My Birthday Stuff

I have mentioned before that I have a secret pal at my church. This is what my secret sister gave me for my birthday. The lettering on the gift bag looks strange because it one of those images that changes as you move it. It does look kind of weird in the picture. This is what was inside the gift bag. A charming basket filled with jams and spreads. I have not tried any of them yet. I thought that was a good gift. I have not decided what I will use the basket for next. I am sure an idea will come to me eventually. It has a divider in the middle that does not come out.> My husband decided to treat me to a weekend away from home. We were not that far away. Only the next town north where I work. But we got a really good deal at the hotel we stayed at courtesy of our daughter. She works for them and she can get us a family discount. This particular hotel was part of a special deal where we got the rooms for very cheap. We could not have done this otherwise. Even though it was quite cold this weekend, we had a great time. We went Friday after my husband got off work. I had been off on Friday due to a low caseload. Other therapists had each taken a turn at taking an unpaid day off. They had me take Friday. Other than not getting paid it was nice to have a long weekend. I was already scheduled to be off on Monday as my birthday holiday. We get a paid day off for our birthday as one of our perks. So I chose Monday not knowing I was also going to have to be off on Friday. That made it a 4 day weekend for me. I have not had one of those in a long time.> On Saturday we bummed around Railroad Square. I was aware of it, but we had never taken the time to check it out. It was within walking distance of the hotel. The banners hang on lamp posts around the area. We looked at the Basement Antique store, but the prices were quite high. Nothing there I wanted bad enough to spend the money. As I told my husband, nothing was calling my name there. However at the Furniture Depot store in the top right picture there was a cake plate calling my name. We did get that at 20% off. I have it pictured later in this post. There were 3 different Thrift stores, each one benefiting a different cause. I did find a gravy boat at one of them and hubby found a couple of shirts to use for work. We also checked out the Whistlestop Antiques. Lots of stuff in there. There were several dealers with spaces in there. You could tell where one started and ended. It was laid out very well. Did not get anything there though. Did not want to spend to much money just yet. But we plan to go back sometime.> The Charles Schulz museum is in this town so there are Peanuts characters all over. These are the ones we found in Railroad Square. I am posing in the picture in the middle which is in Depot Park. Near where the old train depot used to be. It is now a visitor's center. We ate lunch at the Omelet Express. We did not have omelets though since we each had one for breakfast at the hotel cafe. So we had sandwiches. I had the Grilled Cheese with Tomato on Rye bread. It was yummy. My husband had the Reuben also on Rye bread. Inside this restaurant there were this car fronts hanging on the wall. Hubby said all three were from Jaguars. I thought that was interesting so I got pictures of them. That is him taking a break from chewing down his Reuben sandwich.> After we ate we went on a carriage ride. The ride was free, but we gave the driver a tip. The other guy helping was gracious enough to take our picture with my camera. I had never been on a carriage ride so this was fun. It was also short and sweet.

This next shot includes the horse. Did I tell you it was fun? Yeah I guess I did.In this collage, the picture on the left is where we had some coffee. Well, I had a mocha. The upper right is the street where the shops we went was on and you can see the sign for the Omelet Express where we had lunch. The table made from a slab of slate or something was outside of another coffee shop. There were several of these tables outdoors. Interesting tables too. But no one was using them. It was too cold. We checked out this coffee shop on Sunday morning and it started raining while we were in there. We got wet walking back to our hotel.

Saturday evening we went to my work staff Christmas party. It was held at a bowling alley. We had a great time. And it was a short drive from our hotel instead of about a 40 min drive from home. That made it nice. Inside was this Snoopy. Look at the size of his shoes. 23 !/2!!! I couldn't resist getting a picture of that. I did not do very well. But someone else did worse who got the low score of the evening. There was a good turn out. Dinner was pizza and then we could bowl as much as we wanted until the ending time of the party. This was more fun than the two previous years where it was dinner and dancing. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it this year!!

This collage I took mainly for the benefit of our daughter. That way she could see what this one looks like inside and out. In the top left picture, our room was on the top floor in the window to the left. It was a nice room. Thank you to our daughter for the discount.
This is the cake plate I bought at the Furniture Depot store. I have never had a cake plate before. I finally have my first one. Can you believe that? It is Vera Bradley Majolica in the Red Sunflower pattern. I think I have that right. I want to eventually get the plates, cups and bowls too. They also have chargers in this pattern. I hope I can accumulate them over the next couple of months or so. But I do love this cake plate. When we got home on Sunday, I baked some cookies to put on the plate. Doesn't that look yummy?! In the background you can see a cookie jar lid I painted quite a few years ago. Also the bird on the wall too. I know it is hard to see. I will have to post a better picture of those sometime.
In one of the thrift shops we found this cute little gravy boat which is something else I never had. When I saw this one I just had to get it. It was only $3. Can't beat that! So that was my birthday weekend. It was wonderful even though it was cold. But that is what happens with a December birthday.

