Bits and Pieces of Christmas at Our House

Favorite Christmas stories

A cute piece of Christmas stitchery I found on Ebay a few years ago.

Another piece of stitchery that comes out every year.

A framed vintage gingerbread hankie on the kitchen etagere.

The Advent Calendar, love the space for candy or small surprises.

A snowy bathroom.

Small hand-painted pewter, I love these!

A bit of the Santa tree, only Santa ornaments.

A bit of the Gingerbread and Candy tree.

A bit of the Snowman tree.

The Hallmark Nativity

A Felt Stocking Family Tradition

For three generations our family has created felt stockings for new family members to use at Christmas time. Every generation is a different color.

The tradition started over 65 years ago when I was a child. A friend of my parents made stockings for everyone in our family. Mine has been repaired over the years from time to time. It holds such special memories for me.

After my husband and I were married, my mother made him a stocking too and added bits and pieces to show some of his interests at that time. She also added the year that he joined our family. His has a few scars that need attention this year.

After my daughter was born, my mother continued the tradition and made her a stocking as well only hers was red to indicate a new generation. I have added a few things to it over the years as my daughter’s interests have changed. My mother made one for each of our two sons as well.

After my mother passed, as each of our children married, I continued the tradition and made stockings for their spouses too.

With the arrival of the first grandchild, I changed the color of the stocking to green to indicate another new generation. As they grow up, I will add other bits and pieces as their interests develop. I continued to make new stockings for each new grandchild. (This year I plan to reduce the size of the yellow numbers on a few, they got way too big! Some of the dates have been removed in these photos for privacy.)

The stockings stay with us for now and they don’t travel when we travel for the holidays. They are somewhat fragile and every year I need to made repairs of some kind or another. As my mother did before me, eventually they will be given to each family to use or display, as they wish. The whole family loves seeing these stockings appear every year for Santa to fill if the family is here. The stockings are hung even if the family members are not here. It is a very special family Christmas tradition.

Favorite Christmas Children’s Books

I started my Librarian career as a Children’s Librarian and the saying goes, once a Children’s Librarian, always a Children’s Librarian. Even after I moved to other kinds of librarianship, I continued to collect Children’s books and after my children were born, every Christmas, there were books under the tree, some for them, and some for me! Some of them were pricey at the time but they are now being enjoyed by the next generation so I feel like they were worth it. I put a selection out on the coffee table every Christmas and they serve as wonderful decorations but they also receive lots of special attention from family and friends. I decided to share a few and it was very difficult to choose! Some of these Children’s books are not in publication but you can find them on the secondary market.

I have a tradition of buying a new “Night before Christmas” book every year even though my children are grown and gone. When they come home for the holidays with grandchildren, they still love these books, old and new. I love books with full page illustrations and I just love this Santa face!. Amazon gives you a sneak peak at a few pages from this book so you can see what I mean. It was published in 2011.

I have always been a fan of the artist and illustrator Mary Engelbreit and this version of “The Night before Christmas” is so colorful and the illustrations are so detailed that little ones will really enjoy looking closely at each page. The book was published in 2002.

This is a wonderful story about what happened in Bethlehem on the evening of Christmas. The full page illustrations are absolutely wonderful. It was a Christian Book Award finalist in the children’s category and it was published in 2017.

My mother loved poinsettias and I love them too. I have collected a few books about the poinsettia flower and this one is a favorite. It was published in 1994. You may be able to find the hardcover in a used book store.

I have always loved the artist and illustrator Jan Brett and this is one of my favorite versions of all my “Twelve Days of Christmas” books. It was published in 1989.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without Rudolph! This is the original version of the story of Rudolph written in verse in 1939. I adore the full page illustrations. It was published in 2001.

This book is dear to my heart. I loved Peter Spier’s books when I was a Children’s Librarian and after my children were born, I bought this one when it was published in 1983. It is a wordless book and the detailed illustrations on each page tell a wonderful story about a family’s activities while celebrating the Christmas season. My children are adults now but they still love to sit and look at this book.

Well-illustrated children’s books can be expensive but I have always felt that an expensive toy often doesn’t last that long. A special book can be read over and over even continuing on into the next generation, and the memories that creates are priceless.

Grandma's tablecloths

For a while several years ago I collected vintage tablecloths. Only a few have a label still attached. I bought most of them on Ebay. They are not in mint condition although I have treated some of them for stains and some stains did disappear.

This is one of my favorite strawberry tablecloths. I love the design because it covers most of the tablecloth. Someone has identified it as a 1940's Beauty Kraft Tablecloth called "Strawberry Festival".

It is about 45"x 47" and still has a good color.

This is a fairly common strawberry design made by Wilendur. Years ago, I bought a few with stains to make curtains out of because it was a design that was easy to find.

This small Southwest design vintage tablecloth still has a faded Wilendur label attached.

This is another Southwest design tablecloth with pottery, sombreros, cactus, and other designs. This one is larger than the previous one.

Another great vintage strawberry tablecloth. The blue really adds to the design.

I love geraniums and have many different kinds growing in the back yard. I love this Geranium tablecloth. It has a faint label that says, Harmony House, Sears, Robuck and Co.

I have several vintage California map tablecloths with many different designs. They were popular as a travel souvenir in the 40’s and 50’s. I have seen other states as well.

This one is just red and white. On the bottom left it says “Design c. 1940 U.S.H.P.. Not sure what the letters stand for.

This is my favorite vintage California tablecloth. It is really colorful and is signed by Margaret Newport. It still has bright colors.

I use these tablecloths sometimes on my tablescapes as tablecloths or overlays. This is a tablescape that I created with one of my vintage California tablecloths. You can read more about this tablescape here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/blog/2024/5/22/a-california-dreaming-summer-tablescape

This is another tablescape that I created with a vintage Los Angeles tablecloth. You can read more information about this tablescape here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/blog/2024/5/15/a-la-la-land-tablescape

I have several vintage Christmas themed tablecloths and I enjoy using them during the Christmas season.

I’m glad that I bought my vintage tablecloths before the prices went up so much. I enjoy having them.

To see over 270 different tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my Table Settings and Tablescape Ideas Facebook group for lots of tablescaping inspiration! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Table Settings and Tablescape Ideas or click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2553689988183392

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I put a new tablescape on my blog every week, please check back!

This blog post was featured at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, https://www.mizhelenscountrycottage.com/ Please visit this blog for lots of great recipes!