My First Blog.

Christmas comes but once a year,but oh! To my surprise and what should appear a large doll house built just like my home with large glass windows and granny lace curtains. There were five little rooms filled to the brim with furniture that looked just like it did when I was a child. The living room had a piano with bench couch and chair with ottoman and a bookcase with clock on top;the dining room had mahogany furniture just like my parents table with 6 chairs. buffet,and china cabinet;the bedroom came with twin beds,night stand and dresser with mirror; the kitchen had a stove, cabinet, clotheswasher, and dishes, and the bathroom was complete with tub,toilet,sink,and scale. Now you can imagine just how exited I was, as I was only seven at the time. You see my Dad made it just for me!! Now I'm a grandmother of a 10 year old granddaughter, and about five years ago I gave her the house and contents. Now this year my sons house burned to the ground and they lost everything. Today I received a call from my son and he told me that his daughter will be getting a new doll house with the 65 year old furniture in it. Nice surprise for her.

Thanksgiving is over and I do hope all of you had a beautiful day with your families and friends. It is now the third day of December and time to start unpacking the Christmas Decorations and put up the tree. I started with mine on Thanksgiving day afternoon. I have a small 4' tree which sets on my marble top table with all white lights and Christmas ornaments that my Mother made over 50 years ago all over it. Then on my buffet I have 8 ceramic houses and all the little people and ponds and cranberry bogs and a tree farm that a friend gave to me.

A friend of mine gave me a starter and the recipe for Amish Friendship Bread and I have been baking four loaves of bread every 10 days. Then I will start making my favorite cookies called Swedish Spritz. They were my favorite as a child. I think back to when I was home during Christmas school holidays and my Mother was busy baking these cookies and would hide them from my brother and me. Only problem was that she and my dad had to leave for work at 8:30, so we had the whole house to ourselves until 5p.m. Of course the Christmas Tree was already up and a few gifts already under the tree and my brother decided it was time to see what was in the packages. Needless to say we had unwrapped and re-wrapped most of the boxes to get a peek at the gifts. Then we would hunt the cookies. Now where we lived was a small 2 family home and really small rooms. Only three closets so we did not have very many hiding places. We started in the hall closet , there were mostly winter coats and ski suits and winter boots there and our school jackets. Nothing in that one, so onto our parents room; and there on the top shelf were 4 large cookie boxes with the Swedish Spritz sitting pretty!! So my brother got the step stool and took a box down and we sat and ate a layer of spritz. Every day we would go down the hall and steal some cookies. Now it was time to have some cookies for supper so my dad went down the hall and brought back a box of cookies. The same box that we had been getting the cookies from for a week. When mother opened the box of course we had taken cookies out of another box to refill mother could not figure out why the boxes were so low and you know she had filled them to the top. Now it is my turn to do the baking and yes I do hide the cookie boxes just like my Mother. I hope and pray that you all have a beautiful Christmas Season and peace, love and joy to you all.

Today it is raining so I cannot go for a walk. Now I have plenty of work to do in the house. This past season I have had a bad problem with mold on the walls in several rooms, so I have been washing walls and moving furniture. Lots of work. I called my son to ask for some help and he said he would send his daughter over to help move the furniture. Well, I waited 2 days, no help.. I just started moving the furniture myself. First on the list was a wooden file cabinet loaded to the gills which had to be removed and then move file cabinet, then the desk and everything on it and in it. What a job. Had a pail of water and vinegar ready and started washing that section when my granddaughter walked in and asked what to do. So I told her what needed to be done and her reply was "I will be right back, going to go get dad and my brother." Still two more days before she showed up. So now I have moved all but two pieces of furniture and will have the master bedroom completed. All by myself. I will be unloading a large chest of drawers today and a dressing table. All of which is antique furniture. I will stop for now as it is time for breakfast. Scrambled eggs, fried grits and a bagel with cream cheese. Have a great day.