Hi Everyone! Yes, it's Jan from Fursdon House - finally!! The last time I updated this blog was on 4 June 2019!! I had no idea it had been this long, but I was reading someone else's blog the other day and was really enjoying myself. This, in turn, got me to toying with the idea of not only rejuvenating this blog, but trying my best to REALLY use it as a means to visit with all of you! So here's my first attempt! Not sure where it will lead, or if it will be successful, but here goes anyway.
As you can see from the title, it's Christmas Eve here in Madison, Alabama. The weather has been lovely today and very NON-Christmassy, if I may say so. We've had a high today of 66°F, and it's currently 64°, although Google assures me that it "feels like 63°". So there you have it! It's about 5:00 pm as I write this, and it's almost completely dark outside, so I can see the reindeer lit up on the lawn. It's the only outside decorations we did this year and instead of our usual "tree in every room" on the inside, we only put up two trees, the Nautical Tree and the Vintage Kitchen Gadget Tree. To be perfectly honest, we've had so much going on the past few months, and Nigel and I were both very sick earlier this month with upper respiratory infections, which I think is what people used to call "a nasty cold"! Ick! But we're mostly recovered now!
So. . . . here we go! This first post will show the few Christmas decorations we put up this year. And as we go along, I plan to update you on all that's been going with us the past couple of years, as well as all the "current events"!
The Nautical Tree - Nigel's favorite!
On this tree we showcase all the seashells we've collected over the years from all the islands and countries we've visited. This year, we added shells and coral we picked up in Key Largo, Florida. I also included a large sand dollar, which hubby Nigel found on a recent scuba diving excursion with our granddaughter, Isobel, in the Atlantic Ocean, 25 miles off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We've got several sand dollars, but only those we've found washed up on beaches and a few made into ornaments that we purchased. But Nigel picked this one up off the Atlantic Ocean floor, so I think it's particularly special.
This greeting card led to the creation of the Nautical Tree!!
In May 1997, Nigel (who was active duty Army at the time) was sent on a one-year tour to South Korea, up on the DMZ. Having found this box of Christmas cards (which I was so pleased with) and to keep my mind off how much I missed him, especially at Christmas time, I decided to create a tree that would commemorate Nigel's love of the ocean and all things "nautical". So I gathered all the shells we'd collected up until that time and decorated a tree with them. Did you know that shells are hard as rocks?!?! I discovered this when I tried to pierce holes in all these muscle shells so I could hang them on the tree! I ended up using a heavy hammer and a large nail, and pounding small holes through them on the garage's concrete floor! My hands were sore for a couple of days afterward, but it was worth the work! I also found Hawaiian type leis made of small sea shells at Michael's, which I carefully took apart and rejoined to each other, creating the shell garland! It's certainly evolved over the years since and quickly became one of Nigel's favorite trees! Here are some close-ups of some of our favorite ornaments:
Scuba Diving Santa!!
Nigel's absolute favorite ornament! We have two on the tree, one for him and one for my granddaughter Isobel, my two Master Divers. Kind of funny when you consider I can't even swim and I PANIC when water gets in my face!
The Sand Dollar Nigel found on the Atlantic Ocean floor a few months ago!
A wooden crab from Roatan, Honduras!
Mushroom Coral
I love it's absence of color and it's intricate pattern.
It almost looks like a lace ruffle.
Lion Fish
Nigel and Isobel went lion fish hunting when we were in Roatan, Honduras a couple of years ago. I'd never heard of them, but they're fabulously beautiful, as you can see. However, their "spines" are venomous. So you have to be very careful catching them. The "lion fish hunts" are formed to try and control their population in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Because they're native only to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, they have no known predators in these other areas where they were inadvertently introduced and their population is exploding. Just so you know - they taste DELICIOUS!! Similar to lobster!!
Red Coral
Isn't it beautiful? I love the intricate patterns of it!
This shows how hard sea shells are;
this is a carving of a turtle on a shell.
One of the MANY ships we've collected over the years, ranging in size from a couple of inches to a couple of feet! Like I said earlier, Nigel loves all things nautical! I like to say we have a whole fleet of ships!!
Kitchen Christmas Tree - Jan's Favorite
I started this tree after I inherited many of my Gran's kitchen items. I love vintage pieces, especially those used in the kitchen, but I didn't have any way of showcasing them. This "tree" actually began life as a "wreath", but over the years I've collected so many fun and interesting items that I have enough for a tree now! I'm particularly fond of the vintage pieces with red and green painted wooden handles (perfect colors for Christmas!) This year, I decided to use my authentic goose feather tree to display everything, rather than one of my traditional trees. I like how you can see all the different items so easily, whereas they were all "lost in the greenery" on the more traditional tree.
