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I really should be locked up somewhere where there are no stores during the Fall and Winter season!! Shopping this time of year has become a fixation for me. Especially around these holidays. From Halloween up until Christmas, the stores have so many wonderful things!! Y’all know I collect Santas. “Tree top” Santas are my favorite. Well, you’d think anyway. I have this kind the most. But, I have hundreds. And walking around the stores this week, I was checking out all of the Christmas displays and looking at the Santas. Thing is, most of what they have anymore are near duplicate of what I have already. While walking out of one store, I walked past the wall display of tree ornaments. That was a mistake. A BIG mistake. I saw a glass Santa. Hmmmmm, had to have it. Ya, like I need it! Geez. So then, as I had that in my hot little hand, I spied a beautiful red fox ornament. [I didn't get it tho, but I will go back there soon, and if they do have it, it's gonna be mine.] I then spied a cute little frog with a Santa cap. Grabbed it…Well, they’re kinda costly when you want ‘em all, y’know? This is not good for a retiree’s fixed income! Yet, I kept looking. Here are the ones I found, and brought home with me.
And I think I will make sure I find them that fit our life…something that we all like or that it has a special meaning to our character. Like favorites, or something from our past that it would represent. Not just buy to buy…they have to have meaning to our family….
A Frosty Snow Man. He’s about 3 or 4 inches tall. One of my favorite holiday specials that is broadcast — I love the television version of Frosty, with Jimmy Durante singing the carol. I sit every year and wait for him to sing to me.
A Penguin. Decked out with a red top hat with a gold hat band. It’s carrying a candy cane, cane! He’s miniature, but adorable. About 2 inches tall. Our son, as a toddler kept calling them penQUINS…it’s stuck, we all call them that now. LOL
Now, our backyard is filled with a lot of frogs. I think the ceramic creations in stores these days are terrific. I love frogs too. And I couldn’t resist this little booger! He too is miniature. About 2 inches also. I love him adorned with the Christmas stocking cap and the rhinestone collar. He is holding a heart. Cute, cute, cute!!
This next one that caught my eye is a Canadian Goose. With feathers at the tail. Thing is, where I’m from originally…from Colorado, the whole state [on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains] was literally filled with Canadian Geese. Some actually stayed there year ’round! I remember one golf course we played, the goose poop was all over, and sometimes the geese would attack the golf balls! Anyway, I loved this one. It’s a bit larger than the ones above, it’s about 4-5 inches in length.
When a youngster, spending the nights or summers or weekends with my aunt in Nebraska, her yard was filled with Cardinals. They became a favorite bird of mine. Tho, Colorado was too cold for them. At least I never saw them. Not until we moved to Arizona. I was so thrilled to see Cardinals at my bird feeder again! Here in Texas, I’ve seen a couple –actually A COUPLE -mates—in our yard at the feeder. So, when I saw this one, it just seemed to jump off the rack, right into my hands![insert a wink]
This is the culprit one that first made me stop and do a double take at all the ‘pretties’! He’s so fragile. As I said, they’re all glass ornaments, and reminds me the ‘olden days’ when the ornaments were always breaking from one year to the next. I always helped my mom pack things away…ever so gently, to keep them safe from harm year after year. And it never failed…always some broken, in the box, the following year. Too, they were always some of my favorites. I was disheartened with them. I never bought any glass ornaments when our kids were small and we had three dogs and a cat in the house. It just didn’t seem like a smart move. But this one? Yep, he started it all!!!! He’s about 6 inches long. No doubt the first one up on the tree each year.
The last one this week, is a poinsettia. I do love these also. And only the RED ones. The pink and white, tho beautiful, the red ones are the ‘original’ color. The non-hybrid ones…the REAL ones are from Old Mexico. The road from San Diego down south and beyond the border towns, there is an area that has poinsettias growing on the sides [both sides] of the highway…big as trees!!! That’s when I fell in love with the plant! In San Antonio, at the Alamo, there is one of the ‘original’ Mexican species too. Stunning bushes! Not even close to the likes of the hybrids you buy potted for the holidays. The true poinsettias are more woody and huge, true red, brackets! The ornament is about 4-5 inches wide.
PS…part of a ‘tell’ aspect. We had a cellphone phisher yesterday. I learned something from calling in a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission…and I thought I’d pass it on this morning. When using your cellphone – to keep your identity from going through the airwaves, dial STAR 6 7 [that's *67 --don't key in the word star] before dialing the number you’re calling! It hides your identity!!! Awesome. And I tested it three times on different numbers yesterday afternoon. I works!!!
