Merry, Merry Christmas!

What a busy time of year! And a wonderful time as well.

It may be Christmas evening according to the calendar, but at our house, Christmas isn't until tomorrow.

We often have our celebration the day before or the day after. Whatever works out best with George's shift work schedule, and the Christmas schedules of extended families.

Today Jessica and Brian are with his family.
Kevin and Katie are with her family.
My sister Jo and her husband Terry are with his family.
Our friend Bonnie is with other friends who are like family to her.

So it was very quiet around here. Lots of time to reminisce on Christmas's past.

And an extra day to get ready!

It was wonderful to see so many families re-united with loved ones at church this morning. Lots of babies - and lots of grandma's with big smiles as they held them. Miles may come between family members - but the grandparents love knows no boundaries, that was obvious. Ahhh, home for the holidays.

George and I hope all of you had a Merry, Merry Christmas!!!

Winter Hours

We've decided to close for the winter season.
Reason? Freezin!

Seriously.

George has wanted me to close for the winter months every year, and I never have. This year I'm going to listen to him. Like I should have listened to him the day this happened:

That was the day in 2008 when he said I better not go to town, the roads were too bad. And I said I had to go, it was 5 days before Christmas.

I'm not too proud to admit he was right. I slid on the ice, hit a tree, took out a fence, sheared off a gas meter, and totaled the car. By the grace of God I wasn't hurt, and also by the grace of God, the gas lines underneath the sheared off gas meter didn't blow up, which would have also blown up the house I almost hit.

It wasn't a good day.

And I never did make it to town to open the store, even though it was 5 days before Christmas.

Anyway............when he again suggested I close for the winter, I decided to listen this time.

Partly due to snow conditions, partly due to high heat costs. This old store building is hard to heat. If I had it warm enough to be comfortable, I wouldn't be able to afford it.

So...starting next week, the store will be closed. We will re-open sometime in March - the date will be announced later.

However - there may be days here and there that I do open. I'm going to be spending January and February in my workshop at home. We'll also be out antiquing when the weather cooperates. So, there will be days when I'm bringing new merchandise into town, and I may open those days. If that happens, it will be announced here and also on facebook.

The plan is that in the spring, I'll have LOTS of new stuff. New craft stuff. New old stuff. (you know what I mean).

And another clearance sale upstairs - date announced later.

Thought you might like another view of the car after the accident. Yep - I managed to destroy the rear left and the front right.

And the underneath. That hole you see is from the sheared off gas meter.

It wasn't a good day.

We're still open this week - 10 - 4:30 thru Friday, and till 2 on Christmas Eve.

Some things that are on the floor now will be transformed/rehabbed/refurbished by spring. Others will go into our spring clearance sale upstairs. If there's something you've seen in here you're dying to have just as it is now, come in this week and grab it.

And also, during the winter months, if you think of something you really want, just shoot me an email, or contact me on facebook. George goes thru town most days going to work, and we can work out something.

Thanks for understanding.

Oglebay Festival of Lights

I've been too busy to blog......but that's probably ok, because you've probably been to busy to read it anyway! Tis the season.

We're pretty much done shopping, and just about done wrapping. The house is decorated. (Too bad it isn't clean yet.)

We and a few thousand of our closest friends went to Oglebay Park in Wheeling, WV Saturday evening to see the lights. Beautiful! It's one of the biggest light dispays in the country.

This is Cinderella going to the ball, one of my favorite displays they've had for several years. A new favorite is the ferris wheel and carousel. We didn't take pictures, tooooooo many cars to stop and snap pics. We may try to go again on a weeknight when it's not so crowded.

Kevin and Katie went with friends a couple weeks ago...this is a pic they took that night in front of the Mansion Museum. The "flower" gardens of lights around the Mansion and Carriage House are incredibly beautiful.

Shhhhhhhhh....don't tell Katie I lifted her photo from facebook!

Christmas funnies

How's your Christmas preparations coming?

Are you ready yet?

Is the season one of joy for you?

Or are you a bit frazzled?

Need a laugh?

I'm thinking this is the way to go!

