Wrapping & So On

Finally got to wrapping hubby's present(s).  And had a little brain storm.  I had the fairly plain paper from the liquor folks and I made big gift labels, cutting out portions of old Xmas cards that were in the Xmas box! Then I addressed them, glued them to the box, and voila! Gonna save the cards from next year for that!

And I reused boxes of the presents that had been sent to us via UPS to box up the things, if only to disguise the shape a bit! And when the gifts are open, I will try to save some of the paper and ribbons to use again! The great thing about gift bags is that they are practically immortal and can be used (carefully) over and over! I am actually using the stash of Xmas bags from last year.

I also put some of the small present s in a nice basket in our tree area - it organizes them and looks very nice, too.

Put the cards that came on a ribbon board shaped like a big Xmas stocking, that I got on sale last weekend ($2).  It's red satin with a green top with green and red satin ribbons across - and you can slip the Xmas cards under the ribbons.  (That's something you could make yourself at home.)  I like ribbon boards. It also has a loop, so I have hung it like a stocking on the bureau in the livingroom (with a heavy paper clip) - which decorates a plain wood surface - and helps, because we have so little room here & and the wall space is almost taken over already.

Husband says that it's real cozy here - and I am happy to have achieved that.  Taking out the good china and such from storage for Xmas dinner at home.  I want to make it very special. 

Men don't get the "good china" bit - but it does make it festive! I have some I inherited from my godmother and items from my grandmother - it makes me feel connected and with family, somehow. My mother used to do that and take out the things in the china cabinet for special times- no china cabinet here - but we have a credenza of sorts - and with a little trouble can unearth things.  My domestic treasures.

Feel close to my mother this season - with all the practical skills she taught me resonating in my head - perhaps it's because I saw snippits of "Grey Gardens" last night - about the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy on the Bouvier side who slipped into living in squalor in a manse in the Hamptons.

The film and the resulting musical revel in their excentricity - but somehow I found them so helpless.  I mean, they had a great house and land and some nice things left over - couldn't they have been more resourceful? The house looked great, with a lovely staircase...but they let it go to rack and ruin.  Is that marvelous excentricity?  I just saw them as cats who had been domesticated, the claws cut, raised on Fancy Feast and delicacies who when left in the wild went slightly feral.

It's my Scandinavian background - my grandmother's place was neat as a pin until she died in her 90's. My houskeeping is nowhere as good!  But I can sew and cook and just make DO, and I take pride in that.  If those ladies were so clever, why couldn't they have done a bit better and lived at least in gentile poverty?  They say there was no madness there, but I do think I see it.  Squalor is a madness of sorts in and unto itself.  But enough of that - I think it's the bag lady specter that looms in the shadows for many women as an ultimate dire fate....Again  - Basta! Let's be grateful for our domestic blessings.

Here's to a warm, tidy and comfy Xmas everyone!

0 Comments | Post Feedback

It's Coming

Here's to a Wonderful Xmas for All! c.doverpublishing used w/permission

Post Feedback:

You need to be a registered ThriftyFun user post feedback. If you are registered, login using the form at the top of this page. Click here to register.