The Second Wee Santa

I finished this Santa yesterday. He is the second of the four that I told you about that I’m making in this approximate size. The overall measurement for this jolly Santa is 6 ¼ inches tall including the ¾ inch thick section of Christmas tree trunk base he is mounted on.  This makes him ½ inch shorter than the first one in this series. Unlike the first Santa who has long skinny legs, this one has stubby legs and is quite rotund.

I’m picturing him here with one of my regular sized Santa figures so you can get an idea of how small he really is.

The Santa on the left is 6 inches taller but it's more than how tall he is compared to the newest one. He's bigger all over and until you see them together it really doesn't sink in.

I decided on green for his outfit with reddish colored fur trim. He has antique gold buttons down the front of his coat. He is wearing brown boots and mittins and is carrying a sweet little doll.

I did say he was rotund. Like the other Santa this one is standing atop a mound of snow. I used Martha Stewarts tinsel glitter on the snow mound but don't know if I like the effect as much as the glitter that I used on the last one. It doesn't seem to sparkle or glisten as much.

The painting seems to loose the depth I try to achieve when I photograph it and I was hoping that a close-up might show it to a better advantage but now I'm not really sure if it makes a difference. Not only that, but the color looks different. More blue than green.

I couldn't resist showing a close-up of the little doll. Her face is so small, just over 1/4 inch that I have a heck of a time seeing it let alone painting it.

Thanksgiving is only four days away and I have so many things to do to get ready for our holiday get-together. I make dinner for my family and a few friends and I still have cleaning, shopping and baking to do plus working on gifts and cards so I might not be back here until next Friday at the earliest so I'm going to wish all of my US friends a very happy Thanksgiving. If you're traveling this holiday please have a safe journey.

Happy Holidays and as always, thanks for stopping by.

FORGETTING SOMETHING?

In the dining room:

“Hey, Bellamine I know Mom said she wanted to hang this  pretty pumpkin thingy  that Oma Linda sent us on the wall but see how  it matches  this basket and it goes with our decorating scheme which is all about pumpkins. Well I’m thinking since it’s even the same orange as the orange of the basket and it looks like it’s the same diameter as the top opening, I’m thinking it will make a great looking lid.”

“Do baskets even have lips, Wendy?”

“Lids Bellamine, not lips and yes, some baskets do have lids.”

“Would you look at that? It fits perfectly and I can almost guarantee that Mom is going to just l-o-v-e it!

Are you about finished hanging the pumpkins on the tree? I’m getting hungry.”

“Don’t rush me, I’m almost done. Wendy, how do the turkeys look here under the tree? Should I move them out or push them further back or leave them where they are? Come here and take a look and tell me what you think.”

“Where you have them is fine. Now, finish with the tree so we’re done here. I need F-O-O-D!"

“Okay, that’s the last of the pumpkins. Is it too much or not enough? Do we need anything else? I keep thinking we’re forgetting something.”

“We’re not forgetting anything Bellamine. Remember, we decided to downplay the decorations because the weekend after Thanksgiving we’re going to start decorating for Christmas.”

“Are you sure we’re not forgetting something?”

“Well, now that you mentioned it Bellamine, I think we forgot to have our afternoon snack of toasted muffin with peanut butter and honey but we can take care of that right now. Last one to the kitchen is a snail bear.”

“When we get done with our snack we can watch Brave again? I really do l-u-v that movie!”

Meanwhile in the park half a mile from here:

“It looks like we’re the only ones here. Where is everyone?” - Pugsley

“I told you we didn’t have to leave so early to get here but you wouldn’t listen.” - Wednesday

“Look, the O’Dell kids just turned the corner into the park.” – Agnes May

“Looks like Donner couldn’t get away from us fast enough.” -Dory

“Dory you know how much he likes to be around Wednesday. I think he’s crushing on her.”

“Where are Bellamine and Wendy? I thought they would get here first. It was Bellamine’s idea for us to meet here so we can all go out to Snow Ville together so we could meet their snow friends.” - Danni

“Don't you worry. They'll get here. If Bellamine says she’s going to do something she’ll do it.” - Dory

“Ahhhh…. guys, how long are we going to wait?”  - Danni

While back home:

“WOW! That was great! Okay, who wants to watch it again?”

“What’s going on in here?

                      Bellamine aren’t you forgetting something?” - Mom

“Noooo…..I don’t think so. What??? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Weren't you going to meet your friends and you weren't you supposed to go together to Snow Ville so they could meet Crystal and Crispin? Well? I'm waiting for an answer young lady and your friends are down stairs waiting for an explanation.”

