There's something of a marriage between Thanksgiving and Christmas going on at the haven. The stag is staying for Christmas. He was a heavily discounted item at Hobby Lobby...a couple of dollars...I came home and covered everything except his antlers in birch bark. (No tree was harmed in the process. I save birch bark whenever I find it.)
I was delighted to find the red transferware tea cup yesterday at a new flea market that has opened in town. I checked the price before really looking at it...$5. Then I looked at it closely in the dim light and saw that it was a commemorative tea cup made in England for the gift shop at Plymouth Rock. On the saucer is a picture of the Mayflower and on the tea cup is a representation of John and Priscilla Alden. Be still my heart. (I should have left up my Pilgrim Story so you'd know why I was thrilled, but trust me, I was.) So the tea cup will stay through Christmas. It is red transferware and all. It does have a few minor problems so I'll not be drinking this wonderful tea from its bowl.
The Maple Earl Grey Tea is a gift from my son and daughter-in-law. They purchased it in Canada and gifted me Thanksgiving day. It is delicious! It's staying for Christmas, too.
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One of my chores today is the rounding up of all turkeys. They are not staying for Christmas. The gingerbread boy hangs out there all year round.
I know you will have it all up and looking beautiful in no time ,That string and the window sounds
ReplyDeletelike a good thing to me.
It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Vee. Yahoo on the great prices you got on your deer and teacup!
ReplyDeleteMost of our trees have had to be supported my string tacked into a wall-not really near as clever an idea as John's I must say. I've done a lot of thinking about decorating, I guess it's time to get moving on it.
Take care-Kim
Vee:
ReplyDeleteWould love to have you come link to my blog party. I know, some don't do that but you are a very special writer.
Hi Vee, I love seeing your décor. The red transferware cup is lovely. What a thoughtful gift the tea from Canada is. It is raining here today and I was just thinking of hot tea! I look forward to seeing your tree's decorations. I had not heard of the idiom you used.
ReplyDeleteIt all looks beautiful, Vee. I love the red transferware cup, so meaningful to you personally with the Aldens depicted. I saw a pretty red transferware cup/mug in Marshalls the other day -- think it is Johnson Bros. -- the red Christmas tree one, not sure of the name. I was seriously tempted but will hope it is still there after Christmas! What a clever idea to add birch bark to that deer!
ReplyDeleteSeems like we always have the tree up undecorated for several days. One year I think it was like that for a week or more! I have heard the expression "leaning toward Sawyer's", but have no idea of the origin. I'm sure you do! Only clue I can think of is that my hubby used to be a sawyer (in a sawmill) for years and years. I'm sure lots of trees leaned his way over time ... but do tell us where this idiom originated; I for one would love to know!
I looked it up and decided that the meaning has shifted toward Sawyer's. I, and everyone I know, uses this expression to mean anything leaning precariously. There are several suggestions of origin and I am clueless as to which one is correct.
DeleteGlad you had a good Thanksgiving and I sure enjoyed seeing your decor! I am particularly impressed with the birch bark to those antlers! What a good idea! We got our tree up the day before we left and it sure was nice coming home to it. Enjoy your week Vee!
ReplyDeleteNot to the antlers...just the body. My scissors skills are not equal to birch bark antlers. =D
DeleteI also look forward to sitting quietly by the tree...which I would enjoy tonight...only IF my tree was up and only IF I didn't have to go back out on this nasty, cold and rainy night. It's decorate-the-church-night...fun but not so fun, if you'd rather be sitting by our own tree...which isn't up yet anyway :( Loving the birch-covered stag and that lovely tea cup! Hopefully, it will start beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here soon!
ReplyDeleteWell...if anyone could describe things well with words and no pictures it is you! I have red transfer ware cups and saucers, not the commemorative kind, and if I had some plates I would transfer out all my blue and white for the red for Christmas. Love the stag with the birch on it! My Thanksgiving company leave tomorrow and then I will head into Christmas decorating!
ReplyDeleteWell...how perfect is that? A red transferware tea cup...with a tiny tree peeking out! I can hear the music in the background....just lovely photos Vee....Tis the season....hugs!!!
ReplyDeleteI like a faux tree for the same reasons and as a matter of fact we just bought a new table top one today. My poor silver tinsel tree had so many repairs over the years it was time to let it go and now we have a green one. A great find on the red transferware teacup, perfect for a cuppa while enjoying the tree once it's decorated.
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with the idiom-leaning toward Sawyers--I did look it up--makes sense. What a great find for you on the teacup. I remember your family connection. Red transferware...so lovely. I too am hoping for quiet times by the tree. ♥
ReplyDelete"Leaning toward Sawyer's" is a new idiom for me. That's because it's regional to your area. We use the term cattywampus, of obscure origins. Did you get to watch the previews of the Downton Abbey Season 6 this weekend? PBS had a beg-a-thon and during that event they stuck in some previews/recaps hosted by Hugh Bonneville. I'm starting to get excited about the new season. I gotta feeling it's gonna be a pip. ~:)
ReplyDeleteThe tea cup was a great find. Your pictures are all lovely.
