Christmas

Pages Good Enough to Eat

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

It is no secret to any of my regular blogging friends that I LOVE Christmas. And one of my favorite sites on the entire Internet is the Vintage Christmas Catalog page:  http://www.wishbookweb.com/

I’m feeling a little sad right now because that page is going through some kind of technical problems (hopefully temporary) and cannot be accessed. So … alas … I must try to console myself. I figured the best way was to post a nice big picture of one of the candy pages from a 1957 Sears Canada Christmas Catalog. I especially like this particular page because it also features another of my favorite food groups: fruitcake.

 I hope all of you enjoy this yummy page as much as I do.

SEARS CANADA - 1957 - CANDY 2

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CAN’T WAIT!

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

My newest Christmas mug — a gift from my sister yesterday. I’m drinking this evening’s coffee out of it even as I write. A well-brewed cup of coffee always tastes great, but it’s even better when you drink it from a Christmas mug.  I’m challenging all my blogging friends to shake up their lives a little and drink from a Christmas cup in the middle of August. It’s a very freeing experience! 

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Photo Challenge: Thursday’s Windows — Week 16

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

I’m late with “Thursday’s Windows” again this week — due to the fact that I was sick this past week and had my work schedule flopped around, so that I was a little out of sync. Since I’m evidently having a problem keeping up with the program, I think it’s probably time to bring this particular photo challenge to a close. So next week, beginning Thursday, January 10, will be the final “Thursday’s Windows” photo challenge.  Please post this week, and then look for one of your favorites to post next week to close out the fun. And it has been GREAT FUN!  Thank you all for taking part.

My photo this week is one more Christmas window.  Since my family and I celebrate Christmas until Epiphany, which is January 6, that let’s me share Christmas windows one more time. This window is the top half of my dad’s front door.

Exif JPEGIf you shared a new link for this week on last week’s post, you may want to re-post that link here so that everyone will see it.

Photo Challenge: Thursday’s Windows — Week 15

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Ministerial duties on behalf of a grieving family came ahead of my blog work this week, so I am late posting the ‘Thursday’s Windows’ article, but here it is. The first photo is of the front window at the City Hall Building in a neighboring town — part of their Christmas celebration.

Exif JPEGThe camel, of course, was part of the wise men’s entourage and on its way to this next scene — in the other front window of City Hall.

Exif JPEGBe sure to leave your links in the comment section below!

Snowchild

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

(a poem by Sandra Conner)

I originally wrote this poem about a year ago, when snow was predicted for our area. Today, we are under a BLIZZARD warning, with snow falling fast and furiously second by second, and I am re-posting this poem in an effort to remind myself that “it isn’t really so bad after all” —– Yeah, right!!!

The truth is that my family and I have been praying fervently for a reprieve from what forecasters are expecting, because what has been predicted cannot be good for anyone. Moreover, we have 17 family members trying to get home for the holidays, traveling to this area from the Northeast, the Southeast, and the West — some of them on the road even as I write this. We are looking to the Lord for His mercy to take control of the situation, for the sake of our family and the hundreds of others facing the same problem right now.

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Exif JPEGI’ve added a couple photos taken through the cheerful perspective of my Christmas lights. The first shot was about 6:00 this morning, and the second one about 50 minutes later. So far things don’t look too terribly bad. We would appreciate the prayer agreement of all our friends out there in cyberspace. In the meantime … enjoy this poem and see if it brings back some memories for you as well.



Snowchild

When I was a child, I thought as a child,
And snow was a thing so delightful.
From school we were free; we got wet to the knees,
And our mom’s day was thrown all off schedule.

But now that I’m grown, I must do on my own
All the chores Mom and Dad used to dread:
Stock up food by the loads, drive on slippery roads,
Shovel snow, and repair that old sled.

Now I look with dismay at the skies leaden gray
As I trudge to the store for supplies.
De-icer and salt sell out fast with no halt.
I need new boots to tread on the ice.

The wind from the north is bitter and harsh,
But my temperature, still it is rising;
I am in a foul mood, for I see nothing good
That can come from a snowstorm arriving.

But then the flakes start, and I feel in my heart –
Watching white, fluffy, wonderful, wild
Filling all of my world with such beauty unfurled –
That in truth I am still just a child!

Photo Challenge: Thursday’s Windows — Week 14

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

TWO CHRISTMAS WINDOWS FROM MY HOMETOWN THIS WEEK:

This first set is both sides of the headquarters of the Brewster Philanthropic Foundation. Each year they light their second-story windows like this especially for Christmas.

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This next picture is one of the same buildings I featured in a day-time picture a few weeks ago. I really like these windows, and I especially thought the lighted effect was so pretty.

Exif JPEGHope everyone out there is having a wonderful time of celebration this Christmas season. Be sure to leave the links to your pictures in the comment section below.

And, no, they do not have to be Christmas windows.

Photo Challenge: Thursday’s Windows — Week 13

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

A local shop window decorated for Christmas. This picture didn’t come out quite as clear as I had hoped, but I was fascinated by all the work that had to go into creating this fantasy scene, and I wanted to share it.

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Please be sure and leave the link to your own windows pictures.

Photo Challenge: Thursday’s Windows — Week 12

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Okay, you all know how much I love Christmas, so, naturally, I have to bring the celebration to my windows.  This is three views of the window of my front door and the Christmas wreath which pretty much covers it. So, yeah, really it’s pictures of my Christmas wreath, but I figure there’s enough window showing to make it legal for the challenge.

