Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Christmas in the Kitchen Swap!

Cutest Swap Announcement Ever!
 
I just participated in a Christmas swap sponsored by Erica of Golden Egg Vintage.  The swap was one-on-one with Erica assigning the partners.  My partner was Marci of Parsley Vintage.  I like meeting new bloggers through a swap...they soon become new friends.  Marci's blog is a lot of fun...she has a wise-cracking sense of humor that I really enjoy.  I have a hard time being serious myself...as some of you have probably noticed. 
 
The point of the swap was to make two Christmas decorations with a vintage Christmas theme, along with a card or tag and a favorite Christmas recipe.  Of course we'd also send a treat and a few crafting or holiday goodies as well.
 
Marci's Fun Creations!

Such Festive Swap Goodies!
 
I am still in awe of this totally unique snowman scene.  I wish I had thought of it...lol!
 
It looks so cute on my kitchen counter.

Tart tins make the cutest decorations.  I have it on my curio shelves near the stove.
 
Marci included some German scrap Santas for my German Christmas décor.

This is one handsome fellow!
 
 
Yummy card from Pinterest!
 
Kitchen Treats for Marci...
This Spice Tin Santa was made with a large cinnamon tin...8 oz. size.
He's a shelf sitter.

Aunt Maurine's Sugar Cookies.
My kids' favorite Christmas cookies.

Toy Pan Snowman...simple but cute!

Some of the swap goodies...the treat box is filled with truffles.
 
 
Looks tasty enough to lick the computer screen...lol!
 
A Little Bit Country Porch
 
Front porch on a 65 degree December day.
This is the second year I have done a rustic/country kind of thing.
 

Baker's rack by the front door.
 
 
I put my little red truck outside this year. 
Every thing is wired to the rack so it won't blow away

I found this wooden sled at a new thrift store in town.
The packages are chunks of wood left over from building the pergola.
Not much else is new.
 

I love this darling Candy House cover.
 
Thank you, Marci and Erica!
May visions of Sugarplums dance in your head!
Love,
 

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Merry Miscellany!

 
Darling deer wish you Merry Christmas!
 
I love collecting vintage porcelain Christmas figures...little Santas, elves, choir boys, etc.  I miss the shininess and the fun details of four pretty angels that spell "NOEL."  Whoever invented resin should be put in a "Time Out!"  Luckily Wal-Mart and Target always seem to get the cutest salt and pepper shakers...all shiny porcelain!  This year I found the most darling deer S&Ps, along with pine trees that go perfectly on the curio shelf with my Christmas porcelain figures.  The deer were just begging to become part of a fun vignette. Best of all...they were only $2.97 a pair.
 

I found this hand-made farm wagon at an antique store in Oatman, AZ.
The price was so reasonable and I knew it would be perfect for a Christmas display.
 
I filled the wagon with squares of florist foam and covered it with white batting.  I didn't glue anything inside the wagon so that I could re-use it for another purpose.  But I really liked how the cute little deer looked so peaceful and sweet.  The handle of the wagon was broken off, but I was still able to "hitch" it up to Santa's polar bear buddy with candy-striped tinsel. 

Every farm vehicle deserves a Christmas wreath!
 
Christmas Winter Wonderland!
Vignette in the "Lookee No Touchee" Living Room.
 
Most of the newer homes in my area have a room in the front of the house that nobody sits in.  It is called the "Visiting Teachers Room" or the "Music Room" if there is a piano.  My children call it the "Lookee No Touchee Room."  That is because I was always telling them (or their kids) to "look...but don't touch...my nice stuff."  This is the room with the sparkliest ornaments and the tree with the presents.  It's always a Christmas Winter Wonderland theme in the LNT Room.

Vintage Suitcase Winter Scene.
My DIL Lori gave me the suitcase when I pinned a similar scene on Pinterest.
She's the best!
 
A few magical goodies.
I made the Rudolph shadow box and the village box maybe ten or so years ago.

LNT Tree...gift wrapping still in progress.
Hope you didn't notice my "S" is upside down.

Meanwhile back in the kitchen, neighbor gifts are being assembled.

Shhhh! This is a Secret!
Pincushion Girl/Tea Cup Doll.
 
Since my oldest daughter doesn't read my blog, I thought I could safely share with you a little surprise gift I made for her.  At a vintage flea market, she saw some dolls made with pincushion half-bodies and various household items.  So I decided to make her a doll using one of her grandmother's violet cups and saucers.  My mother had collected them before her marriage in 1954.  I am not a big fan of purple, but the cups are so pretty.  I had a hard time finding lavender trims and flowers, but I finally found a small selection of miscellaneous wedding flowers at a thrift store.
 
A Pretty Face.
 
A Little Bustle in the Back.
I really hope she likes it.
 
Merry Miscellaneous Christmas!!
 
 
P.S
I just wanted Tammy N. to see her little German Boy.
Background is an Advent Calendar Village.
The original was a gift to Pres. Eisenhower after WWII.


Monday, November 24, 2014

Thanksgiving Baby and the Long Winter!

We Have Too Many Blessings To Count!

We have so many things to be thankful for this time of year.  Our daughter Sascha Anna Hatfield is one of those blessings.  Today is Sascha's 31st birthday.  Although today is a Monday, Sascha was born on Thanksgiving Day in 1983.  This is her birthday story!

Sascha's Story
Sascha wrote her story when she was twelve...

...bravely confessing to kissing Snuggle on the TV screen.
The darling little bear was her favorite toy.