Blue Monday #12-Nativity Scenes

I have two Nativity sets that have blue in them. The first one we bought on a trip in 1990 in Lindsborg, Kansas. The artist name on the bottom is Rita B. I am unable to fully read the last name. And it is dated 1990. I also have a Gnome painted by the same person and again I can't read the last name on there. I even did a search to see if I can come up with the correct spelling of her last name, but had no luck pinpointing just who it is. I think we bought it at the store that was called The Swedish Cottage if I remember right. Mary is dressed in blue clothing which is the case in a lot of nativity scenes it seems. I have always loved this nativity scene.

This one is my latest addition. Last Sunday our church had a Fair Trade Festival and items from other countries were available for purchase. I had to have this cute little Nativity scene. It was made in Peru. Look at all the blue on that one. It sits on a little blue plate.

A candle can be placed on the plate under the dome. This picture has the candle lit inside. You can see the flame through the star opening there. Maybe if it was darker the glow would be more obvious. It was still light out when I took the picture.

Also we continue to observe Advent. This is the third week and my header and verse reflects that.

Thank you to Smiling Sally for hosting Blue Monday. Go visit her post to see who else is posting for Blue Monday. .

Happy Blue Monday!!

Pink Saturday #13 and St. Lucia Day

The first item is a Christmas bear I got from a special friend. Kathy doesn't have a blog, but she follows my blog. So Kathy, thank you for this cute bear you gave me for my birthday one year while we were still in OTA school together. I always think of you when I have this bear out. In case others are wondering what OTA means, it stands for Occupational Therapy Assistant which is what I do in my ministry of daily life. This bear has dark pink in the fabric and in the flowers so to me it is good for a Pink Saturday.

I took a couple of close ups of the cups I have lined up on my stove. The full picture of them is on a previous post. This cup has a manager scene on it and the there is pink in the clothing.


The same cup, but turned a little so you can see the rest of it. See the angel in her pink gown. Worshiping the Baby Jesus. I just love this cup.

The hat, scarf and the heart seem more pink to me than red here. I think this is an adorable cup too. So far I have been lucky at finding pink around my house. I keep thinking I am going to run out of pink to share. Thank you to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting Pink Saturday for us. Click on her pink doll in my side bar to see more Pink Saturday posts.

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Now comes the St. Lucia Day portion of my post. Today is St. Lucia Day. It is a special day in Sweden. Here is a link that tells you more about St. Lucia Day.I am half Swedish on my father's side. One year we decided to have Christmas with the rest of the family on St. Lucia Day. Actually we did it on the 14th that year, but close enough. The year was 1997. Out of town relatives were in town that year. It was also the first year we drew names, because it was getting to be too much for everyone to get gifts for everyone else at the time. This celebration was done with the Finnish half of my family, not the Swedish half. It was fun. My daughter who was 13 at the time played the role of St. Lucia. The history of St. Lucia was read by my mother and music provided on the harpsichord by my aunt. My mother had the crown for the candles and yes we used real candles. And we borrowed an alb and red rope belt from our church. That is me watching her like a hawk, those candles on her head made me nervous.

My daughter proceeds down the stair with the tray of pastries. My aunt made Polish Kolachkes to be the pastries for our special day. Actually she makes those every year. My uncle is Polish, so that is why some Polish comes into play here. Ok, have you got that straight. This is the Finnish side of the family doing a Swedish custom with Polish pastries. Boy, we really mix up the countries here. My daughter passes around the pastries to everyone while my aunt is providing the music in the background on the harpischord. I know I mentioned that already. Anyway, their house was the perfect one to do this. That stairway comes down from the dining room area to the living room area. It is a very unusual house.

I decide those candles are getting to short and blow them out. You can see the kolachkes on the tray there. Yummy yum yum!
Happy Pink Saturday and Happy St Lucia Day!

More on My Decorating!

Here is another peek at more decorating I have done. This is the fake tree I was talking about on my Three or More Thursday post on my craft blog. This tree is in our family room. We bought this tree last year. It came with lights already on it. But last year we did not put any ornaments on it. This year I added our snowflake ornaments I made 28 years ago. I have some of my bear collection sitting around the base of the tree. That tree skirt I bought specifically for this tree. Just the right size for it. The tree topper is an angel made from a toilet paper tube. My son made that in Sunday School when he was 3 years old. I have always treasured that angel. It goes on the tree most years. I just can't part with it. The wall hanging was made for us in 1986 by my husband's sister. I remember the year because she stitched it on the back. I hope you enjoyed this peek into more of my decorations. I hope to post more soon. Have a great Thursday. Oh, and thank you for all the sweet comments I got on my birthday post. Those really made my day. Thank you again!

A Peek at Some Decorating

I want to share a little decorating I have done so far. In my kitchen. It is a start. I saw this idea when I was blog hopping so I don't remember whose blog had this idea. If the person who had this idea happens to be reading, thank you for the idea. I put some of my Christmas mugs along the top of the stove. I am trying to go with an apple theme in my kitchen. You can see the apple trivet that was a gift from a previous secret pal at my church. And I bought the apple tea kettle online. I bought the Christmas treat plate from the Hallmark shop on Sunday. I rather like how the whole thing turned out. The plate is easy enough to move if I need to use the stove. This next idea I got from Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. She has display plates in her kitchen to go with the season. I thought that was such a cute idea. I also bought this plate at the Hallmark shop on Sunday. It has a Recipe for a Merry Christmas. It is sitting near my red toaster. The Santa mug I already had. I think it was an exchange gift one year when I was working for the school district. I thought it fit well here. Now all I need is plates for other seasons and I can keep us this display area all year.
Here is a closer view of the recipe. I hope you can read it okay. You can click on the pictures fo a closer view. There is my peek for now. I hope to show you more soon. Have a great day!

