It's a Wonderful Life (Truly It Is!)

What a beautiful time of year this is!  I love it so much.

Last week, we went to some of our grandkids' Christmas concerts; one night, it was our 3rd grade grandson G-Man's show at his Catholic school; the next night, we got to watch five of our grandchildren performing together: two of G-Man's younger sisters, who are in 2nd grade and kindergarten, and our triplet grandchildren (also in kindergarten, two siblings in one class together and the other with his cousin); and finally, the next day, we watched two of our granddaughters, younger siblings of the aforementioned kids (4-year-old cousins who are BFF's and classmates), perform in their pre-K concert at their Christian preschool.  It was a busy week!  It is so special that these cousins are schoolmates/classmates.  It is a joy to their Papa and me to see them experiencing all of this together.

My husband and I also squeezed in a movie date over the weekend and went to see The Shift, a new film out by Angel Studios (they also did The Sound of Freedom).  It is just SO GOOD, we highly recommend it!  The theater that was showing the movie was in danger of closing not too long ago (thanks to all that Covid business, ugh!); but they didn't. I'm so grateful, because every now and then, it's a huge treat to go out and watch a movie on the big screen.  And they have a giant, glorious Christmas tree outside this multiplex, so we snapped a date night selfie in front of it.

 

 

On Sunday, son #4 and his kids (the triplets plus one, who calls herself an "honorary triplet") came over for brunch after Mass.   And the 6-year-old girl triplet couldn't stop looking at the "quilted" ornaments on our tree.  For some reason, she was fascinated by them, especially when her Papa told her that I had made them.  I learned this simple and rewarding craft more than 40 years ago, when I was a young Navy wife who wasn't even a mom yet.  I used mostly traditional red and green Christmas fabric scraps from other projects for the first ones I made.  Since then, I have used materials that have special meaning to "quilt" the balls.

I made NY State Lottery ornaments for my mom, my siblings, and myself
after my dad died, using scraps from his old T-shirts.

I used some old baby garments that my boys wore to make the blue and yellow
one.  (The smaller one on the bottom right is one of the originals from 1981.)

The maroon, grey, and white one was made out of bits and pieces of
my boys' old Catholic grade school uniforms.

Yesterday, I made this one for the granddaughter who was so intrigued
by them, and I plan to give it to her tomorrow for her family's tree.

(I shared the step-by-step process of making these ornaments here at the blog a while back, if you're interested.)

Not much else is new.  We're just trying to get all of our must-watch Christmas movies in before the 25th, if possible. Last night we watched my favorite, It's a Wonderful Life.  

This morning before daily Mass, I sat in my living room, reading a new book by a lovely Catholic author with whom I became online friends back when I was writing Finding Grace and Erin's Ring.  (Her latest novel, The Charter Class, just came out.  It's a work of historical fiction about the very first class of students at the College of Our Lady of the Elms, an all-girls school in Massachusetts that opened in 1928.)   I was enjoying the book's uplifting story; the tree lights were sparkling; and for the first time ever, I was drinking my coffee out of one of the Santa mugs my husband gave me for Christmas last year.  It all felt a little too good to be true.

And I thought to myself, "Yes, it truly is a wonderful life."

God bless you, dear readers, at Christmas and always!

Christmas Cheer (An Instagram Post...but on My Blog!)

I'm not on Instagram anymore.  My husband and I deleted our accounts a few years ago, and I haven't missed it.

Oops...I've just begun this post, and I've already told two lies. Mea culpa.  

Truth be told, I'm back on Instagram (as is my hubby), as of just recently.  But only because our youngest son is working on a short film project for his Master's program, and he's posting about it on there, and we don't want to miss any of those pictures and videos.  So that takes care of lie #1.

Even though I’m back “on,” I'm not really planning to post on IG, or to collect followers (L to the OL!); I'm just planning to stalk.  But not too much.  Over-stalking was one of the main problems I had that led me to give up all my social media accounts in the first place.

