Happy Holidays to You

There are 24 days till Christmas - Diary of a Christmas Countdown

November 30, 2013

Happy Holidays!

I watched the videos last night that were taken at the Malls when the doors opened for Black Friday sales.  There were a lot of stampedes (as usual),  but all in all the people that were interviewed as they left the stores seemed very happy with their holiday purchases. I know that they are all having daydreams of their families opening their gifts on Christmas day while the holiday bells are ringing and saying to themselves "Happy Holiday to you".

I love the Andy Williams version of  Happy Holiday /The Holiday Season.  Irving Berlin wrote the lyrics to the song "Happy Holiday" that Bing Crosby sang in the movie Holiday Inn. The Andy Williams song has contributions to the lyrics from Kay Thompson according to Christmas TV History in the segment on Andy Williams Christmas shows. I notices differences in the way the lyrics were sung in the different performances that I watched.  All of the versions are great and only differ slightly.  They do all start with the words "Happy Holiday"  The partial lyrics quoted below are from the Andy Williams versions on his Christmas specials.

"While the merry bells keep ringing,
May your every wish come true."

 "It's the holiday season,
And Santa Clause is coming around"

"He'll be coming down the chimney, down"

Coming down the chimney, down"

"It's the holiday season,
And Santa Claus has got a toy,
For every good girl and good little boy."

"He'll have a big fat pack upon his back,

And lots of goodies for you and me.

So, leave a peppermint stick for old St. Nick,

Hanging on the Christmas tree."

"It's the holiday season,

With the whoop-de-do and dickery (or hickory) dock,

And don't forget to hang up your sock,

'Cause just exactly at 12 o' clock,

He'll be coming down the chimney, down"

"Happy Holiday"
While the merry bells keep bringing,
Happy Holidays to you.

Happy Holiday!"

You have got to be lovin' Andy Williams and adoring Bing Crosby.

Dinner plates are Adams & Co. Traditional Christmas pattern (via Goodwill),  salad plates are by Oneida  O' Tannenbaum pattern (also via Goodwill), chargers are from Walmart, napkins are Lenox Christmas plaid (after Christmas sale at Tuesday Morning), Flatware also from Tuesday Morning 40 percent off sale.

Staple gun from Home Depot.

 Material from two dollar tablecloth bought at Goodwill,  chair seat from three dollar chairs bought at Goodwill about eight years ago. Bam! Holiday chairs!!

Thrift on Ladies, Thrift on!

Seasonal Sundays at the Tablescaper

Make It Pretty Monday

Friday Favorites

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

There are 25 Days Till Christmas - Diary of a Christmas countdown
Black Friday November 29th, 2013

When I had gotten out of my car at the local our Marc's store I was singing  "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"  to myself. I had not seen anyone nearby so I was singing a bit louder than I normally would out in public. When I approached the door to the store an elderly woman came up beside me and with a big smile on her face as she stopped there right in the doorway to tell me how much she loved my song.  Happiness is so contagious, when you smile and carry a song in your heart the people around you will smile and maybe they will pass the smile on their face on to someone else.



The lyrics written by Meridith Wilson (as found on the internet)
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Bing Crosby sang this song in the movie White Christmas.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere you go

Take a look in the five and ten glistening once again
with candy canes and silver lanes aglow.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
(Christmas)
Toys in every store

But the prettiest sight to see
Is the holly that will be
On your own front door

A pair of hop along boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Barney and Ben

Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk
Is the hope of Janice and Jen
And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.

(It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas)
(Everywhere you go)
 



There's a tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well,
The sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow.


(It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas)
Soon the bells will start

And the thing that will make them ring
Is the carol that you will sing right within your
heart

 



It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in every store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly
that will be
On your own front door
Sure it's Christmas once more

Enjoy the Holidays!!!

All of the pumpkin tureens that the daisies were in are now all packed away. The daisies have been replanted into Christmas mugs for the holidays.  The silver ornament tree was a Goodwill purchase a while back.  The chairs have been recovered by stapling material from a tablecloth that I had bought at Goodwill to the seats.  The chairs look very festive now.

The Marc's  snowman plate is stacked onto a Paula Dean Whitaker plate.  The flatware came from the World Market last year at an after Christmas sale. The red placemats are a  Joan Green design that was bought at the Goodwill store,  It still had the tags on it!

The Marc's stores here in Ohio are packed with huge quantities of Christmas accents for the home
I can't walk into one those stores without coming out with a bag of holiday goodies.

The Living room and dining room are loaded up with holiday decor from Marc's and from thrift stores like Goodwill, Volunteers of America, and the Salvation Army.

I have so many Christmas holiday plates and tons of dinnerware, silverware, and wine glasses (as you can see stacked in the cabinets behind the table) that I have bought over the past forty something years,  and I also have so many Christmas songs in my heart that I have sung over the past sixty something years. I'm just saying,  it seems to me that I have a set of Christmas dishes for every Christmas song I know.

That could mean something, don't you think?

Happy Holidays!
Candy

Linking to:

Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper

Make It Pretty Monday 

Friday Favorites 

Thanksgiving Hunt Tablescape

I have wanted to make a Hunt tablescape ever since I saw Susan's  Spode Woodland Hunt Tablescape at Between Naps on the Porch.  You can see her beautiful tablescape here http://betweennapsontheporch.net/welcome-to-the-14th-tablescape-tuesday/,  It is listed under Thanksgiving Tablescapes  I thought this was the prettiest table setting I had ever seen.  I loved the elegance of the beautiful Spode plates, the salt cellars, and the sparkling stemware, it was all so beautiful to me. I was inspired by Susan's tablescape to make my own interpretation of a hunt table.  I have been collecting pheasants and woodland creatures to put this tablescape together now for several years. Almost every item in this tablescape was found at thrift stores.




I started by making a fall candle centerpiece. The centerpiece shown below is from a couple of years ago.
 

You start by deciding on your candles and what containers to use.

Layer vase filler on the bottom for the candle to rest on. I like to use black vase filler.

I had twigs from an old twiggy wall hanging that I cut it apart.  I soaked the twigs overnight to make them bendable (it would have been much easier to use grapevines).

I arranged the twigs around the inside of a container and added enough vase filler to keep a level area for the candle.

I added some acorns and fall leaves and voila fall candle centerpiece!

The hunt scape itself started with a piece of driftwood on a tablecloth that I had made from a piece of material my neighbor was going to throw away.

I placed a pheasant in the curve of the driftwood.

I added a couple of pheasant feathers, some winter foliage, more twigs, and tiny woodland creatures around the base of the driftwood.

I set my hunt table with Noritake's Keltcraft Pursuit pattern plates on my Walmart charger plates.

I added ruby red wineglasses, salad bowls, and parfait glasses.

Keltcraft pursuit plates - Goodwill Auction
Flatware - Goodwill
Napkins - Goodwill
Ruby red wines glasses - Goodwill Auction
Napkin rings - VOA
Pheasants, woodland creatures, & driftwood - Thrift stores.
Containers for candle centerpieces - Marc's
Metal pine cone candle holders - Goodwill
Candles - Marc's

Thrift on ladies - you will be amazed at what you will find.


Linking to:

Tablescape Thursday