Yay! Christmas! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!

So happy to have all the decorations up. Now to just get in gear and start baking and candy making.

So, here's the nickel tour of the front of my house (living and dining rooms). I don't put too much in the back (kitchen and family room) because too many critters, too many not so careful fellas. I don't want to be ruining any teeny amount of Christmas spirit that might be germinating by being a nagger, so I just keep fragiles out of harms way by parking them in the parlor.

I had a terrible aversion to putting together my tall tree this year, so decided on using 2 little ones instead – one for the living room, one for the family room.

A small portion of my Santa collection on top of my Great Grandmother's nearly 100 year old piano.

My Mom is so very talented and has made many sweet, story telling little Santa (and other characters) vignettes for me. She makes their faces and hands from Fimo dough, builds a body for them with wire, stuffing, and cloth, then sews their beautiful suits. The Santa above is decorating a tree with the help of a magpie, sheep, Corgi, Scotty, and kitty, all of which she crafted herself.

The older Santas are really special to me.

The night before Christmas book was my Mom's when she was little. It has pop ups and beautiful pictures in it. It is taped and tattered and has been very well loved by my Mom, my brother, myself, and my son over the many years it has been in our family.

The little Santa, in the sleigh, didn't have any hair under his hood. That just didn't sit well with me, so I talked Rooti into volunteering one of his curly locks. After snipping it off, I tucked it around Santa's face with tweezers and I feel much better now that he has a proper hair-do.

The Woodland Santa above was a gift from Mr. Bruce after I had given him a terrific tongue lashing about him not appreciating how very fortunate & lucky we are to be able to celebrate Christmas. No bah-humbugging allowed I told him. It apparently peeled away the Scrooge in him long enough to see his way to giving me this lovely present. He really gives it all he's got now to keep up the holiday cheer, because we must remember the reason for the season, thank The Lord, and count our blessings each and every day.

A little grouping of my non-red Santas.

This Santa is a candy container; his legs come off and he is hollow inside.

This little Santa was my Great Grandmother's. It is just over 100 years old as close as we can figure.

This Santa on the goat is another one of my very favorites.

The baby angel below, riding the swan, is another of my Mom's creations. She found a ceramic Cupid kind of ornament, carefully broke the face off of it (ooh, sounds violent :-0, don't make the girl mad at ya!) made a body & found some teeny golden wings, and voila! A swan riding, baby angel! She made the swan out of wire, stuffing, cardboard, and a coat hanger. No pattern, no lessons, just her own God given talent. I added some of my other swans including the swans I talked about in a prior post about our vacation to New Hampshire & Vermont.

I found this very strange ?wine glass? At a rummage sale this past summer. It is over 16 inches tall and I believe is true crystal ( it makes that humming sound that crystal does when you run a damp finger around the rim of the drinking part). I thought it would make a unique cloche/snow globe type decoration for some small Christmas cuteness. I paid the full dollar asking price, then stored it in the Christmas room fingers crossed that it would still be in one piece when the holidays arrived.

The swirls etched on the glass make it seem like a little fairy tale winter snow storm around the mini cabin and tiny deer.

Santa and his team on the rooftop, and an old hymnal inviting one to belt out a few carols 🙂

A polar bear parade.

A pretty, old gothic shaped church window decked out in holiday finery.

This little house just makes me want to shrink down, and mosey in for a cup of hot chocolate by the fire.

Another one of my Mom's whimsical Santas. He has the dearest face. The greyhound dog in front of the fire was brought back from an antique store in Scotland. He was a birthday present from my Mom's friend Roxanne (my udder Mudder I call her). The fireplace was a gift from my friend/co-worker Cheri. I had seen it at an antique mall, didn't buy it, then proceeded to whine about it at work. Somehow Cheri got over the mountain pass before Christmas and bought it for me, bless her heart.

These deer were a gift to my son from my Mom's cousin. They belonged to her father, and probably were purchased in the late 1930's she thought.

This little goat was made by my Mom. She bought the sleigh, but built the harness for him. By chance and good luck I found the tray (in the background) at a rummage sale. I showed the tray to my Mom, and that Christmas, a jolly little elf mysteriously appeared in the goat sleigh one day!

There is a story worth telling about the little stove in this picture. My son went to my folk's farm when he was little instead of daycare. He was quite the farmhand, helping with all the daily chores from the time he could walk (and in a backpack before that!) The Christmas he was 4, he declared that, for Christmas, he was asking Santa for a wood stove. The kind like Grampa had in his shop. OMG, instant panic on my part!! Where in the dickens was I going to find such a thing? My folks thought it all quite funny. The story was relayed to my uber talented brother, who very nonchalantly replied that he could make a little stove for my son, no problemo. The beautiful little result sat shining under the tree that Christmas morning. Talk about a Christmas miracle!! Thank you Lord for such a talented, artistic family!! My brother said you could actually use the stove if a person would want to pipe and vent such a tiny thing to the outside!

Santa and the Scotty on his lap – more from the good Mom. My Dad made the willow chair and foot stool Santa sits in. His lap throw and shawl crocheted by Mom. The big black metal dog is from my collection.

A backpack basket full of sparkly holiday greenery, with a dove nestled in the middle.

This crew resides in the bathroom for the holiday season.

Also made by Mom. I call this my Nova Scotia Santa w/ baby.

She made this baby from a tiny china doll found buried under a bunch of miscellaneous junk at an old shop.

All the shells she used in making the tree came from our vacation in Hawaii, and Roxy's vacation to Florida.

Well, this is a pretty good sampling of Christmas at CottageLodge. There is a good deal more, but I can't have you missing your own Christmas spending days looking at my bazillion decorations! Glad you stopped in for a look, and hope it added to your holiday cheer!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! AND A BLESSED NEW YEAR!

TTFN 🙂

Teresa

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