Christmas Tour - These are a few . . .

These are a few of our favorite things . . .

Christmas Village - Liz has a large set, and Teenager missed them so much when she took them to her new home. This year we found her some houses of her own. The trees are more old candles, which arrived today from mbs. Teenager thought her village needed them as soon as she saw them.

Old Christmas candles - Sacony or Standard Oil, Tavern and Gurley. I *think* many of these were premiums with gasoline purchases, made from oil byproducts. Why, oh why, didn't I listen better when my mother tried to tell me these things!

Christmas books in an old fruit box that says Season's Greetings. I don't remember it from my youth, but my parents did have it in later years.

Several of our ornaments were made by an elderly lady in our area. I would see her (and them) at craft fairs, and for several years, bought them - one for each of our children. This lady was nearly deaf, and told me she worked on them all year long. I always loved them for her bright ideas, delicate craftsmanship, and detail. The beard and fur on this ornament are little tiny strings of the material that she worked with. After many years of one ornament per child each year, I finally realized that I should by one for us, too, as they take their ornaments when they leave home!

This is granddaughter E's favorite thing. When she visits - she goes straight to the kitchen window seat, and these blocks on the window sill. The other day she asked me if she could play with them by saying, "Grandma, I'll put them back!" It would help her put them back *right* if she could spell. Sometimes they're stacked straight up, and she was happy that she could see them from the end of the driveway. (Her sister likes to play with the Little People nativity, and sometimes when she leaves it looks like those figures are playing ring-around-the-rosey.)