Remembering Loved Ones

On Saturday we attended the memorial service for my brother's mother-in-law. Attending a service at this time of the year brings back memories of those who have gone before us. Two of whom died during the month of December.
This first picture is of my husband's parents and that baby is my husband, the first of 8 children. My father-in-law died 10 years ago today. He was 77 years old at the time. Way too young as far as I'm concerned. Today is also the birthday of one of my husband's brothers. So David if you are reading this, Happy 50th Birthday. It was hard to have his father die on his birthday. That date will never be forgotten. My father-in-law served in the Air Force during World War II and he is wearing his uniform in that picture. I am grateful for having the chance to know him. I am also grateful that my children had a chance to know him. They joined us for holidays several times over the years. Went camping with us several summers. We visited them fairly often after he retired and they lived a little closer, making it easier to visit. They were there when my daughter was baptized. There were there when both of my children were confirmed at our church. They came to my grandfather's 90th party in 1994. They came to my grandfather's memorial service in January 1997. They also came to my grandmother's 90th party in 1998. And little did we know that was going to be the last time we saw him.

For some reason, my mother said to us, "Let's get a picture of the four of you." This turned out to be a special picture that I keep framed on my piano. It was the last one taken of him before he died. Picture was taken on November 15, 1998. He turned 77 on December 2, 1998. He died on December 8, 1998. What a shock! I was working and going to school at the time. I still had to get through a paper and two finals before we could join my mother-in-law and spend some time with her to help her go through things.

Now, my birthday is December 10. At the time we used a P.O. Box for our mail. On December 9 after getting word the day before of his death, I checked the mail. In the mail was a birthday card to me, in his handwriting with a check dated the day before he died. Also in the mail were the pictures from my grandmother's 90th birthday party which included the picture I have above. I tell you, I sat in my car and lost it. I cried and cried after seeing those two things arrive. It just overwhelmed me at the time.
This next picture which is above is of my grandparents, taken just after they were married in 1928. My grandfather has hair in that picture. He never had much while I was growing up. He died January 16, 1997 at the age of 92. The ironic thing is my dad's father died January 16, 1966. Same date, 31 years apart. This next picture above shows them in their later years. Probably during the time when they were still square dancing and round dancing. They used to have a blast dancing in their clubs. My grandmother would make her twirly dresses to dance in every week. This is the grandmother whose party we were celebrating in 1998. My mother's mother. She died on December 1, 2002. On a Sunday. I was the substitute organist that day. My daughter was in the play "A Christmas Carol" at the college she was attending. We had planned to take Grandma to the play after church. But first we were going to bring some lunch to eat together before we go. While I was busy playing the organ, my husband kept trying to call her to find out what she wanted for lunch. Never got an answer. After church we went straight there. I had a funny feeling something was not right. When we got there, my husband asked me if I wanted him to come in with me. I told him "Yes!" Just as I had feared, we found her dead. She had been gone at least a couple of hours. She was living in a assisted living facility at the time. The people there told us she had been to breakfast, so we know she died sometime after she got back to her room.
We called the church, because my parents were still there. They came right over. After making sure my mother was okay, we left to go to my daughter's play. I remember she looked worried until she spotted us in the audience. Good thing we went anyway. Besides I wanted to tell her in person. We told her after the play of course. When she did not see Grandma with us, she figured that Grandma changed her mind. She had done that before.

This next picture above shows my godmother who is my grandmother's sister. They were the last two in a family of 10 children. My aunt here was the youngest. We took this picture because realized we had godmothers and goddaughter's here. My aunt was my Godmother, and I am my niece's Godmother. This the same niece that was in the Bathroom Diva pictures with me that I posted in November. This picture was taken in Spring of 2001. My aunt died on March 7, 2002 just a month shy of turning 91. She never had any children of her own. She considered all of us her children.

One thing I noticed is that my grandmother died on the anniversary of my niece's baptism, not the one pictured but her younger sister. My brother's mother-in-law died on the anniversary of my nephew's baptism, the younger brother of the niece pictured above. And yes, these are my brother's children. Not only was I the substitute organist the day my grandmother died, but I was also the subsitute organist last Sunday, the day my brother's mother-in-law died. My life is weird in that way sometimes.

I have lots of memories of these loved ones. Somtimes it makes the holidays hard and kind of sad that they are no longer with us. Life goes on whether we want it to or not. But we are better and enriched for having known and loved these people. Instead I try to think of the happy times. There are lots of those too. I just need to remember those and smile at them instead of cry. Thank you for sharing my memories.

God be with you.