ReplyDeleteI haven't started any Christmas decorating yet. It has been so warm and snowless here that it doesn't seem like Christmas yet.
Your home looks so cozy and lovely. I've always loved the vignettes you create.
ReplyDeleteLove your new little red cup...and it looks cute with the little tree in it. That tea really sounds good as I love anything MAPLE...
ReplyDeleteBeing from different parts of the country, some of the things you say have me scratching my head...like "I should have left up my story"...is that the same as "I should have told you my story"? And, I've never heard the expression "leaning toward Sawyers"....and I know I say things that make you wonder, too. Same thing with foods in different locations....
=D
DeleteNo, until yesterday morning, "My Pilgrim Story" was linked in my sidebar. Because I think of the sidebar as a bulletin board, I described it as "left up my story." Course no one would understand that except me. Besides that, I do not think that most pay any attention to sidebars; I love sidebars and explore bloggers' sidebars regularly.
Hi Vee~
ReplyDeleteIt seems like I've been gone such a long time! When I return to my blog, I always look for you . . . you are like a comfortable quilt to me! I love your decorations, and just let me say, I love the red teacup! Your tree will look beautiful, no matter what, and I agree, all things, turkey, need to come down for Christmas!!
Hugs,
Barb
I love the birch bark you applied to the deer and I have always loved red transferware. Sweet little tree in the cup.
ReplyDeleteI have not heard that idiom, but I think that I understand its meaning. Did the string out the window do the trick? Quiet time by the tree sounds lovely. (I have my tree up, but the quiet time has been elusive so far.)
ReplyDeleteMaple tea...mmmm. What a nice gift! I love your red tea cup and I know that it is especially meaningful to you! That was a bargain!
So you've been "rounding up the turkeys." Hmmmm... :)
I rounded up my turkeys and packed them all away, too. Twas time! I didn't do anything inside yet but I did a lot of decorating outside and that is done-save for one string of lights I have to add to a bush. It all looks so nice and "happy" at night.
ReplyDeleteI am laughing at your hubby's solution to straighten the tree. Let's hope it doesn't fall over and pull the window into the house (kidding- I'm kidding).
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas- YOUR way! (I like MY way, too)...lol xo Diana
You do what you have to do to get the tree straight!!! I remember a few times when my tree fell over and I had to anchor it to a HUGE nail in the cedar wall next to it!!
ReplyDeleteI think your pictures were wonderful!!!
Not one thing Christmas here at the Chapman's yet! Unless you count the Christmas music playing! Of course I keep up so many strands of white lights - it always looks 'decorated!' For Christmas, though, I will use colored lights that Louis Dean favors. Tomorrow! That will all start tomorrow - AFTER I clean this dreadfully messy house!! Taking down 24 tubs + nearly a dozen white trash bags and a dozen black garbage bags of FALL down has left things in a mess!!! Pine Sol, dust and windex and lots of vacuuming is on the agenda!!
Are you going to do the bear and tree in a suitcase as you did last year? That was one of my favorite memories on your blog that season.
No, this year we have the 6.5 ft tree on a two-foot trunk. I hope that it impresses the grandsons who were not at all impressed with that wee tree in a box. Ha!
DeleteWhere to start? 'Leaning toward Sawyer's' is a foreign expression to me. I just did a little research and discovered it is an east-coast expression. I guess I haven't spent enough time with easterners!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of all your technical difficulties. We all need in-house IT guys these days! Who needs pictures when you are so good at painting them with your words? You have a way with them!
Wishing you and John many quiet and delightful times beside that tree over the next month!
My stag is also up for the season...though he is not quite as handsome as yours! But my tree is still missing. And not because it is waiting to be cut! I too have a tree that can come out of hiding anytime and never sheds needles.
Good find...the red transferware tea cup! Enjoy your Canadian tea! Earl Grey is my favorite.
Just as Judy above has said, your idiom is brand new to me!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to some quiet time beside the tree, too, but first we have to get it. We still get a real tree - I don't know if we'll ever succumb to the convenience of artificial.
Your birch bark stag is a wonderful creation! So creative. The red transferware cup is a beauty and looks very Christmassy with that tree leaning in it. Enjoy the decorating!
Succumb? Well that's a word for it! =D
DeleteOk, I 'm moving in...you make everything so pretty and lovely, my friend. smiles.---no artificial tree here, hubby buys a fresh one. Have a beautiful Tuesday friend. Blessings
ReplyDeleteI'm loving your birch covered stag, Vee! How clever of you to save the bark and find such a pretty way to use it. Your teacup is a beauty, with memories, and since you can't drink from it, you've found a useful way to display it for Christmas. The maple Earl Grey tea sounds like it will warm your sweet soul through the Christmas season. Hugs to you, Vee!