By the way, please don't get the idea I love to cook because I actually hate cooking! I consider myself an "adequate" cook, but I certainly don't enjoy cooking. Whenever we've had large family gatherings, the other women did the cooking while I was quite happy to do the clean-up afterward! Okay, it may sound weird, but when you're cleaning up, you don't have to concentrate on much of anything. Here are some of my favorite pieces:
My Gran's Biscuit Cutter
I can't tell you many times I saw Gran using this biscuit cutter when I was growing up. It's one of my fondest memories! She made homemade biscuits for most breakfasts and often for supper as well! And she was fast too! I love how the color has become worn over time from so much use!
Gran's Measuring Spoons & a Mini Metal Ice Tray
This is another fond memory I have of Gran, when she was baking and using these slightly warped plastic measuring spoons. I think she told me she got them too close to the stove burner, hence the warp! But she never wasted anything and they still measured correctly, so she kept using them!
I got the mini metal ice tray this year when we were visiting my oldest daughter, Laura, in Fort Worth, Texas. Do any of you remember those old metal ice trays? Then we went to plastic ones, which were much easier to use. Now we have the ice dispensers built into our fridges if we're lucky enough to have one! We had what I called "single" metal ice trays and we also had a large "double" tray. But I'd never seen one this small! It measures 6" x 3", with ice cube slots about 3/4 of an inch square!! The only thing I could think of was that it was used in a home bar for cocktails! And it was quite "the thing" to have cocktails in the 1950's and 1960's.
Yes, this is a glass baby bottle!! I've seen a picture of my Mom sterilizing glass baby bottles in the kitchen! NOT a fun chore!! When I had my girls (in 1981 and 1985), you could still get glass bottles, as well as plastic ones in various pastel colors. But the preferred method - at least by ME!! - were the clear plastic Playtex bottles with the plastic "sleeve" liners that you filled with milk. I was thrilled to find this large Pyrex bottle, and I later found a smaller one made by Tuffy! If I remember correctly, the nipples were made of rubber and the "thing" that held the nipple in place was made of black plastic.
Anyone who knows me well knows I'm not only a chocoholic; I'm a Hershey's Chocolate Chocoholic!! So I was quite pleased to find this large metal Hershey's Cocoa tin!! As a matter of fact, I made a batch of fudge earlier today using my Hershey's Cocoa. However, the "tin" has been replaced by plastic! 😕
We have a saying in our family. If a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of vanilla, put in at least double that amount!! When we were visiting Roatan, Honduras a couple of years ago, I bought a large bottle of vanilla that was made locally!! Delicious!! And it tastes MUCH stronger than what we normally use here in the States.
When I was MUCH younger, Santa gave me a Suzy Homemaker Oven for Christmas! I was thrilled and LOVED making little cupcakes. Although this isn't the one I had, it's identical to it. Sweet, lovely memories!!
I have a very large collection of these vintage metal cookie cutters. Some, like this one, have attached metal handles and others have attached wooden handles, all painted in my favorite green and red colors!
One of the baby spoons I used when my girls (now 40 and 36 years old) were little!! I have another one that has a longer, slender "bowl" that I use in my studio. There's nothing quite so precious as spooning rice cereal into a baby's mouth, watching them spit it out, then trying to "scoop" it from their chin and put it back in!
Although not the original one we had when I was little, we had a cookie cutter just like this angel. Notice how the "handles" evolved from being separate but attached to the cutter to becoming part of the overall cutter design. I like the others best!! That red handled "thingy" on the right is a vegetable peeler!!
The green glass "thingy" was part of a coffee percolator! It sat down into the top of the lid and I remember watching the coffee percolating up into the top, over and over, until the coffee was brewed. Our new Keurig coffee machines aren't nearly so much fun to watch, or to listen to! Just saying!!
I loved the red wooden handled scoop; always useful! And the glass ornament shaped like what we called "hard ribbon candy" brings back many happy memories, as my grandparents (especially my PawPaw) LOVED it! I personally didn't care for it AT ALL. Then again, it wasn't chocolate! Again, just saying!!
Birthday Candle Holders!
When I was little, I remember my Mom taking me to a bakery and letting me pick out a cupcake for my birthday! And on top of that cupcake was a little pink bird candle holder, with a candle inside it! I was probably around 5 years old and I was completely entranced! Now, flash forward about 50+ years. I was looking for something (can't even remember what) on Etsy when I happened to come across two original sets of these candle holders! Talk about a trip down memory lane! I had completely forgotten about that trip to the bakery, but all of a sudden the memory came flooding back to me! Lovely memory!
Well, that's it for now! Goodness, I'd forgotten how much time it takes to get the proper pictures loaded and write up the various and sundry things I want to share with you. I hope I haven't bored you. My goal - at least at this point - is to update the blog about once a week. So.....let's see how long I can keep it up this time, shall we?
Thank you for all your support and encouragement. Remember, I love hearing from you too so please leave a comment and share your own stories with me.
Take good care and have a merry and peaceful Christmas.
May God bless.
Jan
