I had such fun with the first Christmas in July post and so enjoyed Jamie's memories of Mrs. Fishback and the vintage Christmas tree skirt I thought I would share a few of my own memories.
Last December Moda offered a Countdown to Christmas sew along that I participated in. Each day they gave a pattern for a 6" block. All sorts of techniques and skill levels. It was an excellent exercise for skill building and focusing on 1/4 inch seams. Some of the blocks had lots of pieces, which meant lots of seams and lots of opportunity for ending up with smaller than the 6-1/2 inch blocks...
At the same time I was doing the American Quilters Society countdown blocks as well. Only these made 4-1/2 inch blocks. Oh my!
I made an Advent calendar with them... You can catch the entire tutorial over on my February 27th post.
As a child, we had a Christmas calendar made of felt. It had a tree on it and small pockets. My brother and I would take turns removing the small ornaments for the tree from the pockets and pin them on the tree.
The first pocket always had the star to go atop the tree. And the last pocket always had Santa Claus in it.
I remember that we would fight over who got to start the calendar. My mom would have to make a note each year of who would open #1 so that we would alternate turns... such silliness!
Mom would make Christmas cards each year. She would pull out the Christmas boots - yes, boots - I am standing in front of them in the photo. They were felt and in the shape of a cowboy boot. My Grandma Teegarden made them for each of the grand children. And each was personalized with our name and things we loved.
Here is the front of this card... quite fancy!
Back to the Moda blocks... A few of my favorites -
I enjoyed the whimsical little snowman with the scarf and jingle bell buttons...
Frosty the Snowman was one of my favorite Christmas programs.
The peppermint candy... My Aunt Clara always had a dish of ribbon candy. My parents would make an assortment of candies... hard cinnamon or mint candy, chewy caramels and popcorn balls.
My Dad's hands were very large and he made the best popcorn balls. He would get a big ol' handful and start pressing it together, carefully adding small amounts at a time until he had a generous sized ball.
Oh, look! That peppermint striped candy turned into a shirt! My mom made red and white striped shirts for the whole family! It was great...
I remember one particular year, I think I was in my teens... My youngest cousin Karri had begged and begged to open gifts on Christmas Eve (and have just the stockings on Christmas morning.) I had heard of some friends getting to do this and it sounded good, so most of us kids agreed...
Everyone was finally so tired of hearing her ask, the adults consented and we opened gifts early.
It was all fun until the next morning when all we had were the Christmas stockings... It was such a let down. The stockings were done in no time at all. I decided then that I didn't like it and I would choose to open gifts on Christmas morning if ever given the opportunity again.
Our tree had lots of homemade ornaments - stars and boots made of felt, knitted and crocheted stockings and wreaths... and several vintage glass ornaments. I am lucky enough to have many of those ornaments - some of them now close to 100 years old. My favorite is a glass tear drop that was from a chandelier. The way the light shines through has always fascinated me...
We had a real tree for several years when I was little, but because my Mom was allergic to them, and the mess they made, we eventually got an artificial tree... actually I only remember the artificial tree and know of the real trees because of photos.
Dave and I had a real tree for our first Christmas. As I removed all of the decorations and attempted to remove it from our upstairs apartment I experienced an asthma attack... It was pretty scary. We purchased a LARGE artificial tree two years later when we would be celebrating our baby's first Christmas. We still have that tree... 31 years later.
I did so... I was super excited that I was getting exactly what I asked for, but the let down (guilt) in finding out before Christmas day... awful! I couldn't play with the gift, and I couldn't let Mom & Dad know that I knew! Again, if ever encouraged or given the opportunity to open a gift early... I will pass it up!
One tradition that Dave and I started with our girls was to put clues on the gift tag. For example, for a set of salt and pepper shakers the clue was "Shake it up baby, now.... twist and shout."
We would all sit in a circle and take turns reading the clues, trying to decipher the clues to make a guess and then opening the gift. It can take hours to get through the gifts... which is wonderful and exciting. It allows us to see what others get and savor the moment... because giving really is better than receiving! It is a little more difficult to do now with little ones that don't quite have the patience for the clue thing, but they are learning. :)
What Christmas traditions do you have?
I would love to hear from you... Leave a comment!
Sew Happy!
Melva
Don't miss out on all the Christmas In July posts...
July 23
July 24
July 25
July 26
July 27
Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series
Linking with:
The Chameleon's Colour Party at The Clever Chameleon
The Chameleon's Colour Party at The Clever Chameleon
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post today! Thank you for sharing so many memories! Have a fantastic day!
ReplyDeleteGreat memories.... my kids fight over things like the advent calendar too, so I have a lot of sympathy for your mum! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Dione. And because I anticipated that my girls would fight over who started the calendar I knew to do the same thing. :) She was a good example for me!
DeleteI so enjoyed reading your Christmas post and confessions! Those little 4.5" pieces are sew pretty!! I started one...yeah, just one and tucked it away. I admire your tenacity!
ReplyDelete