3 Wise Men of Christmas Past

These 3 banners have been a part of my Christmases since I was a baby! My Mom made these in the 1970s when felt crafts were very popular. I have always loved these on my parents' wall. I am lucky to live near my parents, who still live in the same house we lived in when I was born! We spend Christmas Day at home, then have a second Christmas with my parents on the day after Christmas. I must admit that I almost enjoy that one more, because I am free of the stress of cooking the meal and being responsible for running the festivities. It is a day where I can be a kid again! Back to the story of these banners. I guess I got my love of crafting and sewing from my Mom. She always tried whatever crafts were in vogue at the time, which included things like: wooden geese, tole painting, lamp shades, macrame, cross-stitch, and quilting. My Dad is also creative: I should do a post on the beautiful stained-glass nativity set he fashioned years ago. So, in the 70's we had neighbors who lived 2 houses up the street. The Mom and Dad were friends with my parents and their daughter Karen was my best friend; in fact, we are still friends today and she is Rosie's Godmother! So, Karen's Mom and my Mom decided to make these Wise Men banners from a magazine. They each made a set. It wasn't until I was about 8 that I figured out the funny part of this story. I was used to our Wise Men at Christmastime. The banners are about 3 feet long. I was playing at Karen's house and was surprised to see the same 3 foot long banners hanging on her wall. I was even more surprised that the Wise Men were only 1 foot tall! Maybe you can guess what happened?? Remember "back in the day" when patterns in magazines came drawn on a grid so you could enlarge them (we're talking about the days before PDF files for any young'uns reading this!). Well, Karen's Mom enlarged the banners to the correct scale, but she made a little mistake on the Wise Men. Now, every year when I visit my parents' house and enjoy seeing this banners, I am also reminded of my special friend Karen and the funny circumstances under which they were made. I'm linking this post to Laurie's Christmas Memories at Sew 'n Sew's Journal.

Now Showing...

I'm hoping to work on Andy's overalls tomorrow. I sew at my desk in the kitchen and I have a tiny flip-down TV mounted above my desk. I like to watch DVDs while I sew and my favorite series is The Waltons. But with Christmas fast approaching, I pulled out my seasonal DVDs today. I'd like to share some of my favorites. Maybe you'll find one to watch next time you turn on your sewing machine!

I love the traditional Christmas Carol in its many versions, but have you ever seen An American Christmas Carol? Hubby introduced me to this version, which takes place in NH in the 1930s.













I found The Angel Doll at a yard sale a few years ago.

Only watch this movie if you have a box of tissues nearby. My Mom would call this a "real tear-jerker." It's about a boy who saves up to buy his sickly little sister an angel doll for Christmas because her favorite book is "The Littlest Angel." This is one you'll want to watch every year!












No holiday movie list would be complete without It's A Wonderful Life. No matter that I've seen it dozens of times, I still enjoy it!

And if I get a yearning to get back to the Waltons, there's the pilot for the show, which was a Christmas movie called The Homecoming. Some of the adult actors were different than they later cast on the series, but it's an enjoyable move in its own right.

If you like family dramas set in the "olden days," then give one of these movies a try this holiday season! If one of these is on your "favorites" list, leave me a comment!

This weekend, we will be putting up our Christmas tree, attending several craft/church fairs, and having fun at a Christmas party. If I have energy left, I'll be working on Andy's overalls while I watch one of these movies. I hope you have a fun weekend planned, too!

Christmas Shirts for the Boys

My kids are great sports when it comes to having pictures taken. I have always taken lots of pictures myself. Hubby joked that every time we had a new baby, we got a new camera. We bought our first good digital camera before Davy was born. It needed replacement right around the time we found out we were expecting Andy. It took several months to choose our next camera, but we finally went with a Canon Digital SLR. It takes fabulous pictures- the lighting, speed, and resolution are fabulous! Does it surprise you that Hubby had to buy me a terabyte hard drive to store all these digital pictures which are around 8MB each??
I have always had many professional portraits taken, as well. It is so much fun to look back at these and I especially love having pictures of them in the outfits I've made. For Christmas, the picture of all the kids together is the one I use on our Christmas cards. When they were little, I made their outfits. They are still willing to coordinate, but the girls don't like to match anymore. I have had good luck with the "Family Looks" at Gymboree. I can get shirts for all the boys, from Andy right up to Hubby. So, this year I bought 4 of these red plaid shirts. The big boys will wear dress pants with theirs, but for Andy, I'd like to make some corduroy overalls with a machine embroidery on the front. Planning is as far as I've gone with this project! All of my embroidery files are still trapped on the old computer; till it gets fixed, I can't move them to the laptop. The pictures are scheduled for Monday, so I'd better get going. I'm thinking of using a basic overall pattern from the book. Sewing for Baby. I might also borrow an idea that Janice Ferguson shared on her blog and do a button-on embroidered panel, so that I can change it after Christmas.