Lately, posting on my blog has been very limited, however, I did want to make up, just a bit, for my recent lack of sharing by showing you some of the great times I did experience during the days leading up to Christmas. Better late than never!
As I was reviewing the tons of photos I took during that time, but had not shared on my blog, I realized what a wonderful two months I had prior to Christmas and how very lucky I am!
I guess I am probably posting these photos for a selfish reason, too. I want to hang on to the magical time of The Season.
Brace yourself.
There are a lot of photos on this post. This collection shows bits and pieces of the events that took place in my life during November of 2009. . . MOST of which helped to put the season in motion for me.
I will refer to this post as "The Holiday Season Begins"......
In my book, the "holidays" officially start when the shops in Greenwood, Missouri, have their Open House. It is held on the first two weekends of November. My friends (Bonnie, Patty and Marian) and I look forward to it and try very hard to attend this event every year.
Greenwood is located South and East of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the home of some of my favorite antique shops .
This building houses Vicky Hale's OLD GLORY, a shop that specializes in primitive and Americana as well as wonderful handpicked seasonal decoratives.
Across the street is the GREENWOOD ANTIQUE MALL and COUNTRY TEA ROOM.
This mall is packed with wonderful vendors.
For some reason, I wasn't busy taking photos of the awesome displays and the few I did take were blurry. However, this photo gives a little glimpse of a few of the tempting vintage decorations for sale.
Perhaps, I wasn't taking pictures of the booths because I could hardly wait for our lunch in the Tea Room! Shari, the owner, always has a fantastic menu!
This photo shows just inside the entry to the main dining room. . . our table was located across the room, next to another fireplace.
Shari has three dining rooms within her Tea Room. This year, the middle room was decorated in the most gorgeous PINKS and silvers.
I had to have a photo of my lovely plate! The quiche and salad were perfect!
HOWEVER, the best part of the meal HAD to be the appetizer we shared. . . fried and seasoned sweet potatoes and green beans. They were served with two types of amazing dipping sauces! I think this meal was the beginning of my holiday weight gain!
We first stopped in Sharleen's store. . . LUTICIA CLEMENTINE'S, then . . . .
We visited Greenwood and the Independence Square on Friday, November 6th.
On Monday, November 9th, my Breakfast Group traveled to the Briarcliff Village Shopping center in Kansas City North to celebrate Mary's birthday! Besides lunch at The Cafe', we couldn't make a trip to that location without spending lots of time and money in. . . . . .
NELL HILL'S is totally a feast for the eyes......amazing decorating ideas and over the top displays are situated in and ON every square inch of the gorgeous store.
I think Mary Carol leaves that hat out just so folks like us can have fun!
Cynthia, Patty's cousin, posed with us for our group picture. She is on the front row, left side. Cynthia is a designer at Nell Hill's and plays a big role in the amazing displays seen all over the store.
Pictured, left to right on the front row are: Cynthia, Patty, Beth, and Dana (that's me!). On the back row, left to right are: Laura, Mary Ann and Mary The Birthday Girl!
I decided I wanted a photo with Mary Carol.......this was the best I could do on that visit. I know if she had been there, she would have graciously been in our group shot, just like she did (HERE) last summer when fellow blogging pal, Jeanne of BACKYARD NEIGHBOR , paid a visit to Kansas City!
After we left NELL HILL'S, we checked out a few of the other stores in the shopping center. In one of them, we found this heartwarming sight.
Each year, Bonnie and I put up our "Country Living Tree" and fill them with vintage ornaments. The tree is a live tree......a very scraggly kind that I can't recall the name of right now.
THIS year, we decided we would each get a fake tree. . . one we could keep the lights on for storage and ease in decorating the following year. We're getting old and tired.
We looked at several stores, but couldn't find the tree we had in mind UNTIL we spied the tree of our liking for sale in one of the fall issues of * "Country Sampler" magazine. We called in our order on Saturday and by Wednesday.....the boxes arrived!
* Sorry about the punctuation of "COUNTRY SAMPLER"....I couldn't get the italics editing thingy to work on the post!
It took me two hours to "fluff" the tree (they use that word in the business of artificial florals....."fluff".....doesn't that sound funny?) Let me tell you, there was nothing "fluffy" about that job.......those are some danged stickery branches!
I stood back and thought the tree was beginning to look better.....maybe I was just getting sick of dealing with it......and it wasn't cheap.....it needed to be looking better!
I even bought special lights for that baby! Vicky, who owns the shop OLD GLORY in Greenwood, was selling strings of mini-lights with brown wiring instead of green. Since this tree has lots of brown mixed in with the muted green of the branches, I figured I'd be happier with that type of light. It was a good choice.
I'll show you the decorated tree in a later post.
This is the front end of our daughter's car.
A few days after I took the pictures of the above tree. This is what happened to her car when a deer ran in front of her (on a BUSY city street)! She was very upset that there was deer blood on the side of her car and . . . .
THIS stuck in her headlight.
She said it just ran off.
