21 Days Before Christmas

Oh, goodness! I hated that alarm clock this morning! We didn't go to bed until two. But I tiptoed out of bed and got dressed and started wrapping gifts that needed to be mailed out. I was going at such a clip I could hear the background music from Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol when Scrooge and Dick are cleaning out Fezziwig's counting house going in my head. (I was also checking out the Scotch tape hand dispenser I got to review from Amazon Vine. It works out splendidly!) I wrapped gifts for four people (there were five packages) and then put them in padded envelopes (all they needed, except for one that needed a box), then got dressed (I had hastily gulped down some oatmeal and milk between packages) and we scooted out to the Marietta post office. It was remarkably empty for a Saturday in December—only about ten people in line! (You have to see it on weekdays; the line is usually out the door, with secretaries in there with piles of envelopes from the lawyers who work at the courthouse.)

So the packages are off, the Christmas cards are mailed, and my one international card will be winging its way soon—and it wasn't even noon yet.

We ended up going to the hobby shop via Sam's Club. Walked around Sam's and found some gifts to put away. James has been asking for Christmas ideas, so I asked if he would buy Theodore Rex while I bought The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. I started reading the latter while we were at the hobby shop. I love the narrative already and I haven't even gotten past the introduction.

On the way home we stopped at Bernhard's Bakery and got a half dozen treats for the next three days' desserts.

Once home, it was a-bustle again. James pulled out the outside lights and proceeded to start putting them up, while I assembled the new rocker. Allen wrenches. I hate Allen wrenches. :-) But it is all put together and settled with a Christmas fleece throw and a holly-patterned pillow (and I had to vacuum and vacuum later on to get all the crumbs of that darned styrofoam from the box off the rug).

James had the tall lights up when I got out there, and I helped him do the railings and then the bushes (I just scatter the lights over the tops, so it looks like blue stars fell on them). We were continually threatened by spatters of rain, but it held back while we were out there. Now we have blue lights (with white stars and white snowflakes).

After that both of us were too tuckered to go out to eat anywhere. We had pizza and watched the news, and now I have Christmas specials on: John Denver and the Muppets, The Bestest Present and The Christmas Angel, It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special, and now A Very Merry Cricket.

(Okay, Chester and Company is over. James has gone down to the man cave and I'm putting Ask the Manager Christmas eps on. Time for Joe (and Dan) and Dana!)

Rudolph Day, August 2009

The purpose of Rudolph Day is to keep the Christmas spirit all year long. One can prepare Christmas gifts or crafts, watch a Christmas movie, play Christmas music, or read a Christmas book.

Let's channel some Christmas chill to cool down in August:

Read the anthology The St. Nicholas Christmas Book.

Check out some vintage Christmas postcards courtesy of Google.

For many people, things may be a bit tight this year. Take some tips from Thrifty Living. Remember, Christmas is not about gifts!

They say Christmas is best viewed from the eyes of a child. As children, we may have had a beloved Christmas book, or books, like the Golden Books version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or a gift volume of a retelling of A Christmas Carol. Some series children's books did Christmas themed novels as well.

One of my favorites always was, and still is, The Cottage Holiday, one of the "Tuckers" series by Jo Mendel, published by Whitman Books in the 1960s. The five Tucker children, their mom and dad, and dad's parents are featured in these warm, leisurely-paced, old-fashioned tales of sibling adventure and occasionally sibling rivalry. Cottage Holiday is a little different: it centers on Penny, the next to youngest child and youngest girl, who usually spends most of the other books playing with her dolls, but who, in this story, is wondering about her place amongst her boisterous brothers and sisters: Tina is good at cooking and helping care for them; Merry is musical and her twin Terry clever with his hands; and even little Tom is practical and dependable. But where does she, often sickly Penny, stand? After Penny's idea to spend Christmas at their little lake cottage in the woods comes to fruition, the novel turns into a wonderful adventure: fun on the deserted beach with friends, the search for the perfect Christmas tree, a hunt for a lost woman, a marauding mountain lion, an abandoned baby—all infused with the spirit of Christmas and the wonder of Penny's search for self. If you love Christmas stories and ever see this volume at a used bookstore, do pick it up, even if you are not familiar with the series. It's a dose of Christmas spirit dressed up as a kids' book.

Country Cards

Ahhh, now I remember. It's because I put them away in the card box that I bought a few years ago.

I chose a country theme for the Christmas cards: it's artwork of a wooden door with a sleigh leaned against it, a Christmas tree to the left with some gifts, snowmen to the right. Country without being cutesy.

Time to Write the Christmas Cards

“In America, the printing of Christmas cards was introduced by the Boston lithographer Louis Prang, a native of Breslau, Germany. Prang offered them to the public for sale in 1875. Since the present popular designs of Christmas symbols were not yet known in [the United States], he adorned his cards with Killarney roses, daisies, geraniums, apple blossoms, and similar floral motives. These first American Christmas cards, like all other products of Prang’s lithographic art, are still famous among collectors because of their exquisite design and craftsmanship. A few years later he broadened his designs to include children playing in the snow, fir trees, fireplaces, and finally Santa himself. In 1890, when a flood of cheap and gaudy novelties in Christmas cards swamped the market (dried flowers, chenille, bits of colored glass, corks, and seaweed), Prang abruptly stopped the production of his beautiful cards to register his disgust and disappointment.”
                                            . . . . Francis X. Weiser, The Christmas Book

Louis Prang

More About Louis Prang

I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't remember what this year's Christmas cards look like! I picked out a design I loved last year just before Christmas, tucked them away in the closet, and haven't looked against since!