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West Virginia
When I started my retirement travels in 2009, I wanted a way to share it with family and friends as it was happening. Hence, "My Travel Journal". However I realized I wouldn't always be on a trip and wondered what to do with the blog in between times. My daughter pointed out, wisely, that travels can also include trips to the kitchen to try a new recipe, trips to visit family, trips to my neighborhood Starbucks, or a fun day trip with a friend. You're welcome to join me on any of these journeys! I've set up individual pages for each of my major trips (see tabs above).

Also, I have an Etsy shop where my current needlework resides. The last pieces I posted here were in 2013! So if you'd like to see what I have accomplished recently, go to (and I apologize for having to copy and paste):

www.etsy.com/shop/thedollhouseneedle

I recently added an "Italian Word a Day" thingie which shows up at the bottom of every page. You see the word and can click to hear it pronounced. I've been enjoying it and I think my accent is improving as time goes by.

December 19, 2012

A pre-Christmas post...

...to extend best wishes to all who celebrate Christmas. May it be happy, healthy, safe, and filled with the love and warmth of family and friends.

I'm getting ready to head east and will be seeing all my kids at various times over the next couple of weeks. Our first present exchange will be with Heather and her family. January, Maggie and I will go up there Friday, stay overnight, exchange our gifts Saturday morning, have a little more visit and then come back to January and Maggie's new home. They just moved into what sounds like a delightful house on December 1 and I'm really eager to see it. Then, Monday afternoon sometime, Chris will come over to January's house and spend the night there and we will do our gift exchange on Christmas morning. January is going to cook a wonderful slow-roasted pork that she made one Thanksgiving, and I've been thinking about little else ever since she told me that's what she's having.

So, I've been busy with a little last minute shopping, wrapping - which I hope to get finished before I leave Huntington, and, strangely enough, changing my miniature Christmas shop (which I changed into a pottery shop a while back) into a Christmas shop again. And one thing I've learned is that if you make a mini you like (in this case the first Christmas shop), don't take it apart and turn it into something else! I'm quite pleased with my change back to a Christmas shop but I really miss the wallpaper I used in the first one. But I added a few more bits and bobs to make up for the wallpaper not being very exciting.

Here's how it ended up.


And the two sides:


Here's a link to the first Christmas shop just in case you want to play "can you spot the differences".  (tee hee):

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAlTGMA8xZizO5_IG-byfdCvtfoUgTvZppz0UREWYnbBgPjsY41mEhb40MCXkQdeixG_sBNuYPImgXHPkLrS5Ot4Zy-NuQhXdAqj6hc38nnMWuQ0VhiIdkVtHRf3UySsVx4AOSpnEGXt4/s1600/IMG_1755-1.JPG

By my count I added eight things and changed one thing and rearranged a couple of things.

So it will now remain a Christmas shop forever and I'll have to figure out another little display for my pottery.

I saw a neat piece at the annual miniature art show.  A woman had used a shadowbox-type frame, attached little short shelves, staggering them on the back, and put one little piece of pottery on each shelf.  I think I'll see if that's something that I could do with my pottery collection. 

And, now that's it!  I have to get going and finish everything up and be ready to get on the road tomorrow morning.  Thank heavens, the sun is actually shining today and I'm going to try and get the car fairly well packed while it's not raining (which it seems to do constantly!).
 
And we heard her exclaim as she drove out of sight..."Merry Christmas to all, may it be a delight!"

4 comments:

Christopher said...

A nice festive change to your storefront...! Tis the season, afterall. Safe driving tomorrow---I hear the mountains part of your route will start to see snow tomorrow, but not until evening, so you'll be here by then. See you soon!

Chinch said...

Happy to see your Christmas shop again and I did look at the old one and I think the biggest difference (aside from the paper) is the large box in the corner now covered in green & red and somehow that whole shelf seems like it has more on it but maybe it's the angle of the picture. And although I loved your old paper, I think this paper maybe makes the items for sale stand out a little better and that's probably good business for the shop owner. :) Have a wonderful time with all your kiddies. xoxo

Janet said...

I especially love the Advent calendar. I agree you should always keep it a Christmas shop - I would like to keep my house a Christmas house - but I am concerned that I would then take my "treasures" for granted and would lose the annual surprise as I open everything again.
Enjoy your time in VA, MD & DC.

Chris's cheesecake was FABULOUS today, as always!!

Mary Lynne said...

Thanks all. Janet - that's one reason I got the unfortunate idea to make a pottery shop in this little structure. I enjoyed the Christmas one so much and it's electrified and so kind of lit up the corner where I put it and I thought it would be nice to have that light there all year. But like you, I didn't want to have the Christmas shop out all year cause then it wouldn't be special.

I remember when I got the Christmas tree that I love so much and that January now has, I was seriously considering leaving it out all year - taking the decorations off but just leaving the tree in the corner. Crazy, right? But it's just so natural reason, I loved seeing it and figured I could always stick a bird here and there in it. I got sensible though, and put it away. :)

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