The Ghost of Christmas Eve Past

Another Christmas Eve is here, which means another visit from the ghost of Christmas Eve Past.
He comes every year, and brings me back to the Christmas Eve's of my youth.
Back to the late 60's and early 70's, when Christmas looked alot like this...


(now this could easily be my mom or one of my aunt's, but it isn't...it's a photo from google)



It was always at our house, on Grant Street, and everyone came- cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, second cousins and great aunts and uncles- the house seemed it would burst at it's seams! The tradional Italian Christmas feast would take place but I can never seem to remember what the main dish was. There were too many sweets around to be tempted by, penuchi fudge, Mom's mincemeat squares, Aunt Emma pizzelles, always dusted with powdered sugar...






I only remember filling up on Nana's brightly frosted sugar cookies- it was the one night of the year you could get away with such a meal!

But the most memorable and meaningful part of the night was what took place after the feast- we all got bundled up and paraded up and down the street visiting each neighbor's front lawn to sing Christmas Carols.
No matter the weather (and this was New England so there was usually snow) we went carolling every Christmas Eve. Off we'd go, this large group of young and old, with mittens and song sheets in hand, door to door and house to house.





I remember it all...we sang at the Brennan's, the Hjerpes, the Dion's, the Tinkham's and we never missed Mrs. McCrettons, where she'd always invite us inside for hot chocolate and another song around her piano! I remember it all as if it was yesterday, and remeber it with great joy. It's a lost custom today and I only wish that I could travel back there with my children and share this vision with them, I know they'd love it!

As I take this trip down memory lane today, it makes me thankful and sets the mood for the day. To be ever grateful for the memories the holidays season makes, memories with family and friends- because no matter what is, or what isn't- 'under the tree', what means the most and will stay with us forever is what's 'around' the tree- our families.

Wishing you all a safe and warm Christmas with the ones you love!

I'm back!

*completely exhausted*

I feel a little like I've just spent two weeks on a treadmill, well, at least my body does~ I shipped the last 5 signs on Saturday, at least the one's that "had to be there before Santa!"

I never dreamed I'd be as busy as I've been with my signs~ all a very good busy though! Just wished I had planned a little better, but that's what New Year's resolutions are for, right?

Here's my star I promised to show you....made with vintage sheet music and german glass glitter, modeled after the one in Pottery Barn...

without the flash...then with the flash... the tree is so hard to photograph!

Here's the whole tree...my husband loved the star but..."couldn't it be lit up?" he asked.

Yes, it could, I told him--next year!

Just use your imagination honey, same with the sign hanging there that I didn't get to finish...imagine it with beautiful script in the banner- 'Joyeux Noel' perhaps, some distressing and lot's of glitter....next year!

I spent yesterday doing some Christmas shopping...oh, the people, the traffic, the lines!!

Despite the Christmas music playing in every store and the employees donned in their 'santa hats' - everyone looked so tired and miserable. I kept thinking, 'why do we do this to ourselves?'

I finished, got what I needed and got home fast before they could infect me with the

"bah humbugs"!

This year we opted for a little different Christmas card. Usually we take a family photo, (since all our family is either in the midwest or in New England and we don't see them often enough.)

I had seen this on etsy and thought it would be the perfect photo for us since we spend so much time at the beach, even in the winter ---

not perfectly written but it's the message that counts!

Hope you all are having a good week with the countdown getting so close-

try to keep the 'bah humbugs' away!

The tree~ sheet music bird ornaments~and two winners!

The tree is up! A little happy dance ~ I'm loving the way it looks...


this year I decided on all silver and creams, with little bird sheet music ornaments...

and another paper banner~ ok, I'm a little obsessed with paper banners!

I made this one using what they call an "end roll" from a local printer. If you've ever ordered a sign from me, it came wrapped in this white paper~ it's basically newspaper without the print on it. If I didn't have this paper, I would of used a roll of 'cash register' paper, I've seen this at Walmart and it's relatively cheap. Anyways... I cut two inch strips, tea dyed them, then transferred the 'merry christmas' with graphite paper~ went over it with a sharpie~ then cut the edges with 'torn edges' scissors...

and voila!

The font is one of my favorite font purchases~ P22 Cezanne~

here it is in case you'd like to make one...

The sheet music bird ornaments were easy, once I got the bird shape drawn that is! I made a few one dimensional and a few three dimensional...just gluing two of them together, except for the wings, then folded down the wings so he could fly! I added a little silver german glitter to the edges...they sparkle and twirl! Thought I'd share this outline too for you to make your own sheet music birds...

I used the "Wreath Waltz" sheet music from Karen~aka The Graphics Fairy

{Thank goodness for fairies!}

I simply printed the sheet music on both sides of cream colored card stock. Traced the bird outline and cut...easy!
I'm thinking of making more of these, you could glue a pick inside the body portion at the bottom and add them to wreaths and arrangements...how pretty would that be?

A little burlap under the tree made the perfect natural tree skirt...I love it all but it's not quite done yet...I'm working on a star for the top~ I'll share that in my next post!

Now....Happy Birthday to me!!!

It's today! Look what I found this morning by the coffee maker...

Oh, I adore that man!

That card was the best birthday present I've ever received! We spent the weekend together, a not so very romantic weekend~ we installed a wood stove out in my garage workshop ~ to keep me warm while I'm creating the mess I make out there! Now, that is true love, isn't it?

Oh!!...last but not least... the two winners of my Peace~ Love~ Joy signs giveaway!

"She dreams big" & "Suzie Button"

....congrats girls!

A big thank you to all of you...your comments and support really 'keep me ticking' and I love each of you!