Sascha was born on Thanksgiving Day at the beginning of the longest, darkest and coldest winter I had ever known.  When the pains started in the middle of the night, I knew there was no need to hurry or wake my husband...after all I was an "experienced" mother by now.  This would be our fourth child and I just knew she would be a girl!  I had no ultrasound to tell me...I just knew in my mother's heart.

Quilting the pink and aqua Teddy Bear quilt.

How strong was my faith? 
Everything I made was "Sascha Pink" and "Sascha Green."

I sat up on the living room sofa and looked out the window, watching the night progress to morning.  I thought about the life we had had since moving from Germany to El Paso, and finally...home again!
We purchased a house in the (then) rural community of Highland, Utah.  It was a modest split-level on a pleasant street with a fantastic view of the Wasatch Mountains to the east.  On my Thanksgiving vigil I watched those same snow-capped peaks glow pink in the rays of the rising sun.  Later it would snow...and keep on snowing.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

We spent the morning as we usually did each year...watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the annual showing of "Charlotte's Web."  Though what pigs and spiders have to do with Thanksgiving is a mystery to me.  The pains didn't go away, but kept a steady pace throughout the day.

"Some Pig"

I was so glad it wasn't my turn to host the family festivities.  Early that afternoon we bundled the kids up for the trip to Grandma Devey's house.  Even though I was in labor, I was not going to miss a Thanksgiving meal that I didn't have to prepare myself!


Over 30 years later I still have issues with pumpkin pie.

We settled ourselves around the holiday table sharing jokes and stories.  I would frequently stop between bites and wait quietly for the contractions to pass.  They were getting stronger...and closer.  After the pumpkin pie, I whispered to George that maybe we ought to head for the hospital.  The Cowboys were playing.  "Hold on until the game is over," he said.  So he watched the game...and I watched my watch.

The New(ish) American Fork Hospital

After the game, we drove to the hospital.  I was nauseous from the pumpkin pie and anxious to get the whole thing over with.  Where was Dr. Willis?  The nurse said to be patient, he'd be along soon.

"M.A.S.H."  Doc Willis's favorite show and Hawkeye Pierce's biggest fan.

So were was Dr. Willis?  In the Doctors' Lounge watching a re-run of "M.A.S.H."  But all was forgiven, when the dear man prescribed for me the "Cadillac of Anesthetics" and for the first time I actually enjoyed being there for the delivery.  If only I could have gotten rid of the taste of pumpkin pie.


Sascha, one-day old.
Her little nose looked just like her grandmother's.

Sascha Anna Hatfield was born at 11:40 p.m. and weighed 9 lbs. 8 oz.  Later in the morning, as I was holding my new little daughter, I looked out of the window.  It was snowing!  George and I remarked that maybe the ski resorts would open early that year; and it would be nice to have a white Christmas.  But the snow kept falling.  The Highland winds howled across the fields, carrying snow that drifted as high...it seemed...as houses.  The sun retreated for days on end...appearing rarely and only as a small white disk giving no warmth. When it wasn't snowing, fog lay heavy like a wet wool blanket.  This went on until about March.  It was the coldest winter we had ever experienced.


Sascha's Blessing Day!
Her eyes are teary, but the dress and bonnet I made for her looked great!

Being virtually snowed-in, there was plenty of time to make little dresses and bonnets and work on Sascha's blessing/christening dress.  It was so much fun to make ruffly little dresses.  George wouldn't let me dress the two older girls in frilly girly things.  I also dressed her in vintage dresses I found in the thrift shops.

Sascha's Name...
We chose the name Sascha because I fell in love with the name when we lived in Delmenhorst, Germany.  Downstairs in our apartment building lived a German family with the most adorable little boy named Sascha.  He was like a Hummel figurine, all curly blonde hair and rosy cheeks...as plump as a little sparrow.  I knew George would never let me name our son Sascha, even though it was a boy's name in Germany.  Sascha is a nickname for Alexander...spelled "Sasha" in Russia.  Sascha's middle name, Anna, was in honor of the sweet Swedish-American girl across the street.  Anna's mother became one of my dear friends and is one of the kindest women I have ever met.



Amazing resemblance!

Random Bits of Sascha... 
Our Family Portrait
The beginning of a creative, artistic childhood...

...led to a blue ribbon and a showing at the Springville Art Museum.
Her triple-great grandfather, Joseph Kerby has several pieces in the museum's collections.

Piano Lessons.

When Sascha was quite small and her older siblings were at school, we would sometimes sit at the piano and I would guide her little fingers to play a song we loved on "Sesame Street."  We changed the words to suit ourselves.  We sang...

Sascha's name goes tip-toe tip-toe
Sascha's name goes tip-toe along
Everybody tip-toe tip-toe, Sascha
Everybody tip-toe tip-toe along.

Another favorite:

Sascha's galoshes, coconuts and grapes,
Sascha's galoshes, coconuts and grapes,
Sascha's galoshes, coconuts and graaaaaapes,
Sascha's galoshes, coconuts and grapes!
  
She was such a smart little girl and begged to take piano lessons with her big sisters, but in the end, she was a little too young.


From the first day of school...

...to the last, Sascha never stopped learning,
creating and growing into the beautiful intelligent young woman she is today. 
In fact, she has gone back to college working on a double major in Forensic Science and Bio Chemistry.  Too smart for her own good! 

Happy Birthday, Sascha! 
A beautiful girl...too many selfies to choose from!

We love you!
Mom & Dad

P.S.  My High School Marching Band...American Fork High School will be marching in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year!  Yay!!!  I am so proud to be a Caveman!