Oodles and oodles

The best week

I am SO READY for Thanksgiving. This is the best week of the year, if you ask me. I am so ready I even have the sage for the stuffing picked.

Which was smart of me, since this is what it looked like 12 hours after I picked the sage. And another storm is on the way.

According to the canine snow gauge, the snow is up to his 16th freckle, which is about 8 inches. Carson loves snow. He's happy to measure it for us.

I am so ready that I made an emergency run Saturday for candles for the Advent wreath. Only to discover that Advent starts this coming Sunday.

I found this candle holder at a flea market a few weeks ago, and while I don't know whether it was made for Advent, it has spaces for four candles, which is perfect. Those birds. I love those birds.

I have been a one-woman listing-and-shipping machine. I have been wrapping ornaments and shipping them off to far corners of the world, to Portugal and Australia and Norway. The link to my Etsy shop is in the sidebar and NOT HERE because when I tried to put the link in the last post I did, the whole thing blew up and vanished, and you never saw it because I walked away in disgust and dismay. It was the only bump in an otherwise happy build-up to Thanksgiving. (I bought these candy canes to resell, but I sort of love them, so don't buy them unless you feel you really have to.)

And the thrift stores are starting to stock their Christmas wares. Yes, most of it is shudder-worthy, but every once in a while, something magical appears.

Like odd net flowers with glitter and spun-cotton centers. And not just spun-cotton, but spun-cotton, Santa-head centers.

 And spun-cotton, snowman-head centers. If there is a better week than the one leading up to Thanksgiving, which is the one that leads up to the holiday season, you're going to have to tell me what it is.

Thankful for Gurley, Napco and Dennison

 

I have about a hundred Christmas things to list in Etsy, so I've been busy this morning. I spent some time on Pinterest. I rearranged my shop. I checked my e-mail. So desperate was I to avoid listing chores, I even unloaded the dishwasher. Then it occurred to me: update your blog! Courtesy of the power of procrastination, here's a look at the Thanksgiving decor.

The shelves on the hutch in the living room are a combination of Napco turkey ware, postcards, honeycomb centerpieces and some turkey plates I found a few years back at Marshall's.

I very nearly sold the Napco candleholders (bottom left) but thankfully (no pun intended) I discovered in time that they were just what I needed to round out the Napco display. Another holiday crisis averted.

Turkeys (one wax, two bisque) are guarding the drawing of the octagonal one-room schoolhouse at the end of our road, created by my talented friend Jason.

Elsewhere in the living room we have the traditional display of Gurley Thanksgiving candles.

 We have enough turkey candles to create a separate display for the light-colored turkeys.

And to pop in the Hoosier. I think the turkey paper plate looks handsome, at least as handsome as a paper plate can look. The little box is filled with Dennison turkey stickers.

 
In addition to being thankful for Gurley, Napco and Dennison, I am thankful for that terrific Pennsylvania auction, where I got this pretty leaf fabric.

The silverware box proved so useful at Halloween that it was pressed into service to corral additional candles and whatnot.

We'll close with this sweet Pilgim lady, a crepe paper creation by Dennison. And now I really, truly am going to get to work. My daughter will be home from school on Friday for Thanksgiving vacation, and she really, truly does not want to share her room with all of the Christmas stuff I need to list.

 
 

Houseplant advice from my grandmother

My mom bought me a Christmas cactus two years ago, and I immediately felt sorry for it. It was going to have to rely on me for its continued existence. The first year, it formed buds, and then they all fell off. It was very sad.

Then I remembered an image from my childhood. My grandmother's Christmas cactus, sitting underneath the canopy of a willow tree all summer. She didn't do anything to it. If it rained, it got watered. If it didn't rain, it didn't. All she did was bring it in when the weather turned cold.

Which is what I did this year. It's blooming a little early, but it's not like I mind. Once again, my grandmother knew best.

Nice surprises

When I went to work Tuesday morning, I found this box on my desk.

 When I took off the lid I saw this.

Out of which I plucked these.

(One of my colleagues grabbed the box just as it was about to be thrown in a trash hauler's truck. She thought I might like it.)

Later in the day, I stopped by the thrift store and found these.

Then it snowed, and the drive home was dark and a little slippery, but there was dinner waiting and a fire in the stove. This morning the sun came out, and everything sparkled. It's been a good 24 hours.