Animal crackers

 

Although our tree has been decorated for a couple of weeks now, I put the final touches on it today when I added four boxes of animal crackers. We will have them as treats on Christmas morning. It's much harder than it used to be to find animal crackers in boxes with a handle but Ward eventually found some yesterday.

Below is a previous post that talks about the first time I made the animal cracker-Christmas correlation. And I'm glad I did. 

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Animal Crackers for Christmas

or Now that makes sense.

I ran into a friend the other day while shopping. She was buying Barnum Animal Crackers and I was trying NOT to buy some Doritos. She told me that every year at Christmas, she buys a box of animal crackers for her kids since the crackers originally started as Christmas ornaments. Wow. I had never heard that. I guess that explains the string on the box.

Very curious, I went home (with a bag of Doritos) to see if this story were a piece of lore or truth. Here's what I found out. Animal crackers have a long history starting in England before the colonies were formed. After importing them for several years, they were eventually  produced here. There were various companies involved that eventually merged together to form the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco). In 1902 they started to call them Barnum's Animals from Barnum and Bailey's Circus. That was the same year they had the idea of marketing them at Christmas with a colorful box and string to hang on a Christmas tree. I'm not sure how long the this campaign kept up, but the box, largely unchanged, with it's string is still around over 100 years later.

Guess what Santa is going to bring Ward, Wally, and Theodore for Christmas this year? It will be hanging on the tree waiting for them Christmas morning. A new tradition has begun.

Want to read more?

http://collectibles.about.com/od/advertisingstuff/a/blTFbarnums.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_cracker

http://www.foodreference.com/html/artanimalcrack.html

Carolers

Saturday night we were visited by a group of delightful carolers. They were a group of elementary school girls who were all members of GAC--Girls Animal Club. The girls explained that they formed this club because they all love animals and hope to get a pet one day. As part of their mission, they were collecting money for an animal charity if you wanted to donate. They all wore masks, socially distanced, and were very polite. After the group finished singing, they handed us a holiday card they had made. The littlest one (6 or 7) then mentioned that the next-door neighbor had given them all ring pops, but the older ones quickly quieted her.  We didn't have any treats for them, but did donate to their cause. 

Their visit made the evening for Ward and me and many others in the neighborhood. There are some parents out there who are doing something right and we feel lucky to be living among them.

See you tomorrow.

Note: I don't have pictures of the carolers in our neighborhood, so I've linked above to other singing kids that I also enjoyed .

Darkness and Squirrels

Darkness

This morning's sunrise. If you look closely, you can see birds flying past.

We all know that this can be a depressing time of year for many people with darkness falling before it feels like the day should be over. I am one of those people sometimes. But I like the darkness, too. Darkness makes me slow down. Darkness lets me sleep longer. Darkness lets me see more sunrises. And stars. So am I looking forward to longer days? Absolutely. But am I enjoying the beauty of the darkness? I'm trying.

Squirrels

Our old feeders. 

During the light of day, the squirrels have been providing their own kind of entertainment. We had bird feeders set up so that we could see them from our kitchen window. We tried different places, but that seemed to be the best. However, in that spot, the squirrels got to the feeder easily and thus ensued the battle to keep them from eating all of the food. We didn't mind feeding them, but when they were on the feeders, the birds did not come. After various attempts at deterring them using baffles, loud noises, and peppered food, we invested in new squirrel-proof feeders. We've had "squirrel-proof" feeders before that the pesky acrobats have been able to defeat, so a lot of research went into the our latest purchase. So far, the squirrels have not been able to get to the food. But, boy, did they try and that's been fun to watch. However, they have finally given up. Now, maybe they'll visit my neighbor more who puts out food just for them. Hopefully, we will be able to build the bird population that visits us with the squirrels finding their food elsewhere. 

Our new feeders.