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Please be sure to leave the links to your windows in the Comments section below.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Green

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Just a little piece of graphic art I created one day when I was in the mood for fun instead of work.

 

I was amazed at how many different shades of green were in this picture taken from my front porch.

New Christmas Blog!

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Hey, folks, I have a brand new Christmas blog: “Merry Christmas, World!”  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Christmas!  And personally I celebrate it all year long — playing carols and Christmas movies 12 months a year. Yet there is something very special about celebrating it with everyone else in December as well. This year I have treated myself to a brand new Christmas blog.  I will try to include a multitude of different things on there so that, hopefully, it will become a place where all of you will feel at home.  

Be sure to go over and visit the site at the link below, and while you are there, look over on the right — in the widget column — and you will see a section labeled “Pages On This Site.”  In that list you will find a page titled “Christmas In My World.” That page is there for all of you to be able to share things that make Christmas special in your own world.  You may share a memory, a story, a poem, a joke, photos, recipes, or anything else your heart desires. Feel free to post as often as you like.

(Only Positive Things, Of Course: No comments from Grinches allowed.)

You may post everything you want to say in the “Comment” box, or you can leave a link there to your own site, so that visitors can come to your home and see what you have to share.

I have much more work to do on it, but it’s open for visitors any time. Some new people whom I’ve never met have already found it, so come on over and join us when you get time:   http://christmasiscalling.wordpress.com/

Jake Sprinter’s Sunday Challenge: Toys

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

I’m offering two different pics for Jake’s challenge this week: one that demonstrates the joys of toys from a kid’s point of view and another that lets us take a peek at how even adults can be blessed by something as simple as a “teddy bear.”

This first photo is of me: Miss Bed-head of 1954. But Christmas morning does not allow for time to comb your hair and look neat, after all. An interesting note about this photo is that the doll cradle behind me — and the doll in it — were my sisters gifts.  This year, I went searching on the Internet for some old Christmas catalogs and found a site that offers complete copies of them from many years back. The site posts every page of several Christmas catalogs covering a period of 8 decades.  My sister looked in the pages of one of those catalogs to see if she could find the doll and cradle she had asked for that Christmas — and that our parents had ordered for her.  She found them exactly where she expected them to be.  It was a real treat for her.

Now, this next photo was taken about a year ago, when my dad was in the hospital. He had been through a rough year physically, but the Lord worked some wonderful miracles for him, and this picture shows him the day before he got to go home.  It was about a week before Thanksgiving, and I wanted to give him one of his Christmas gifts early.  I had found this Marine Teddy Bear at the gift shop in the hospital, and knowing my dad has always been proud of his service as a Marine during WW II, I knew it would really bless him.  It is musical, and when you push the button, a full chorus of men sing the entire first verse of “The Marine’s Hymn.” He loves it, and so does every child, grandchild, great-grandchild, and adult visitor who goes to his home.  He proudly displays it and plays it for all of them. It cheered him greatly while in the hospital and has given many happy hours of fun this whole past year.  My dad is back into his full life now, ministering for the Lord all the time, and we are all deeply grateful. I hope you enjoy this photo.

To take part in the challenge go to this link:
http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/sunday-post-toys/

Longing For Them Now

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

A poem by Sandra Conner

Bright flashes of blissful moments,
Fluttering pages of Christmas memories.
Drifting through my mind.
Pages of memories of childhood beam
With living, expectant Christmas dreams.
Longing for them now.

Remembering how each page was able to ignite
My imagination, which brought each one to life.

Oh happy, happy days!
Bright daydreams & wishes,
Make-believing magic,
Found within the pages –
The Christmas catalogs.

~ ~ ~


(Visit this link and get lost in the hundreds of pages of nostalgic Christmas catalogs that span a period of 6 decades.
http://www.wishbookweb.com/)

 

 

 

That Old Christmas ‘Wish Book’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner
A couple days ago, I found myself feeling nostalgic in a “Christmasy” sort of way: I was wishing I could pick up some of the old Christmas catalogs that I used to lose myself in back in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. When I say “lose myself,” that’s exactly what I mean. My sister and I used to practically live for the day the Christmas catalogs arrived, and we could be found, from that day to Christmas, “living” in those pages — dreaming, wishing, and make-believing.

So I decided to search the Internet, and to my great joy came across this site.

(Link below). It offers the complete Christmas catalogs from several different companies for the 1930’s through the 1980’s. OH THE JOY!!! Not only did I delight in looking at all those pages of my favorite things — including fancy house shoes, matching pajamas for the whole family, toy trains, record players, and all kinds of sweet confections — but I actually discovered some things that had been a part of my life during those years. I found a set of coffee mugs that some good friends of ours had owned and used for years. I also found a multi-colored vest that I really had ordered from the catalog and worn for years. When I told my sister about the site, she started spending time there and discovered the page showing a doll and doll bed that Mom and Dad had ordered for her from that particular catalog.
Well, as you can imagine, I have been back several times, and will make many more visits before the big day gets here.

This site loads the entire catalog of each issue — hundreds of pages in thumbnail size which enlarge to full-page size when you click on them. I felt sure that some of the rest of you, when you were kids, must have felt that special thrill when the Christmas catalogs came out each year. So I’m sharing this link with you for old time’s sake.  Enjoy!

http://www.wishbookweb.com/