It's a Rainy, Cold Festivas Day

I like this nativity scene, as it shows another woman there with Mary.
I never liked thinking that there were no women with her when she gave birth. 

Yesterday was cold, cold, cold and rainy.  I spent it warmly and  joyfully preparing' home'

for my children, children by law-and-love, grandchildren and Jeremy (daughter-in-law's brother)

 

Amaryllis from Don, Becky and family

I made a "Mom" dessert.  Part of a white cake mix, as directed and mixture of blackberry jam and peach preserves on bottom; cake batter poured over top.  I added the tangerine slices to cover the part that didn't brown. 
An oven from the 30's bakes like an oven from the 30's.  

Time to take out Mom's Christmas teapots.  I should add, some of them.
She had about 400 teapots and many of those Christmas themed.  

These are the ones I have.

The snowmen/women/children playing in the background was a gift from the Baker Family several years ago;
 less than 12 and more than 5.  

Ah, the aging memory....the past blurs together. 
But the new stories created are very entertaining. 

Oh my gosh, I almost washed this label off cleaning the pot to use at Christmas.  Many years ago my older brother, Stan and I decided to have some fun with the other siblings.  Stan made up pages and pages of these labels and we affixed them to the bottom of about 100 of the more cherished pots.  We didn't tell Mom or anyone else.  We did enjoy watching reactions as one by one, the pots were turned over and there was the label.  Mostly the labels had been removed by the siblings less appreciative of our humor.    Mom loaned about 20 of her teapots for a church tea party.  They brought several back before the event telling Mom,  "Ruth we can't use these".  Mom, concerned, asked why. 
"Because you are leaving these to your beloved Elizabeth; we don't want to chance breaking them". 
Mom laughed and told them the story, so off the teapots went for a party.

My last Christmas card from Mom, December 2009