'Tis the (busy) season...

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we have rapidly moved into busy season!  I have finally gotten all my inside decor up and am very thankful to have all the boxes back in the attic.  I have also been working on a two week art show for the association of which I am serving as president and have several commissioned pieces lined up.  So, I am really thankful to have the decorations up.  Although we have two trees, here is a peek at "my tree" as my children like to refer to it.  I am sharing this first photo because I loved the effect that the lights made. 

 

However, as I continued taking photos I realized after three or four tries with this same result that my lens was smudged. 😉 So, here is the entire tree without a smudged lens...

This is "my tree" for many reasons... one reason is that it was inspired by my grandmother ~ a beautiful gracious southern belle of a lady ~ who always had a special way of decorating her own tree by using only white, silver, crystal, and gold ornaments.  I have taken this tradition as my own and used only those items (with a couple of exceptions for ornaments with burgundy and red ribbon hangers) on it.  While I have used only those colors, the ornaments are not "designer ornaments" purchased from a store just for the purpose of decorating.  Rather, they are primarily either heirlooms or gifts from family and friends... like the beautiful Gorham angel on top of the tree that was a wedding gift.

The above photo captures several ornaments from my grandmother. The white fireplace and stockings at the bottom was a gift to hubby and me from her early in our marriage, the blown glass ornament top right, the small glass frosted pine cone at top left, and the crystal icicles are heirlooms from her very own tree after she passed on.

 The bottom left gold glass ball wishing us a frosted "Merry Christmas" was my husband's as a child.  The two Lenox snowflakes at the top, one crystal and one white, were gifts from precious friends.

The brass bear with a photo of my oldest son was a gift from my aunt when my son was a baby, and it sits beside a white glass ball with a Currier and Ives scene that was also an heirloom from my grandmother.

The two Precious Moments ornaments, the Little Drummer Boy and the bell, in the photo above were baby gifts from friends when my now adult sons were born.  There is another white glass ball with gold stars and the small frosted pine cone in the photo that were heirlooms from my grandmother's tree.

 

These two twin brass ornaments are also heirlooms... the one on the left belonged to my grandparents long before I ever thought of marrying and the one on the right belonged to my husband when he was a child.  I just love that.

You couldn't have looked at all these photos without noticing the round cross-stitched, gold and white Chrismon ornaments. (If you're not sure what a Chrismon is, it is an ornament that is a Christ Monogram... a symbol of Christ: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chrismon and a little more info here: http://www.blcelgin.org/chrismons) 

These Chrismons were lovingly made by my mother-in-law's mother.  She was a precious woman who was severely handicapped by rheumatoid arthritis. Rather than sulk in her suffering, she chose to be joyful and to be as productive as she could.  Though her hands were so bent by the disease that her fingers were permanently curled so that she could hardly hold a needle, she insisted that we should all have a set of these beautiful ornaments.  She tried her best to get a set for each grandchild and even great grandchild before she died.  She was a treasure, and I am so thankful for these ornaments but even more thankful that our children got to spend a great amount of time with her when they were small.   

  

I am thankful for all the ways these ornaments remind me of those who have loved me and my family well... so many have gone on to be with the Lord, and what a glorious reunion we'll have someday!

Things remembered...

Fall sparks all kinds of memories for me. It is a time for reflecting and remembering. The things in this photograph are all associated with memories for me... some are happy, some sad.

Take for instance the silver tray... it was a wedding gift and something I will always cherish. It reminds me of one of the happiest days of my life: my wedding day. I know that some people say theirs was a blur, but I remember everything about that day. I remember how I felt, what people said, the smiles of friends and family, the blessing that God gave me in my husband, seeing my parents and my husband's parents, our grandparents, and everyone witness our happiness and join with us in active participation as we pledged our lives together before God.

Then there are the pearls... the pearls on the left were given to me by my mother. They were given to her by my dad, but they are now divorced (she is happily remarried.) But, for me looking at those brings bittersweet memories. Then there are the single pearl earrings... they were a gift from my husband on our wedding day. And the pearls on the right were a gift from him on our 20th wedding anniversary. What special treasures those are.

Then there are the fragrances... the first time my hubby and I went to EPCOT together, we lingered at the UK pavilion. As we browsed through the shops I was aware of the most wonderful scent. When I finally located it, I had my first encounter with Burberry. I have loved it ever since. The scent in the center is called ....(clears throat)... Giardini di Montecatini VI by Princess Marcella Borghese. I saw the perfume first in Victoria magazine and had to check it out (mostly, I confess, due to its beautiful packaging). But I loved the fragrance, too. And not being one to overuse perfumes, it has been on my vanity for nearly 20 years... and believe it or not still smells wonderful. And then there's Coco Chanel. With Coco, it's all about fall. For some reason, I gravitate toward the scent when the temperatures begin to drop at the end of summer.

Then there is the magazine... Victoria was and is the only magazine I have ever really loved. All the others were just time fillers, but Victoria was special. Maybe it was because I was a newlywed when she first came into my life, and I saw the world through rose-colored glasses. Or maybe it was because she simply was the finest magazine ever published. She had articles about historical figures with pictures so rich you could frame them and hang them. She had travel articles, making a yearly tour to France and to England... again giving us such fantastic visuals that you knew someday you simply HAD to get there. There were even beauty layouts... but never the "here today, gone tomorrow" kinds of fashions. Rather, Victoria showed a classic elegance that would carry us through the ins and outs of yearly fashion trends. And then there were articles on women who had followed what came to be known as their "bliss" and actually made a living from doing what they loved. Now those were enough to inspire the meekest of us to reach for our dreams. And since that time, so many of us have seen even the most remarkable dreams come true. It may have taken years and work and prayers and sweat... but we are seeing our fondest dreams realized. For years Nancy Lindemeyer gave vision and direction to the group effort that was Victoria magazine. If you haven't visited Nancy's blog, I highly recommend it.

Memories are sparked by so many things. I hope that something here has somehow brought to your mind a bright spot from your past... some little glimmer that still lingers from a wonderful moment that may have occurred even years ago. And I would love it if you would share it with me, if you'd like.


Early Autumn Blessings to All!

Fruitful Freedom-Filled Friday

My memories of the Fourth of July growing up...

I love the memories of homemade ice cream on the Fourth of July …watching my mother and her mother carefully working together to makethe custard, painstakingly straining it through cheese-cloth to remove the lumps, and the tantalizing smell of the cream, sugar and vanilla… I remember how cold it was sitting on the top of the old freezer while the grown-ups turned the crank… I remember sneaking a taste of the rock salt while anticipating the sweet taste of the vanilla ice cream… I remember the luscious taste and smell of bright red strawberries, their tartness just waiting to combine with the sweet cream… I remember the breeze coming through the screen on my grandparents' back porch as we all sat anticipating and wondering when the ice cream would finally be hard enough to eat…

I remember the big golf tournament at our local country club which my father and both grandfathers played in every year on the 4th and how proud I was the many times my dad won (we were from a small town, but to me he was as great as Jack Nicklaus!!) … I remember the smell of barbeque made by the American Legion volunteers (who had stayed up all night smoking the meat) and how wonderful it tasted with its tangy vinegar-based sauce…

Most of all, there is such a tenderness about those memories because they all center around family and friends, most of whom are not still with me …but of course the memories of them and those precious times are permanently in my heart.

I am thankful for the freedoms we have in our wonderful land. I pray that our nation would collectively turn its heart back toward the God of our forefathers and that we would again experience the true freedom that is only found in Christ. I wish you a blessed Fourth and pray you'll be surrounded by those who are precious to you!