In other squirrel news, last Saturday we had a mild day and I used it to do some yard cleanup that I hadn't gotten to earlier. And what did I find? A green tomato buried in the day lily patch. It was about the size of a baseball with a bite taken out of one side and perfectly preserved. I left it where it was, so if the squirrel remembers, he can have a green treat this winter.

Until next time...

 (which according to plan should be tomorrow.)

The Mantle

I'm not sure if I've lost my mind, but I've decided that I'm going to do a post everyday from now until Christmas. It's not like I have extra time on my hands, but this morning it seemed like a fun challenge because, as you know, daily posting is not something I am usually coordinated enough to do.

Today, I'm going to take you on a trip down memory lane with the decorations on my mantle. They all have a story, of course. So sit back and pretend to be mildly interested as I regale you with the accounts of where I got some of them. 

This tapestry was my mother's. She got it from a young woman, Melissa, from our hometown who lived in Thailand for several years doing missionary work. During Melissa's stay, my mother sent her many care packages and letters. My mother was good about that sort of thing. Over the years, she sent out hundreds of care packages to college kids, people in nursing homes, etc.  

(Packing tip that I learned from my mother. Cookies travel well in an empty Pringles can.)

This was made by a close family friend.  She and her husband are renaissance people and can do just about anything they set their mind to. At the time she made this, one of their endeavors was making rustic furniture.

These needlework trees were made by my aunt. They were especially appreciated because they were made after she started to have problems with dementia. 

This Christmas tree was made by Wally when he was four years old. As you can see, it's a pine cone that's been spray painted green, glued into a wooden spool. Most of the "branches" had sequins glued on them for the decorations. There are only a few of those left at this point.

When I was in college I lived in a trailer park. Next door was a lovely couple who watched out for me. One Christmas, they gave this tree, that the wife had made, so I could have some decorations. I have seen these ceramic trees in the stores recently marketed as vintage trees. It's true. Everything old is new again.

This is the Christmas stocking that I grew up with. There were four of them just alike for me and my sisters.  We didn't have a fireplace, so in the beginning they were hung on a window sill. Later they moved to the steps' railing where the made an appearance every Christmas until my mother entered the nursing home. They were always hung from oldest to youngest, but to avoid confusion, my grandmother embroidered our names on the top of them.  (You may notice, I carefully cropped that part out.) I hung this one along with my other one and have told Santa I'd like both of them filled. :)

This tree and its ornaments belonged to my grandmother. She died when I was nine after living with us for several years, but I remember seeing it in her house. Technically, this is not mine, but is supposed to be rotated among me and my sisters. They deferred to me this year.

And in other news, the passing showers we were supposed to have this morning 
turned into almost an inch of rain followed by snow. 
No real accumulation. That is coming Wed.

Christmas is Coming

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat... 

That's my Christmas song earworm for the day and no one does it better than Miss Piggy and her friends. 

Christmas is coming and we are busy with preparations. The outside lights are up, however parts of two strands have stopped lighting.  But they are what they are and still pretty all the same. (In a Bah, humbug minute, I'm getting tired of lights not working. We have a large bag full of strands that will only partially light. What good are LED bulbs that will burn forever if the wires between them are cheap. I'd spend more for lights if I could figure out which ones were better quality.) Shortly after we finished the outside lights, I mailed our annual Christmas letter. Christmas letters and cards, for that matter, are very old school, but I'm going to keep them up as long as I can. Because, let's face it, I'm old school for most things.

The tree is also up and decorated, and we declared the inside decorations done yesterday. Nothing fancy, but just enough to make it festive and special for this time of year. Last night, Ward and I sat down and figured out what still has to be done to complete gifts for the people on our list. We making many of our gifts this year and have been busy elves working on several things that I can't show at this point.

And it's a Christmas miracle. I have two poinsettia plants that I got last Christmas which are still alive! And they're blooming!! They are spindly and all of the leaves are falling off, but they make me happy all the same. I think of them as the  Charlie Brown Christmas tree of the poinsettia world. :)

Do you celebrate Christmas? Are doing any decorations this year?