White Christmas - The Best Christmas Movie Ever

Ok, so Christmas is officially over, but I forgot to mention before it was over, that my favorite Christmas Movie of all time is Irving Berlin's "White Christmas"!!

(Also: we actually had a white Christmas this year, with snow and everything! For the first time since .... well, I'll put it to you this way: I have never seen snow on Christmas my whole life.)

Anyway... we've been watching "White Christmas" forever. I recently found out that it has been made into a Broadway musical.





The 1954 movie stars Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera Ellen. And I love Rosemary Clooney. And Vera Ellen.... what a dancer!



The songs are great .... c'mon, it's Bing Crosby! And the dancing is amazing. I love the costumes, the story, everything.
Ok, so there are some pretty cheesy sets.... but this was back in 1954 when they did almost everything on sound stages in Hollywood.




This is my favorite scene. The guys stall for time for the girls to get away out a window (long story) so they lip sync to a recording of the girl's song, the famous "Sisters". It is hilarious! Apparently, it wasn't supposed to be in the movie, but it was so funny, the editors left it in. I am so glad! (Below is a clip someone made of parts from two different scenes.)



Another cool thing we noticed awhile back is that the same actor who plays Bernardo in West Side Story is one of the four dancers in the "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me" number that Rosemary Clooney sings.

And of course, my favorite Christmas song, "White Christmas" is in it. :)

Here's another little clip with some amazing dancing. Vera Ellen just blows me away.



(Sorry that blogger is cutting off the right hand edges of these you tube things.... grrrrrr)

Cooking Wild Turkey

*I apologize ahead of time if the killing and eating of wild game is offensive to some. In my family, we eat a lot of wild game; but never try to push our hunting beliefs on anyone else. If hunting/eating wild game offends you; please just skip this post and please don't go away forever!*


I know a lot of people think that wild game tastes "gamey" or "strong" or tastes "wild". Maybe it is in some cases....
But we have found that if it is taken quickly, dressed properly, and cooked skillfully, wild game is quite tasty and enjoyable.

Last year we bought a quarter of grass fed Black Angus beef, fed on hay we raised and sold the owner of the cattle.
We also had deer we harvested off our 170 acre farm.

I would cook each exactly the same way; and do you know we preferred the venison to the grass fed beef? It's true. When your venison - or turkey - cuts are expertly processed, they taste absolutely "game" free.

Anyhoo - I roasted up some chicken and some wild turkey for Christmas Dinner.


This is not the wild turkey. This is the domestic chicken I bought.

Kevin had cut the breast meat and legs/thighs off the wild turkey. Make sure you get all the feathers and fuzz off the meat! As you can see in this photo, even after skinning it, there is still some fuzz left.



In cooking game, I use a lot of herbs; like these I plucked out of my herb garden, what is left of it. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. (Wait. That's a song, right?)





Salt and pepper the turkey pieces, place in a zip lock bag, drizzle some olive oil in there, add the herbs (crushed a little bit), and throw in a couple slices of onion and maybe some garlic cloves if you have some. (I didn't! Aaak!)



Give the bag a mash, and let it sit for 12 hours in the fridge.

For my dish, I loosened the skin on the chicken, and placed herbs under the skin; and secured with toothpicks. Next I rubbed it all over with olive oil, and placed it in my Great Grandmother's Early 1900s "Savory" roasting pan that I had stolen from my Mom's house.
I arranged the wild turkey around it, drizzled a little more olive oil all over the whole thing, added a bit of water, put the lid on, and popped it in the oven (350) for an hour and a half or so; or until the juices run clear and it is slightly browned.



It was yummy. We ate it with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach and my sisters green bean thing. Later I will post about all the candy and desserts that were created over the Holiday...... mmmmmmmmm

Dear Local Goodwill Super Store.....

Dear Local Goodwill Super Store:

I really, really love coming to your store and finding cool old stuff, cheap. I come every week and spend a lot of money there, buying cool old stuff.