Okay then, what's lie #2, you ask?  I said I haven’t missed Instagram...but that's not true, because sometimes I do.

I miss some of my favorite Catholic "influencers" (hello, @elizabethfoss!).  I miss the awesome recipes and the gorgeous home decor ideas, and even the pop-up ads, believe it or not. (I am amazed by how Instagram seems to know exactly what kind of clothes I like to buy and wear.  It couldn't be that social media sites are tracking my every move...could it?)  But I am saving money, now that I don't see all those ads for things I never knew I wanted or needed.

Anyhoo--here are some pictures I might have posted on IG, back when I was a prolific IG poster (but certainly not an influencer!).  I just like how my house looks when it's decorated for Christmas, so I thought I'd share.  If I knew how to make a blog link-up, I would make one and have you show me pictures of your Christmas decorations.  (But in this new, rapidly changing world where even Instagram will probably soon be obsolete, does anyone even remember blog link-up parties?)

May you enjoy your social media accounts without over-stalking (you’re probably better than I am, dear readers). And may your Christmas season be merry and bright!

Happy Gaudete Sunday!

 

The tablecloth is fake—not Battenburg lace, but cheap, kid-friendly vinyl.

The candles are fake, with kid-friendly LED lights instead of real flames.

These are the things we do to keep our home manageable and safe during Advent for visiting grandchildren, 13 of them here in VA aged 8 and under.

Not everything is fake, though; the joy of the season is absolutely real.

It's a Beaut, Clark

Back when our boys were growing up in NH, it was our tradition for a number of years to go to a local Christmas tree farm to cut down our tree.  I loved how long those freshly cut trees would last (especially since we are definitely NOT those people who take down their tree by New Year's.  No judgment, you understand; it's just that we are not those people).  We always liked to keep our tree up at least until Epiphany.  And then we stretched it to the Baptism of Our Lord.

As time went on, we decided that maybe we would keep it up until our fourth son's birthday in late January...and then eventually, until Candlemas on February 2. 

What can I say?  We love it when we have a Christmas tree in our house!  It's hard not to feel happy when you're looking at a decorated and lighted tree.  And eventually, we went with a fake tree so that we could enjoy it as long as we wanted and would never have to worry about it drying out on us while we were away from home, visiting with family in NY between Christmas and New Year's.  Also, the boys got old enough that they were too busy with school and sports for us to schedule a trip to the tree farm with everyone involved.  The year my husband and I found ourselves going there alone was the last year we had a real tree. 

The artificial tree we had for many years in NH was a beauty.  We had the extra-high ceiling in the two-car attached garage that my husband converted into a giant sports-themed man cave/family room, so we were able to get one that was just shy of ten feet tall.  It had about 1,200 lights on it, a combination of color and white, and it was absolutely packed with ornaments, hundreds of them.  I loved that tree.  Each year, I added an ornament or two, some store-bought, some homemade, even though more ornaments was the last thing we needed.

We celebrated our last Christmas in NH in 2016, and all five of our sons, along with the four daughters-in-law and seven grandchildren we had at the time, spent the holiday with us that year.  It was just wonderful. (Our youngest son also met—IRL—the girl he'd been corresponding with on Catholic Match at our house that Christmas; they've been married for over two years now so I'd say it worked out!)

As you can see, it wasn't easy getting a picture of all the kiddos together—and that was ten grandchildren ago!

Shortly after those photos were taken, we were packing up a house that we'd lived in for 26 years to prepare for a big move south to VA, where our middle three boys (all but the “bookends”) had planted what appeared to be permanent roots.  By March of 2017, we were Virginians, and shortly after we got here, our oldest son switched careers and wound up moving close to us, too.  So now we had four of our five boys and all of our grandchildren near us.  It was too good to be true!

The one downside to the new house in VA was that there wasn't anywhere to display our enormous tree.  I was wondering if I would ever be satisfied with another one...but then we found a downsized tree that was absolutely perfect for us. (It's the official Griswold family tree, after all.)