On Thanksgiving Day, with the help of my daughter-in-law and daughter, a scrumptious dinner was prepared and enjoyed by our little family.
A little family that had grown by one this summer.
A little that family sat together in our home and gave thanks for the many blessings that had come our way that year.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, we returned to the Christmas Tree Farm with our son and his family, where we had tagged our trees in October.
Santa had heard I was coming and he asked if he could have a photo with me. I happily obliged! :) You see, Santa is a big MIZZOU fan, too! :)
We took off to the area where our trees were waiting! Note the wagon load of folks ahead of us. . . it was full, so we decided to walk!
Walking was a good thing. . . the holiday pounds were coming at me right and left and I still had a month to go before Christmas!
I had placed a PINK lei of flowers on top of our tree, so I knew exactly which one was ours. I'm smiling as my DIL was taking my picture. Our son is attempting to cut our tree.
The tree cutting is a story in itself. I will try to remember to tell you about it on another post. It's a good one.
Once that sale was over, the real fun of the holiday season could begin for me!
One of the first things I decorated was my fireplace mantel. I used two frosty swags I purchased at NELL HILL'S.
Oh, and I HAD to have Mary Carol's newest book, too. . . . for inspiration!THE STONE RABBIT finds it inspirational, too! He just wasn't too keen on me making him pose in the middle of the "frosty swags". . . he has a delicate skin condition!
DANA
I LOVE seeing all of your delightful pictures! I want to go to all of those antique shops with y'all and especially Nell Hills....what FUN!!! Guess what????? It is SNOWING. AGAIN!!! We are only supposed to get about an inch but it will be quite slick in the morning....the last snow from Christmas Eve hasn't even melted away yet!!! Hard to believe the New Year is almost here. Hope you are having a wonderful evening.♥
Posted by: Darlene | December 29, 2009 at 05:30 PM
Oh honey, I LOVE all the pictures! The food looks yummy, though maybe not right AFTER seeing the deer fur caught in the headlight!
Posted by: Keetha | December 29, 2009 at 05:43 PM
You have a lot of wonderful places to visit! Sounds like you had a lot of fun!
Hope you have a safe & happy New Year!
Judy
Posted by: Judy | December 29, 2009 at 05:44 PM
That was so much fun! I insist that I join you next year for Greenwood's open house. That looks amazing. More snow tomorrow? That's what I am hearing! I love the tree! Totally love the tree. Can't wait to see it decorated. We have seen a lot of deer lately, too.
Posted by: Terri | December 29, 2009 at 07:04 PM
You are right. That was quite a few months, and I enjoyed The Holiday Season Begins.
I love that you have your special group of friends. Good friends are such a blessing.
I would love to go to Nell Hill's. Even though I don't love to shop, that looks like just my kind of store. Her book must be a gorgeous collection.
I saw cranberry chutney on your plate.♥
I've got to get out of this chair and hustle. I am supposed to meet a friend for breakfast in 29 minutes, and I am not dressed - and I still have to wrap her present.
♥♥♥
Posted by: Beverly | December 30, 2009 at 04:32 AM
Hi Dana! Just popping back in to wish you a Happy New Year! Tell me where you bought the tree. Love the primive look of it.
Are you happy with it? I like the brown wires on the lights idea too. xo xo Cat
Posted by: Cathy Santarsiero | December 30, 2009 at 08:17 AM
What a great post! I am so glad you decided to "catch us up" on all of your holiday festivities! Your lunch at the tea room looked delicious!
Have a very Happy New Year!
Posted by: Donna | December 30, 2009 at 09:44 AM
Dear Dana, we just arrived home from Florida and I came straight over to say hello. I was delighted with your wonderful post of your Christmas celebration schedule and especially the photos. I was so sad not to be there with all of you at Mary Carol's wonderful store. Also missing the antique stores and Sharleen's store too. sigh. We had a great time in Florida. We took two days coming home. Staying in Atlanta with my sister. It has been cold everywhere.
Happy birthday to Mary. I know she felt very special that day. You all look like you had a wonderful time. It made me smile and be very envious missing the good time.
Your TALL tree is so striking. I too hate to fluff a tree, or wreath or any greenery that was packed away. So much work and too much time doing it!!! The results are worth it though.
Time for a quick nap my dear friend who lives sooo far away. I am imaging you shoveling snow. yuk!!! be careful. Stay away from flying deer! Your poor daughter. We hit a deer and it was awful. Very scary!
Love and Happy New Year to you and your family.
Love and hugs, Jeanne
Posted by: jeanne | December 30, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Wow, Dana, lots going on...but you are so full of energy, good ideas, and a happy perspective! You always show us a good time. The tree was kind of neat! Can't wait to see more. Have a very HAPPY New Year.
Posted by: Jillian | December 30, 2009 at 07:16 PM
Dana... looks like you've been having a wonderful time without us! thanks for sharing your wonderful stories and photos with the rest of us!
Happy New Year! Dixie
Posted by: Dixie | December 30, 2009 at 08:50 PM