But please - do everyone a favor and stop putting large adhesive sticker price tags on your antique and vintage furniture items. Your convenient stickers leave large areas of stickiness that take forever to remove.
Please consider an alternative - like hang tags that tie onto furniture - such as the Salvation Army Thrift Shop across town use.

No stickiness.

No ruined antique finishes.

And please, stop marking prices on the backs and bottoms of china and other items with black Sharpie markers! This greatly reduces the antique value of the items that collectors like myself treasure.

Here is where the adhesive sticker price tags are really nifty. Stick a sticker on the 90 year old vase and mark the price on that; instead of directly on the 90 year old vases' bottom.

Thank you very much - "A frequent and frequently annoyed customer"

My Tree

My Christmas decorating style is very old fashioned, and very "nature" inspired. I bring all kinds of branches and vines and leaves into the house at Christmas, and use fruits, nuts, etc.
All my vintage ornaments are on my shop tree; all the antique blown glass ones.. at home, I have more of a "memory" tree.

So here is our tree...a live tree.
(I apologize for the so-so pics... I am still trying to figure out taking indoor photos with my new camera.)



This year, in all my collecting, I found myself drawn to anything with birds.... mostly, I believe, because my Grandmother always loved birds and collected them, and since her passing, birds remind me of her. So I have a lot of "birdies" on my tree. (Gramma always said "birdies".... )







We have a lot of animal ornaments also. What can I say; I love animals so!


A black bear wearing a wreath around his neck.



A goose wearing a wreath around it's neck.



The photos is a bit fuzzy; I know.... this is one of two small porcelain geese I bought a few weeks ago for fifty cents at a thrift shop. They were in a box with an original $8 price tag. I love them!


One of my own creations, a cross stitch sheep.


The one on the right is another one of my own creations.


One of my husband's many Hallmark ornaments given to him by his Mom. And he likes old trucks. (And new trucks.) (And middle aged trucks.)

Okay, so he likes trucks. :)


My sister Naomi and I bought matching ornaments one year.


The one on the left has a Dalmatian dog on it - bought the year I got my Dal, Sebastian; whose name is engraved on it. He passed a year ago at age 12. :(


I bought this to remember our horse, Cookie, the year she passed away. My family had had her since 1986.


This one is, perhaps, the most meaningful of all the ornaments on my tree. It was given to me by my dear friend, Margo, the year Kevin and I got married.

Margo passed away after a sudden and unexpected stroke this past spring, just a day or so before I lost my Grandmother. I never got to say goodbye to Margo; and I miss her. When I look at this angel ornament she gave me, I think of her now, in Heaven, with the angels and her Heavenly Father.

So that's my tree. Plain and simple. And bedecked with so many cherished memories.

Shop Update - December 2010

My "antique booth" experiment in the Antique shop nearby is underway.... with a few sales. I had a "open house" that I did not advertise properly, so hardly any people showed up. (My fault.) The owner and I have pretty much decided to shut the shop down for January/February and re-open in the early spring - as it is very expensive to heat the old building and much work needs to be done. We will open by appt. only, while we work on thinning out her old inventory, and on some cleaning/redecorating/remodeling projects in the building. Then we'll have a huge event in the Springtime - which I am planning now. I've been thinking that a vintage fashion show would be awesome - if I can get enough people to parade around in their vintage outfits!

During that time I plan on working on my own inventory - I have some painted furniture projects I need to catch up on. I also plan on vamping up my vintage clothing inventory - with a few out of town shopping trips planned over those few months.

I am working on re-doing all the photos in my Etsy shop, with my new camera; and giving it a new vibe.

I recently came upon a stash of new old stock, very cute, adorable, romantic and girly sleepwear and lounge wear pieces; and some other "stuff". Here is a peek at some of the new stuff to hit the shop this coming week:


"Popcorn" beaded envelope clutch - 1950s. Like new!


1976 bicentennial colonial style costume dress. In pea green. Whoa.

Snow Days

I woke up to a few inches of snow this morning, and had to be driven to work by my hero husband. :)My job is usually done from my house; but on certain days my job requires that I sit with an elderly lady and oversee meals, daily activities, and medications. So I have a lot of time to read, reflect, and remember.