It fits nicely in the bay window of our cozy little living room.  For the past two years, I haven't put any ornaments on it, because there were too many curious (and sometimes destructive!) toddlers milling about.  But with all those lights (over 3,000!), it still looked pretty without anything on it but a garland and a star.

The triplets are four now, so we decided to decorate the tree again this year.  I've given boxes of ornaments away to each of our boys, but the branches are still sufficiently packed.

And when we moved here, we also got a smaller tree for a corner of our family room.

So we don't have our killer tree anymore; but I think we're doing just fine, don’t you agree?

A few days ago, we received a small package in the mail.  It was a gift from son #3’s in-laws: a tiny felt pennant with a Christmas Vacation quote on it.

I'd say they've gotten to know us pretty well!

We are preparing to celebrate our fifth Christmas in the VA house, which is hard to believe.  The years in our new home state have positively flown by.  And now, with the imminent departure of son #1’s family (they are moving to a new home in the Midwest just after the holidays), we intend to cherish every moment we have with them—and with every member of our ever-growing Pearl clan. 

Too Many Nativities?

Nah!  No such thing. 

One thing we have a lot of around our house during the Christmas season is Nativity sets.  I love them so, SO much--all different kinds and styles—and I'll probably never stop collecting them.  (Or maybe I should; read on, and you decide.)

For many years, the centerpiece of our Christmas decor was the most amazing oversized Nativity set, which we ordered from a Catholic church supply catalog.  There are about 20 painted plaster figurines in all, and the tallest of them are about 12 to 15” in height.  The camel is enormous! The first year we set this Nativity up, we didn't have a creche for it yet—because really, where would we find one big enough?  So eventually my husband built one himself, out of scrap wood left over from his many carpentry projects in our NH house.  We would set the whole thing up on an 8-foot long folding table behind our family room couch, and it was glorious sight to behold.

We took a photo of our boys in front of it for our 2000 Christmas card.

This will be our fifth Christmas in our VA home, and we haven't been able to put this large Nativity set out yet.  There really isn't a good place to display it (good meaning safe, because we have lots of curious little people visiting us these days).  The NH house was a Colonial with big rooms that had walls, and doorways that could be blocked off with baby gates; the VA house has an open floor plan and the downstairs is almost like one giant room, making it so that the grandkids can run around in a giant circle, starting from the kitchen, through the dining room, past the living room, past the family room, and back to the kitchen again...over, and over, and over.  (And every time we have a family party, by the end of the festivities, they do!) That breakable Nativity would surely not survive the chaos.  

But even though we haven't been able to showcase our church-worthy Nativity, we still have lots of others about the house.

Lovely Nativity scenes appear on the robes of some of the hand-carved and hand-painted Russian Santas my husband used to bring back from his trips to Moscow as an airline pilot.

This sweet and simple set was gifted to me by my younger sister last summer.

This little beauty is very special to us.  My mother-in-law made all the tiny figurines in her ceramics class and gave the set to us for Christmas in 1980, two days before we got married.  She made them in white but told me to paint them if I wished; so I did, and now I think of this as a Nativity set that we made together.

 

I used to collect these Possible Dreams Santas—many of them gifts from my mother-in-law—but I made myself stop when I hit a dozen.  ( I might have a problem...)  This one holding a creche is my favorite.

Before sons #3 and #4 got married, they worked together in VA and shared an apartment.  One Christmas, they pooled their resources and bought me this large Willow Tree Nativity set.  I think they went overboard...but boy, do they ever know what their mom likes!

I do need to add the star, a carved olive-wood one that my husband brought back from the Holy Land;
but I haven't located it yet!

Earlier this year we had visitors at our parish. They were Holy Land Christians whose livelihoods had been hurt when Covid put a halt to international travel; without tourists, they couldn't sell enough of their carved olive-wood souvenirs.  They were selling some items after Mass, and we picked up this beautiful musical Nativity (when you wind it up by turning the star, it plays "Silent Night"!) and the exquisite bust of Jesus.  I recently discovered the tiny wooden Nativity on the left for 99 cents at Goodwill—and I believe it is also from the Holy Land.