“This all happened yesterday and now we have to find a way to make it up to our friends. Mom said that if she didn’t know better she’d say we were both having a senior moment. All we can say in our defense is our heads are filled with stuffing. You’d better believe we’re not going to let something like this happen ever again.”

“Now we’re going to go visit our bear friends for Funny Friday.”

Hugs,

Bellamin & Wendy

PHOTOS FROM CHRISTMAS PAST

I've recently been going through old photos to try and find some that I can scan and make into Christmas cards for my grand kids. You'd think I'd have tons of pictures but that's not the case and half of the ones I do have are fuzzy.

Years ago I took photos all of the time with my trusty 35mm camera with all of the expensive lenses and attachments. This was not an automatic camera mind you and since I needed to focus manually as my eyesight worsened so did the quality of my photos. I started taking fewer photos and let my kids do most of the picture taking when we got together for holidays. For some reason they never felt the need to share with me as the pictures were of their children. Go figure. Since then I've purchased a couple of cameras that are automatic but up until recently haven't taken enough photos to even bother getting photo boxes.

So going through the photos I came across a few I thought I'd share with you. While I was searching through the packets I started feeling nostalgic for the days when my grands were young and innocent. I really miss the excitement of the holidays as demonstrated by the young. You've heard the saying Christmas is about the kids? Maybe it's just something I say. It's pretty much how I feel about this time of year. I'd love to have a time machine and go back to the years when my kids were little and getting up on Christmas morning.

Here are a couple of photos taken the Christmas of 1992. I was living in Vancouver at the time.

Santa's helper setting gifts under the tree. Not all of us helpers are elves you know.

Sitting on the sofa is my daughter, Bambi and her friend. I'm in the center of the photo, I think hubby took the picture and since I was passing out gifts he thought I was the main figure in the setting. In the foreground are the tops of my grand's heads. I don't think they would be impressed with this picture of them. I'm showing you it because this is what I looked like 20 years ago.  Not too shabby for being a grandma.

This is one of the few photos of AJ during that time period. I think he was shy around me because he really didn't remember who I was. He's holding a picture of himself and his brother that I had sitting on a shelf.

This is Christmas of 1994 and Ariel and Donovan sitting with me in front of my tree. I just noticed we're all dressed in black and gray. Not very festive. Ariel was 3 1/2 and Donovan was 7 at the time of this picture.

Ariel looked so excited and happy with her new sweater while Donovan looked more subdued. Must be the age difference.

Donovan with a few of his gifts taking a break waiting for someone else to open a present.

Okay, I guess I have to confess that we were all goth this Christmas. That or there was a terrific sale on black. Bambi actually did wear black most of the time and I've been known to have a dozen black dresses at one time hanging in my closet.

Ariel got this large chocolate bear the night before Christmas and insisted on sleeping with him. She did want him to wear some of her pajamas and was disappointed when they didn't fit.

These pictures are some of the last ones I took back then. I have more but they really are so terrible I'd be embarrassed to show them.

I'm still working on my ornaments. I've made 30 by painting Santa on clothes pins and have made several more cookie ornaments. I'm not happy with most of the last batch of cookies and don't think I'll waste time painting them. I might be able to salvage some stars and trees and a couple of the snowmen but for the most part I wouldn't think of hanging  them on the tree. I'd rather the tree be skimpy on ornaments. I also have a Belsnickle nearly ready to paint and two more in the early stages. I have some fabric ornaments cut out ready to be stitched and some paper ornaments that I've started.

Thanksgiving is in just a few days. I went out this morning and did my shopping for the dinner I'm preparing. I tried to think of everything I'll need but you know how that goes. I'll be in the middle of my preparations and realize I forgot to get_________, fill in the blank.

How about you? Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving? My son and son-in-law got down my Christmas dishes from the attic this morning while my daughter and I were grocery shopping. They put the boxes in the living room of all places. One of the things I like to do is switch the dishes out and use only the Christmas ones during the month of December. The guys were just trying to get ahead on things I need help with not thinking about a house full of people on Thursday. I found out today that Donovan won't be able to make it as he's on tour. I'd better do some more checking to see if there are going to be any more no shows.

I want to wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving. I pray you have family and friends to surround you and a wonderful meal on the table. I wish you health and happiness and that you have a day so memorable that years from now you'll think about this one Thanksgiving day with a fond heart. Thanks to all of you who have become so important to me. To those who have left encouragement to me in your lovely comments. To those who've become dear friends I say thank you.

I should get back to my painting.  As always thanks for stopping by.