer. It brings to mind a simpler time, when there was no such thing as an electronic toy under the tree at Christmas!

Go here for more entries for Vintage Christmas Mondays. Joan is a participant and has listed all others who've joined in on the right hand side of her blog.

In other news....snow finally came to complete the job of Christmas decorating around the old farmhouse...we got around an inch, with another inch possible tonight. I was thrilled! Of course, I had to go outside with the camera.

And a package came in the mail, too! I'd ordered a sign from Dee at FARMHOUSE COUNTRY STYLE for the outdoor display I'd made earlier this fall. I found what looked like an old ramp or door of some sort that came out of our very last barn. I made Lem save it and he thought I was nuts, as usual.

But this fall I pulled it out and stood it upright in a bothersome corner near the door and thought I'd use it for display. It's tall and narrow and all chippy and perfect. I got a live wreath and an old sled and on it I slid a little green lantern and a red bow with some greenery. When the sign I bought from Dee came, I knew just where it would go....on my display!

The snow covers the words...the sign says "All hearts come home for Christmas".


Doesn't it look perfect? Thanks again, Dee. You do such nice work.

And...

We had a bout with the flu here over the weekend. My fourteen year-old son got a bad case of it to start his Christmas vacation off with a real bang! I had tons of laundry to do today and because of missed sleep, I missed church this morning. So amid loads of laundry (he's feeling a lot better today, but is still on the couch with aches and pains and not wanting to eat) I got some treats made.

Those were Chex mix (six batches) and several batches of YURTLES (previous post) and I also dipped pretzels in white chocolate. Tomorrow is the big day for SUGAR COOKIES! They have to be here or the kids think it's not Christmas! After the cookies are rolled out, baked and frosted, I will be done with Christmas treats.

I got to attend our church's canata tonight, it was "A 1777 Christmas" and it was wonderful. I loved how it brought out the fact that those Christmases while fighting for our independence were not so happy for the soldiers at Valley Forge or their families awaiting them back home.

I sat there and thought about how terribly our government officials have strayed from the Declaration of Independence and then the Constitution, the freedom and the sacred documents that those brave revolutionaries were fighting for in their bleeding bare feet in the snow so long ago.

The sacrifices they made for those to come after them, those of us they didn't even, or couldn't ever even know...was immense.

AND, what are we leaving for our kids? DEBT? A chaotic mess of a tangled government, a tyrannical "big brother" involved in the most personal areas of our private lives!?

I left encouraged, because we who are Christians will always belong to God, but sad because I'm not so sure that our country has chosen to stay with God any longer.

What say YOU?