Reindeer Droppings:

As reported earlier this year has flown by!

Our life this year has been a real “As the World Turns”, full of those at the end of each show moments that leave you thinking “what next!” Thanksgiving was upon us and flew by (turkey’s do fly ya’ know) and Christmas (which had started waaaay before Thanksgiving) seemed to be on us like a summer storm, full of flashing lights and loud noises.

Finally the decorations were up (inside and out)...all 90+Santa’s holding court on their appointed shelves, mantel, and display cabinet. The presents were wrapped and looking royal as they were artfully arrayed around the Christmas tree (Mrs. Clause is really creative).

Finally Christmas Eve was here... We all attended Christmas Eve service and grandpa “gifted” everyone to supper at Carrabbas, (wasn’t that nice of me?)....no one ever reaches for the check?? On Christmas day we opened presents, Bobbie fixed a great brunch (ham with a marmalade crust, cheese grits, egg casserole, orange flavored French toast and onnnnn and on!), and watched movies, Schreck (I may have dozed off a few times...I tried to just “sample” her offerings...really).

THEN we had the desserts, yes desserts, three of them, varied and decorated like Christmas presents!

Well that was last week.

Santa the reindeer were last seen heading north...we, on the other hand, have finished cleaning up after the reindeer (present droppings you know) and are enjoying the "afterglow" of the memories.

The lights are still up, however, everyone’s stocking are no longer crowed across the mantel, so we can have a fire in the fire place again, and it crackles merrily as we contentedly watch movies we’ve been meaning to watch for months.

So...”Ho Ho Ho... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all.”

Blue Santa's

In my last installment I mentioned our “Blue Santa” collection.

From its humble beginning, a single Blue Santa carved and painted from a cypress knee, it now fills four cabinets (oh...and this doesn’t count the ones on the Christmas tree) and numbers in excess of ninety!

From small, less than two inches tall, to floor models that tower nearly four feet tall. Each has a story, as do most collections, and are from almost every country I traveled during my flying career.

They are made of everything from glass, porcelain, metal, wood and elaborate cloth versions. The themes are also various, serious to comedic, cops, pilots, doctors...all are represented.

Eventually friends started finding and giving us Santa’s...that is when we lost control and the numbers soared. “Thank you, thank you...but please stop!”

We still are on the lookout for that “truly unique” one and suspect that more will come...100! is getting closer each season...so time will tell.

Christmas decorations

It has been a tradition for twenty years to haul out the Christmas decoration the day after Thanksgiving.

At first that wasn’t much of a problem...they all were stored in one place, under the stairs. Well as the years passed, the collection grew, pieces bought on our travels, gifts by friends and on and on. As the collection grew so did the requirement for the number of cabinets and trees to hold this growing collection.

Did I mention the “Blue Santa’s”? Years ago we bought a clever “Blue Santa’s” carved and painted from a cypress knee. That one grew into 90 (that I counted yesterday!). This collection alone requires the empting of every cabinet, shelf and piano top.

Oh...remember the storage under the stairs? We now store the boxes and crates (twenty plus) there, in the attic, and the guest room closet...and that is just the inside decorations.

The garage attic holds all the outside decorations... and that's another whole blog entry.

We are a week into the process and are just about finished and ready to put away the boxes and crates and enjoy the display.