Aftermath

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas holiday. We had a very nice time. It is such a blessing to get to spend time with family and even more so when everyone gets along!
In keeping with my last post on old movies I thought I would share some of my favorite Christmas gifts. Alex is so good to me. I am so thankful that he also shares my love for old movies. He gave me some that had been on my list. I got My Favorite Wife with Cary Grant. Love the remake with Doris Day too, but I already have it. I also got High Society and it's original The Philadelphia Story. Love them both. I mean how can it get much better than Bing, Frank Sinatra and Lois Armstrong all in one movie!?!? Last but not least I got Bringing Up Baby. I love Katharine Hepburn.
Well I am off to put up the Christmas decor. I always find the house a little sad and lonely when all the Christmas cheer is removed. I think my friends and family would think I was crazy if I left it up though. I already put it up so early.

A Few of My Favorite Christmas Classics

Merry Christmas Eve to everyone! I hope you are all done shopping and just able to enjoy this beautiful day. I just have a few brown sugar creamy apple pies to make for this evening and then I am done! I thought I would share some of my favorite Christmas movies with everyone. Fair warning but I have a lot. Christmas movies are a year round event in the Stone household.

The Bishop's Wife: Love this one. It is a wonderful reminder of the true meaning of Christmas and of what is most important everyday of the year.
Here is the trailer, kind of funny.

My favorite part:

Miracle on 34th Street: Mary loves this one. And who doesn't like Maureen O'Hara.

Christmas in Connecticut: Barbra Stanwyck is such a strong woman

Who can leave out It's a Wonderful Life: Hard to believe it was a flop when it came out.

The next two aren't ones that most people think of as Christmas movies but I do.
It Happened On 5th Ave.

Bells of St. Mary's

Everyone knows White Christmas

But did you know the song White Christmas was first made famous on my next favorite? Holiday Inn

I think it is funny how the trailer from then are so different from the ones today. Now they have to catch your attention in 30 seconds. So are there any movies I mentioned that are your favorites, ones you haven't seen, or did I leave yours off? Let me know.

Christmas At Last!

I hope everyone is taking time to enjoy the season. I thought I would show some pictures of Mary and Jeff decorating the tree and then some of the finished touches.

So last weekend we had our 3rd annual Happy Birthday Jesus Party. It isn't much but we really try to remind the kids the best we can that Jesus is the real reason we celebrate Christmas, and that he is the best gift we have or ever will receive. I took a few pictures to show some of our family's Christmas decorations.

One of the favorite decorations I have is my Dickens Village. It was passed down by my Grandmother years ago. I love the soft glow it puts off at night and the memories of it at my Grandparents. We are very blessed that one of our local colleges has a fantastic horticulture department. Every year they have a poinsettia sale and my mother and I go. One of my annual purchases is one of these poinsettia trees.

 Here we have a picture of my peninsula with the Birthday cake for the party. It was a 6 layer salted caramel chocolate cake. Made from scratch of course! It was one of the more time consuming cakes but oh so worth it! Below is an appetizer I made for the party. It was a very easy Paula Deen recipe and so good! Ritz crackers topped with graded Parmesan cheese and wrapped in half a slice of bacon. Bake on 250 for 35 min.

 My dinning table center piece is some silver I have collected either from my Grandmother or at antique stores. This is the same silver mentioned in a previous post. I love how it reflects the light and the colors of the hanging ornaments. I have just tucked some of my favorite vintage ornaments all around it so no matter where you sit there is something pretty to look at.

 I told you we were crazy about blow molds! They are everywhere.

More vintage ornaments, although the lighting is really bad in this picture. They are tucked next to a "rose" poinsettia I chose in white to brighten up the corner.
I pray you are all having a stress free Christmas season. Remember to slow down and spend time with the people you love. Also take heart knowing God loved you so much he sent the gift of his Son just for you.

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like Christmas Part 1

I pray everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a nice time and were very blessed to spend the holiday with family and good friends. Christmas is in full swing in the Stone household. I thought I would give you a sneak peek of our outside vintage decor.

