More of Our Christmas Decor

 These are special Christmas balls.  In Washington, Ron had a patient who was a glass blower, and had a glory hole in his garage.  We spent a Saturday there - Daddy didn't want to go, but we took Elna, and she made a ball.  Ron's and my balls are small - We didn't have the technique quite right, but it was a lot of fun and very exciting.  We took more glass balls home than we made.

 These little "Santa's Dwarfs" have traveled with us.  I first made these guys for a craft fair that we did in Powell - sold lots of them.  These have endured over the years - always looking patient.

 Ron had this paper mache Santa when we married - he seems to be very old.  He has to come out each Christmas.

 The little Santa clinging to the lamp base was a gift from Phyllis Hansen, a dear friend, who left us quite some years ago.  The carved Santa in front was made by a Mr. Nelson, a furniture re-finisher in Olympia, who retired and went to Arizona and picked up wood carving.  The Santa with the tree was painted by Julia in the days when we were doing lots of painting projects.  And, if you enlarge the picture, you can see my collection of Petersen mice in the display case.  Nativity scene on top, Ron's shelf is next, and mine on the bottom.

 Sorry this picture is so dim - These are a few of my nativity sets.  The center figures are corn husk dolls of Mary, Joseph and the baby, the set to the left that you can barely see is  one that I purchased in Jerusalem after I realized that we just couldn't afford the olive wood carved sets in Bethlehem, and the little white set minus shepherds, I bought in Olympia at a clearance sale.  The light is coming in from the windows, so the reflection on the table makes an interesting effect.

 At least you get the drift of the tree - never did get the angel at the top of the tree this year.

 I'm including this picture because the ghost hands at the far edge are mine - so much for taking pictures in front of a reflective window.  This stained glass poinsettia was made by a couple of friends in Mesa during the years we wintered there.

Part of our Christmas Traditions

 Some traditions are new - this Santa and Mrs. Santa (Do they have first names?) usually end up somewhere in our house at this time of year.  A gift from children.

 This is Julia's corner - She and Mike sent holly, and the blue Santa is one that she painted and gave to me for Christmas quite a few years ago.  He is very special

 Dorothy and Sara and their families spoiled us with a lovely centerpiece - In this world of artificial trees and greens, it's nice to actually smell an evergreen bough.

 The Wedgewood onion (another gift from Dorothy and Sara) hangs from our chandelier every Christmas - a perfect reminder of many things in our lives.

And this little Christmas tree always sits under the mirror at the entrance to the living room.  The fired clay Santa has holly in his pack - Many of the little ornaments on the tree came from our stay in Germany    More tomorrow!

Four and Twenty Birds that Are Black

The big apple tree at the corner of our lot and our neighbor's orchard is seldom free of fruit in the winter, because the apples are small and difficult to pick.  However, it does offer food to traveling birds.  This flock settled in to eat the fruit or just rest from their travels.  Couldn't tell what kind they are - it is so cold, and they are all fluffed up.  Enlarge them to see the red apples and the birds - if you are able to identify them, make a comment.  Anyway, the tree is decorated for the holiday season.  Unfortunately, the neighbor's grandson fired up a snowmobile to have fun in our lots, and scared them away.  The tree waits for the next occupants.

Weather - or Not

In the not-too distant past, when I took the pictures in the previous posting, we were heading south over Sardine Canyon between Wellsville and Brigham City.  On our return trip only a day later, this was the change in the landscape.  Of course, the top two pictures are taken from our backyard - there is snow at home, too.  Now, we are just freezing and thankful for a warm home.

Before Winter Really Settled In

All of the family blogs have been languishing the last three weeks - too much else going on.  However, I need to get going again.  Here are a couple of the pictures I took between Logan and Brigham City last month when we went south.  The mountain pass between Wellsville and Brigham City is called "Sardine" most of the time, in local usage, including the newspaper.  However, a few years back, the Logan paper ran a short feature on local mountain passes, and explained that the original Sardine Canyon road went over the mountains farther south, and that the highway we use should be called Wellsville Canyon.  "Should be" gets ignored, and everyone knows what we're talking about when we say "Sardine".