ReplyDeleteI will be doing a google search for your wonderful Maple tea! Thanks for the flexible proverb! I really need it right now as I have two rooms of furniture piled up around me as I type because we are having a new floor put in one room. Christmas decorating will have to wait for a few days, maybe more. I've never heard the Sawyer saying before. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteWhen I read your blog I am overwhelmed with your creativity and the wonderful ideas and photos you come up with. I am not familiar with the idiom but I will be looking it up. We have a huge birch tree in our yard and I do a lot of art work with the bark that peels off naturally.
ReplyDeleteMy Mother-in-Law always used to say "leaning towards Ferguson's". Regional maybe?? I remember asking my boyfriend (now husband for 43 years), where the Fergusons lived. He had no idea what I was talking about. Too funny.
ReplyDeleteI like my tree up for a good while as well. It is up as I type this and will remain until Twelfth Night for sure!
Away with the turkeys. I too like the lack of a dried out tree complete with a trail of dead needles heading to the door. A nice luxury to enjoy the tree for a full month or more. It's so cool you found that teacup with some family history (if I'm remembering correctly). I'm headed to steep a pot of earl gray after seeing it in your photos. It's one of my favorites and happens to be in supply in our cupboard at the moment. I'm not too into details so don't understand what you are unhappy with on your blog, but it looks good to me. Love the font on your header.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a lovely Thanksgiving and that red transferware cup was a wonderful find waiting just for you, Vee! I will be absent from blog world much of December so I'm wishing you a very happy and blessed Christmas season!
ReplyDeleteLove your new teacup! xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a treasure that tea cup is! Perfect with the Alden's on it! I also love that stag, and with the birch bark he is perfect.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard the idiom before either but got the gist of it by the context. A gal I knew from Mississippi, used "you're thinking like Aunt Lil" to describe wrong thinking. I still use it sometimes! Idioms are fun.
Your tree will look wonderful.
Deanna
Nope, not familiar with that idiom.
ReplyDeleteYour birch bark treatment with the stag is brilliant. What a wonderful addition. I had kept a piece of birch bark I found in my garden and finally tossed it thinking I'd never do anything with it.
Great find on your pretty tea cup. How wonderful that it will take you through both holidays.
I think you do quite well with words as well as pictures, and we are soul sisters for sure, I also like to be in control and have things go my way. I feel there must be a great many women, and men, who feel the same way. Our tree is up (it's a small one!) and decorated and I have a bit more decorating to do after I finish my killer, week after Thanksgiving to do list. I love the birch bark stag.
ReplyDeleteThat is one pretty stag! I love birch bark although I once tried to make something with it and it was a total fail. I give you credit and it's a keeper all through the winter in my book. Love the teacup and saucer, too.
ReplyDeleteWe get the live tree and I'm always urging hubby to get it earlier but he's cautious about fires, etc. Last year we used a preservative in the water and it was still very fresh when we took it down in January. Maybe I can persuade him to go earlier this year. I love the coziness, the scent, the sparkle and glow. It's relaxing and mesmerizing.
Have a great week, Vee!
Jane x
I really was sure I had commented here. But I can't find it...I wonder if I forgot to hit publish....I am always impressed with your creativity and talent for decorating. The red transfer ware cup is beautiful and doubly so because it has a real connection to your family. Be well! May your days be full of satisfying moments.
ReplyDeleteI just love the idea of using birch bark to make a store bought decoration your own. I have a birch tree that I enjoy peeling for the fun of it. I haven't ever heard of your idiom either and that makes me wonder which ones we say that you haven't heard of. Wishing you a peaceful season of advent.
ReplyDeleteWhen you master that proverb, Vee, please teach it to me :-) A wonderful post.
ReplyDeleteAmalia
xo
You are so far ahead of me. When the kids were home we always put the tree up after the last bite of lunch on Thanksgiving Day. We haven't ever been to the attic yet. You have some lovely things to decorate with and I look forward to your December posts. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteYour birch bark coated deer is sweet and I love that you found such a perfectly imperfect teacup that means so much to you. I hope your tree stays standing for the next month and doesn't get tippy. I got the decorations on ours last night and so far the lights are working. Have a nice day Vee.
ReplyDeleteVee, I've not heard "leaning toward Sawyer's." Where does it come from? I'm mainly familiar with English and Southern expressions. I have to go back and find why the Pilgrim teacup is so important to you -- you see, I had 13 ancestors aboard the Mayflower, so it would be important to me as well. Your decorating is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteJean~
DeleteYou are a no-reply commenter so I have responded here.
If you have not found My Pilgrim Story, here it is from last year:
http://ahavenforvee.blogspot.com/2014/11/my-pilgrim-story.html
Look also for my comments within comments here as many questions are answered there. 😊 Your question is.
We descendants of the Mayflower Separatists are an interesting and eclectic group...all ten million plus of us. My parents are distant cousins via the Pilgrims as are my aunt and uncle. I daresay that most New Englanders, here for any length of time, go back to those very early settlers. It is, as you well know, quite the intertwining.
Have you written about your Pilgrim Connections? I'd love to read it.