I love blow molds. I think they evoke a much warmer holiday feel than the modern blow up decorations available a many box stores. Although, I am not sure Jeff and Mary would agree with me. These have all been purchased at antique stores over the years. Many have actually come from camping trips to Branson, MO where antiquing is a favorite past time. Mary, Joesph and baby Jesus are the newest coming from my mother-in-law. I need to research some information on how to tell the actual age of these plastic beauties. Maybe I can find something to add to Christmas part 2. Let me know what you think!

Vintage Christmas Shopping

Well I hate to say we are still not completely done with our decorating. We have been looking at larger houses and I'm just not totally sure if I want to put it ALL out if we end up trying to sell ours. It would just be that much more to re-pack. I am happy to report that we are not the type that have boxes from the attic out everywhere until we are done. We happily enjoyed some company this weekend with no mess in site! Well, except that which the kids made.
But while you hopefully patiently wait for my pictures I thought I would share some pictures that Mary and I took while out shopping Saturday morning.

 

And here was a shot of my favorite find. Please excuse the glare the pictures don't have the best quality coming from my phone.

This is a catalog from 1950 titled "Christmas Ideas." I wanted this so badly but I just couldn't see coughing up $20. So it didn't come home but you can bet I'll be back right after Christmas to see if it is for sale!

Nightly Chores

Well all of Christmas is not yet up. We have been very busy around the house. And with my almost OCD need to clean everything top to bottom before we get everything out, it is taking a little longer than anticipated to get everything in order. However I do feel like it is less stressful on everyone not to rush. I always strive to make this time of year full of fond memories for the kids and not hectic dysfunctional ones. When we do manage to get everything together I will be sure and post some of my fondest vintage Christmas items. Blow molds, ornaments and more coming soon!
In the meantime I have been cleaning up a frenzy. That included polishing some of my silver last night. Alex and the children of course don't notice these sorts of things but it makes me feel better. Remember that OCD I mentioned... Anyway I will admit that this was one of the few times I have polished silver in my life. All previous times has been with rag and cleaner. But after reading a nice little time saving tip in Southern Living I decided to give it a go. Basically it said to line the bottom of the sink with aluminum foil and place the silver on top. Next sprinkle with baking soda and then poor boiling hot water over it. To be fair they did give the main necessary information but I feel they lacked some key points. Namely fill the sink until it covers the pieces and then let the silver sit in the solution for a bit. I grabbed an old toothbrush and was happy to see the tarnish rub away! I must note we are not an upscale, silver service family but I do enjoy my pieces that have been handed down by my grandmother and my antique store finds!

Up with Chrismas!

Well today has begun with the taking down on all things Fall. It's not that I am in a rush to jump into Christmas. In fact Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. But since we do not host Thanksgiving and it is a lot of work to decorate for Christmas we like being able to enjoy it as long as possible. So Alex is out removing totes from the attic and preparing to put lights up on the house. Now before you balk we do not turn them on until Thanksgiving night. But it is nice to have it up and done while the weather is still somewhat nice.
So before I run off to get the "help" of Mary and Jeff I leave you with one of my favorite episodes. The one on Youtube isn't the best for sound quality I actually recommend you check out this one: http://www.hulu.com/watch/77903/the-donna-reed-show-a-very-merry-christmas. But since Blogger only lets my show Youtube here you go.

Welcome! Let me introduce myself.

I am a 90% of the time stay at home mom. I have twin 5 year olds we will call Jeff and Mary. They keep me on my toes! I began to notice that watching modern television just shows rattled families that have no respect for the often times goofy father and lazy kids. I sure don't want that to be the model for how our family is brought up. My husband "Alex" is a very hard worker who my children and I both adore and respect. I find myself easily stressed by our modern times and the pace we try so hard to keep. After watching some of our favorite shows as a family, Donna Reed & Leave it to Beaver to name a few, I find that all of us are more relaxed and have had a nice moral lesson or reminder. Although I recognize that these are TV shows and not real I also believe that they are good models to learn from. Impossible to replicate I know but even if I fall WAY short, which I know I will, we will still be better off then most in our modern society. Being an antique lover and vintage nut this works very well for us. I need constant reminders on being kinder and more patient but I love Donna because even though she always seems perfect she does have her moments. As we all do.