Oh, and shop on line. But that is a different story.

Kids who (are blessed that they) live in the Southern United States know how special, and exciting, and fun snow days are! And even though my mom home schooled my siblings and me, we didn't have to do our schoolwork on those rare winter weather days.
It was especially rare for us, moving here from Florida in the mid 80's. When I was about 6 or 7, I remember we had one really huge snowfall, about a foot. Then for years, winters in North Carolina were pretty mild, often warm, and we certainly never got measurable snow - except for those rare occasions.

Snow days always began with bundling up and playing in the snow until we were wet and cold. My parent's house is perched on a tall hill, with a steep driveway that was perfect for sledding, as was the streets around our small village.

Mom would toss our wet clothes in the dryer and feed us a lunch of tomato soup and grilled cheese; and hot cocoa with lots of poofy marshmallows on top! Then we'd put on the warm clothes, toasty from the dryer, and go out again! Dad would usually play his guitar and sing; and mom would sew clean things.


As we got older, snow days were still exciting; but in my teen years, the first order of a snow day was to feed our horses, and feed the horses at the other horse farm I worked on; which entailed driving around the countryside - always risky for Southerners who don't have a lot of winter weather driving experience.

In 1996 we had a "southern blizzard" in the Carolinas and into Virginia; a surprise snow storm that dumped 8 - 10 inches of snow and then ice all in one evening. We didn't have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, and my Dad, sister and I had to load the horse's feed onto sleds and trudge down the 3/4 mile driveway to feed the horses at the farm I worked on.

In our teen years, my sister and I were allowed to go out after dark with our neighbors for evening sledding parties; because the snow re-froze after dark and the sledding was superb - and fast!

Today, for the most part, I do not like winter weather and extreme cold. And it has been extremely cold in my Southern home recently.
But I still like snow days for the stillness they cast on the world; and how all busyness stops. I like being snuggled in my toasty farm cottage with our wood stoves roaring and my kitties cuddled all around. And this year, we have a puppy to cuddle also.

I still have those horse chores; made simpler now because I have a big, 4 wheel drive truck to navigate the farms in.
I love bundling up and bringing my horses in to their stalls, with their deep pine shavings bed; hearing the munching of hay and grain; and seeing them all bundled in their blankets.

Once chores are done I like to bake something, or make some soup. Watch movies in my PJ's under a quilt with something hot to drink; and maybe doze off. And then I like to make a big hearty dinner, like pot roast, or Spaghetti.

That's what I'd like to be doing today - but I'm working. Oh well.

Gingerbread

Gingerbread is another old-fashioned taste of Christmas... whether you call it gingerbread, or just plain old molasses cookies; they're a favorite in my family.
I remember going to Old Salem, NC in school and getting paper thin Moravian Molasses cookies in their old-time bakery. And I remember baking cookie with mom at Christmas time, cutting out the gingerbread men with her big cookie cutter, and pressing raisins in for the eyes, nose, mouth and buttons.

Years ago I started making gingerbread, the kind that is like cake. Some people like it with lemon sauce; I like mine warm with a little orange peel and real whipped cream. Yum.

Another gingerbread favorite is gingerbread houses..... or even gingerbread horses.

Open House

Well since no one - well, just a couple of people, actually - showed up to my Antique Store Open House, I figured I'd have a virtual Open House for you who read this blog.

The only thing you are missing is the hot Wassail, four kinds of home made cookies, and old fashioned ribbon candy that we served.

Yes, it was a very.Very.Very disappointing weekend.... but nevertheless.

(These are the first photos I took with my new camera, so some of them are a little "off"; because I am getting used to the new features, etc.)














(I love this set of sorbets. They're from the 30's, from what I can tell.)





(My sister Noelle re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring in front of the cozy wood stove.)




(View one of the downstairs level of the store.)


(View 2 of the downstairs level.)




This is my tree in my "booth" in the upstairs part of the store. Most of the ornaments on it are vintage ones.)






(Me & New Camera.)




(My shop.)


(China in my shop.)


(Furniture I have painted and re-done)