Prim is Proper

While James was at his club meeting today, I went to the home of a woman who does primitive designs. I had bought some of her things last year at the Apple Annie Craft Show, and she sent me a postcard about a sale she was having.

This was quite nice. I figured at Apple Annie she would have pretty much all Christmas designs and I wanted to see if she had other holiday items or even non-holiday stuff. She did. All of it was at least 25 percent off and most of what I bought was 50 percent off. One Hallowe'en item was 75 percent off (a little cornucopia), but she couldn't remember how much the original charge was and gave it to me for free! I got two small Thanksgiving items, a pumpkin with a star embossed in it with the words "give" and "thanks" popped up on wire and a tiny platter not more than two inches long that says "Happy Thanksgiving." I also got a little square that says "Life is short. Eat chocolate" and a little framed item that says "Love Abundantly" and two metal hearts with small bells in them and filigree openings that are supposed to be for Christmas but which I am saving for Valentines Day.

The rest were Christmas things: a small painted wood gathering of candles and a little primitive sheep with long black stick legs, and then the gingerbread stuff, which was all half off. There's a little holly-trimmed cup-and-saucer with miniature gingerbread men, candy canes, and other Christmas flora inside it, and a white metal cornucopia with the same contents, and then a gingerbread tea set with a cookie jar, a crock, and three nesting bowls. (These are all small; the "cookie jar" is about three inches tall and is the largest of the five items.) The ginger stuff is all for the kitchen.

If you are a primitives fan, you really need to be reading the magazine "Early American Life," and if you love Christmas prims, at least get the December and Christmas issues of the magazine.

I started reading the magazine once in a while when they had a New England article, but always bought the December and Christmas issues because the photos in the magazine were so nice. A few years back, the magazine almost went out of business. When it returned, I discovered they were having more historical articles which I was interested in. This year's December and Christmas issues, for example, besides showcasing several nice primitive-decor homes, have articles on ice skating, Christmas candy containers, tin cookie cutters, the surprising source of the College of William and Mary's founding funding, and holiday displays at historic sites.