Son #3 and his wife gave us this gorgeous gold-and-silver carved image of the Holy Family a few Christmases ago.  (My daughter-in-law loved it so much that she ended up getting one for their house, too!)

Our youngest son gave me this Willow Tree Nativity as a Christmas gift a number of years ago.  It's actually an ornately decorated hinged box that opens up to reveal those beautiful images.  (I think he went overboard, too; are you seeing a pattern here?)  On either side of it are Russian Santas adorned with hand-painted Nativity scenes.

So I miss being able to set up the Nativity set that played a big part in our Christmases for decades; but I’d say we’re going to survive pretty well without it, wouldn’t you?

Happy New Year! (And Is It Too Late to Talk about Christmas Ornaments?)

Happy New Year, dear readers!

It is one of my resolutions for 2018 to give a little more attention to my poor old neglected blog, which must be feeling like the cosseted firstborn child who suddenly has a younger sibling, a baby who seems to be getting a lot more attention.  (That younger sibling being Instagram, of course, where I've been spending most of my online time these days.)

Let's talk about Instagram, though.  It is a downright charming place to visit, I must admit.  There are never any of those Facebook-style vicious political rants in your news feed, just lovely photos with short-but-sweet captions or stories beneath them.  Instagram provides a quick fix for people who would prefer a lengthy novel or a thoughtful blog post, but are just too busy at the moment.  If you don't have time to read a blog post, you almost surely have time to read a few delightful Insta-posts.  Also, I find that there are so many lovely Catholic gals on Instagram who inspire me to grow in my faith, and talented designing women who inspire me to make my house more cozy and beautiful for my family.  And then there are those hashtags, which are sometimes just hilarious.

So I'm liking Instagram a whole lot these days...and unfortunately, I've been ignoring my firstborn baby, my String of Pearls.  But I'm going to try to get back into writing over here more often, because I find I just miss writing for writing's sake.  What is it about putting together words that I find so satisfying?

My twin granddaughters (who are the oldest of our 12 grandchildren, at 6-and-1/2) devour books at an impressive rate, having taught themselves how to read over a year ago.  One of them recently showed me one she'd just finished and commented, "I liked this.  It had nice words."  How I love the way she put that!  "Nice words."  That's all a writer hopes to accomplish for his readers: to not just give them a good story, but one that is told so nicely that it is a joy for them to read the words. Not that I think my words are all that nice, mind you; but that is most definitely the goal.  And String of Pearls has been a great outlet for me for the past six-plus years, a wonderful place for me to do what I like to do--to play with words.  And as a bonus, this blog has put me in contact with a whole bunch of wonderful friends I would never have met otherwise.

So God bless the Catholic blogging world, that's all I have to say.

Okay then, this is my first post of 2018, and it should be about something momentous.  But it won't be.  I find that I wish I'd done some Christmas-themed posts over the past few weeks, but I was so busy being a hands-on Grammy (and traveling to Poland to see my baby boy--now there's a subject for a future post!) that I didn't get around to it.  But luckily, for Catholics the Christmas season doesn't even start until December 25.  So I'm not too late, not too late at all.  And you know what?  I'm going to totally copy one of the ladies I follow on Instagram (Mary of Better Than Eden) and highlight some of the ornaments on my tree.  I enjoyed Mary's Instagram post about her ornaments so much that it inspired me to do one of my own.  So here we go.

Way back in 2013, during the Christmas season I ran a contest here at String of Pearls.  I had readers guess how many ornaments we had on our 9-and-1/2-foot tree, and the prize was a handcrafted painted wooden Santa ornament (holding a string of pearls, of course ;)).  The winner guessed 430 and she was close; we had 439 ornaments on the tree that year. And we've acquired plenty of new ones since then, because I have always been of the opinion that you can NEVER have too many of them.

