What's up Santa?

Have been working as an entertainer for Xmas - so haven't been blogging.  Hubby & I worked as Santa & Mrs. Claus at Channel Islands Harbor - (He got a suit, I had to put together my outfit) - It was drizzly & chilly - but the kids were adorable & hubby is a great Santa.

Last night my group The Pickwicks was revived for a holiday party down near the airport.  Hubby, Eldon Turner & I played and sang and rang bells & jingle bells & a good time was had by all.  In the last minute we had to "fluff" our equipment set up, but luckily there was a 99 Cent Store in the neighborhood which saved the day.  Besides the ribbon and so on - I actually found a pewter VERA scarf (must be 20+ years old) which was real SILK for 99 cents.  One never knows what one will find.

I wore my $12 wonder dress (acquired from Graveyardmall.com a few months ago - there were so cheap - I bought a black AND a red one). I twisted the top to give me a V neck & added a black jacket I had had for years & the tights that I had gotten 2 for 1 at the drug store for being Mrs. Claus (one blue pair and one black) - and the brocade mules I had gotten at a thrift store. Oh - also the earrings from the thrift store in Ojai - and bracelets from the old ladies' thriftshop in Camarillo - & a combination of a ruffly scarf from the 99 Cent Store & a gold sequined one from another thriftshop.  One's wardrobe does come in handy at times like this.

Have started to give out the holiday scarves - and fashion photographer Peter Brown wore his to his photo shoot for designer Cynthia Vincent & got compliments from Cynthia and another fashionista! And another friend I gave a scarf to loved the orange in the knit - which went with his orange emergency jacket - and declared that it was great that the garter stitching knit made the scarf grip at the neck and not slip - an advantage I hadn't noticed before.  And another lady admired the pink one I wore as Mrs. Claus & said it was a nice length & width (i.e. - long and slightly skinny).  It's a flattering shape for me....

Using the gift bags we receive from Maker's Mark (they have been sending us stuff for years....) - but I am putting old greeting cards on them to somewhat disguise the whiskey bottle pattern! We also got Maker's Mark tissue - and I still have some wrapping paper left over from last Xmas.

Found some little ornaments at the old ladies' thrift shop for $.25 each - nice wooden ones - which I added to our little tree which we put up in what Mark calls an "altar" area near the desk.  I also bought 2 bunches of Xmas foliage from the Dollar Tree - which I cut up with wire cutters - and secured the tree into a Santa cocoa tin from last season - with gilded pine cones & such. I glammed up the straw wreath for the door with blonde fake poinsettias from another Dollar Tree bunch - and added a gold bow and a red ribbon to tie it to the door.  Looks great - for a $2 outlay....

But really, I have not bought a lot this year - just recycled decorations from years past - which is a nice thing to do anyway...And the angels - and other figurines and such  - were bargains of years past.

Mark found me a lovely bouquet of roses and lilies at the supermarket on Sunday night for a pittance - and I mixed them up with another bouquet we had picked up at the Farmer's Market - My buddy told me that if I take the pollen tips from the lilies very carefully, they will last longer.  I never knew that.  I am pruning the roses, as the outside petals get dried up - but it's been almost a week now - and I still have my flowers!

Mark has put on the recording of us at the party - It's so nice to enjoy making music and make some $ with it, too!  We can do this forever! Looks like we are reviving our musical partnership with our buddy Eldon - for fun & profit. We hooked up with a very nice lady with an entertainment company who books all sorts of little events and parties - She stopped by & was impressed & more work will be coming from there. And we are so versatile - we have done Xmas music - & 70's pop & standards & children's music & Renaissance music & classical & church music....You ask for it - other than hip hop - we got it..

Now that's an example of how to make $ from your hobby - if you want to call our music making a hobby. It does help to defray the expenses of instruments and so on...And it's such fun!

How are your holidays going?  Hope everything is very festive!

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