Simple....understated.

But if you really want to go all out.........

Ha!

This next one is one of my favorites....

Sorry for the small picture...it blurs if it's any bigger.

And finally...

What more can I say?

Merry (there's only 10 more days!) Christmas!

 Thanks to the internet at large for the above photos

Country life = A neighbor's kindness

I want to share something that has really touched us recently........

Friends of ours lost their only child in 2008 when she was only 22 years old. She died as a result of an auto accident. I wish I had known her - I did meet her a couple times. As our friendship with her mom has grown since then, I do feel like I knew her through stories her mom proudly shares. The world lost a very special young lady much, much too soon.

Our county is full of ridges and lanes, which have had RD (rural delivery) addresses. In an effort to facilitate emergency vehicles, the county government is giving every ridge and lane a name, which results in all of us in the country getting new addresses. If a lane didn't already have a name, they sent forms out to the residents on that lane on which they could submit name suggestions.

Our friends live on one of those previously un-named lanes. When they got the form, they thought it would be nice if the lane could be named after their daughter, but wasn't sure how the neighbors would feel about it. As it turns out, one of those neighbors had the same thought, and asked them if it would be ok with them to submit their daughter's name. They happily agreed, and now it's official.

They live on Hannah Drive.

Our lives are so intertwined. I doubt we ever realize how many people we touch just in our every day lives. Or how many people care about us.

Hannah may not live among us anymore, but she will continue to live in the hearts of the many people who loved her.

A collection of memories idea

No photo today, but an idea........

Everywhere you go that is a place you want to remember - buy a Christmas ornament. That's easy this time of year, but even in the summer, if you are in any kind of tourist/vacation spot, you can often find ornaments.

As the years go by, and you decorate your Christmas tree, you will have a tree that is full of memories.

I wish I had thought of that when George & I got married. We do have a tree that's full of memories. But not memories of places we've been. That would be a fun trip down memory lane.

Or, I wish I had thought of it when Jessica & Brian first got together. They started dating on senior trip to England, Ireland & Scotland. Wouldn't it have been fun to have ornaments from overseas!

Better late than never. I did think of it in time to suggest it to Kevin's girlfriend Katie. And they did buy their first ornament together at the Oglebay Festival of Lights in Wheeling, WV.

I normally don't sell Christmas items other than Christmas time. But I think next year I will keep a few ornaments out year round, in case someone visiting Moundsville is doing something similar, and they want to add to their collection.

Snowballs

These snowballs don't need shoveled.

My kind of snow!

Actually, I love snow.

And don't mind shoveling it.

If it would just stay off the roads..........

Fur Boards decked out for Christmas

The 3 triangular shaped pieces are old fur boards.

They were used for stretching pelts.

I love the shape and patina of them,

and I think they make a great shape for

primitive snowmen.

The piece on the far right is an old barrel stave.

The old fur boards are also a great shape for Santa.

I'd much rather paint on old wood than new.

The character of the old wood brought on by the passing of time

is something we can try to recreate, but it's just not the same.

Ornaments

I took these photos at the end of the day on Saturday.

I sold lots of ornaments last week,

so you can imagine how much fuller they had been before the photos.

What kind of ormanents do you use on your tree?

How many trees do you put up?

Oops, this photo didn't turn out very well.

The little plate ornaments are great on a mini tree.

Or just hanging on a hook year round.

We call these Jo Balls.

My sister Jo Ellen (Jo) makes them.

Jo makes Balls.

Jo Balls.

We're very glad she has a good sense of humor.

 

Sale, sale, sale! And you can win Santa!

Santa can be yours for free. How? Come in the store this Friday or Saturday, sign up to win him. That's all there is to it! The winner will be notified Monday morning.

I painted him on an old fur board. A fur board is what they used for stretching pelts.

While you're in the store, you might as well shop! All regular priced items will be 20% off! Well, there are 2 exclusions - the farm fresh brown eggs and one particular handmade ornament.

This will be our last First Friday & Saturday Event. Next year we will be switching to a couple open houses. Probably late spring/early summer and fall. We'll let you know more on that later.