But here's the thing: last year we sold our beloved house in NH, where we'd lived for 26 years (and where we had a converted garage-turned-man cave, with a ceiling high enough for a tree that tall), and we moved to VA to be near some of our grown sons; and our new house, while lovely and cozy, does not have such an area for such a tree.  So we had to retire our old tree, sadly, and get something smaller.

Since we couldn't have a big tree, we decided we could at least have one with an obnoxious amount of lights on it.

There are so many lights, it looked pretty even before we put the ornaments on it.

But of course, we did put ornaments on it!

There was a whole plastic storage bin filled with treasures that never made it on the tree this year, but the branches still ended up looking pretty packed.

Every year when we decorate our tree, I love to open the bins and boxes.  Each and every time, it's like Christmas morning all over again, and each precious memento feels like it's brand new.  I love that about ornaments!

I'm just going to highlight a few for you (if you're even still here; and if so, I'm sorry this post is so long!).

A few Christmases ago, our second-oldest son hand-painted two ornaments for his author mommy, recreating the cover of Finding Grace in one;

 and Erin's Ring in another.

For our last NH Christmas together in 2016, I had these porcelain ornaments made, one for us and one for each of our five boys--with a photo of our NH house on them.

After my dad died in November of 2016, I took his vast collection of NY State Lottery t-shirts (which he was always wearing, as a proud employee we called the "Lotto Guy") and made a t-shirt quilt for my mom and five of these "quilted" ornaments for my siblings and me.

I also made this "quilted" ornament, using scraps of material from our boys' old Catholic elementary school uniforms.  They wore gray pants and white oxford button-downs (see the button on that ornament?), and then maroon sweatshirts and sweatpants for gym.  I made the boys some bell-shaped ornaments out of these scraps as well, and I know how snazzy they thought their school uniforms were, so I'm sure they treasure them.  ;)  (If you'd like to see a how-to post on making ornaments like this, I did one once and you can read it here.)

Of course, no tree would be complete without the handmade ornaments the kids brought home from school in their boyhood days.  Like this one.

Or this one.

I should give the boys their TMNT ornaments, which we've had for about 25 years...but I don't have the heart to part with them.  Yet!

The same son who painted the book cover ornaments above painted this one-of-a-kind Garfield number for us back in 1997, when he was 11.  (All of my sons are quite artistic!)

I recently added a VA ornament, fashioned from a cookie cutter shaped like our newly adopted state.

Lots of our ornaments are Irish-themed. And lots of them are gifts from our kids or other loved ones. That metal and bead Claddagh ornament (right near the glass Irish step dancer) is a gift from our #4 son.  (Our boys all know what Mom likes!)

I have several ceramic mouse ornaments that I made when I wasn't even a mother yet.  There was a studio on the base where my husband was stationed, and I took classes there with several other Navy wives.  We were a crafty bunch!  (We were alone a lot, and crafting helped to fill the hours that our husbands were away.)  This little guy is hanging near two blue and gray ornaments from Salmon Falls Pottery in Dover, NH (the old world Santa and Merry Christmas ball) that are quite dear to me.

In 2013 I made eight of these stuffed "This Tree Stinks" ornaments for my husband and his seven siblings.  There's a funny story behind it; if you have the time you can read about it in this old post.  What tickles me is that now, every year each of them takes a picture of this ornament when they're decorating their trees, and they post the pictures on the family text stream.  I wasn't even sure they would like them (I mean, they're kind of tough to explain to outsiders who come to your home!); but these ornaments have become part of our Pearl Christmas tradition, and I love that I was able to contribute to that.

Okay, then...on that note, maybe I should wrap this up.  This is a long post (with links to old posts to boot!).  If you stopped by here for a quick pick-me-up, you're probably thinking you should have just gone to Instagram instead.  But bear with me.  I'm just trying to get my blogging muscles warmed up again.  After taking too much time off the past few years, I've gotten pretty stiff.

But I'm going to keep plugging away.  And maybe I'll even find more important things to talk about than what I have hanging on my tree.  We shall see.

#imfinallyfinished
#thanksforhanginginthere
#pleasecomeback
#happynewyear